TF Views

Okay, I know Dom asked a variation on this question before, but that was a specific case with definite choices, and I want this to be more open/general. Getting vol. 2 of IDW's UK compilation made me remember how perfect I think these books would be to give to kids to try to nurture an interest in TF fiction. Sure, there's words all over the place at the beginning, but they're accompanied by pics of toy catalogs and promos and the like. And then you get to the big, beautiful painted comics, and you know they'd just go nuts. I like how there are different levels to the book, in that they can just skim the pretty pictures at first, reading more in depth as they grow, having the book on hand.

But I digress in my gushing praise. What do you guys think are some good comics/trades/collections to get kids started on TF?

Started in the G1 forum because the majority of TF comics are G1, but feel free to mention Armada or whatever. Or BW if the hypothetical kid is a tool who doesn't deserve nice things.

The Titan G1 trades would probably be the best place to start in my opinion, but that's probably because I'm weird and like to start at the beginning.

Screw those trades, they're old and variably easy or difficult to find, and IDW is reprinting all of it anyway.

Define "kid." 3-5? 6-8? 9-12?

At that highest level, I would quickly give them anything IDW has published that I consider good, because let's face it, when I was 12 I would have eaten this shit up.

In fact, part of me is just like, there you go, that's it. Because, to me, children are just...tiny people. There's no reason, in my mind, to divide "this stuff is for kids" and "this stuff is for adults." I mean, okay, there's the obvious, but I'm a kid who saw Child's Play and Terminator 1 & 2 on TV. I have fond memories of the Conan movies. My father showed me Fight Club when it came out on video. I saw The Matrix when it came out. And I like to at least pretend I grew up to be a functioning adult!

It's always been my opinion that if adults think it's cool, then children are going to think it's cool, too. Because when you're a kid, all you really want to do is be an adult, because you don't see the responsibility part--you just see the freedom that adults have. Adults don't have parents that tell them what to do. They can paint their house whatever colour they want. They can drive a car. They get money they can spend on whatever they want. And they think this movie and these comics are cool. Most of that stuff is completely inaccessible to a kid, but the comics and movies part? That's attainable, and it makes sense. My father loved Lord of the Rings and tried really hard to get me into it; that ended up failing because it turns out I like robots more than elves, but that's the way things go. (I believe 86's sig used to say, "My father once bought me a car that turned into a robot, in the hopes that I'd get into cars. Instead, I got into robots that turned into cars.")

But! Let's put aside my big philosophical debate.


G2! Absolutely G2, because kids need to know that Transformers isn't necessarily always about the same things they always see. Megatron looks different. He isn't the main bad guy. He has to take back his own leadership from a character who's never appeared in another series. (Toys and modern comics aside, Bludgeon hasn't shown up anywhere else.) The main bad guy is someone who isn't Megatron and there's complicated factions. Tons of dudes die. The art style is awesome and Totally Different. There's been a few different trades and I own none of them, but back issues are relatively easy to come across. (Has IDW done G2 yet?) Plus, it'll make them want a bunch of old, obscure toys, and give them something to shoot for for years. (This is the best way to stay invested as a fan--have long term goals. One day, I will own Clench and Skyquake and Pyro and Thunderclash. Eventually. But if 86 hadn't shown me their toys back in the day, I might write them off as something I don't want at all, like say, Metalhawk*.)

I agree with Prowl, though, any of the UK stories will be good too, depending on how familiar the kid is with certain Transformers characters. If they've seen the animated movie (which they absolutely should) and have a basic understanding of the usual Transformers cast, and they understand time travel (show them Back To The Future! And then the Terminator.) then Target: 2006 and TIme Wars and such are great. Like I said above, I have to wonder what the threshold for "kid" is, because I read Time Wars when I was 15 or so. (This was during Energon. There was a dearth of nothingness. I went back and caught up.)

There's also the thing with making sure kids are interested in comics in the first place. The primary reason I even give the IDW comics the time of day is because I'm already interested in comics 'period,' having grown up grabbing random issues of Spiderman and such (mostly back issues from flea markets and stuff), so I already loved the medium. The fact that my favourite franchise ever was making comics made me interested regardless of quality, but then I was pretty much told it wasn't worth investing in. (I kept up with Dreamwave through synopsis; when they lost the license and IDW took over, I figured it would last about a year before they went out of business, too, so I didn't bother getting started, and some of that early stuff was weird. Then AHM hit, and Dom and 86 said it was good, so I read it. The end.)

But anyway, my point is, it's important that the kid is interested in comics 'period' so that they'll be interested in Transformers-specific comics. They've released two brand new TF novels in the last couple years, but I haven't read either of them because I don't really have a lot of time to read longform books. (I barely have time to blow through comics, between video games, working on music, work, sleep, etc.) It's the same thing with a kid--you hand them a TF comic when they don't like comics 'period,' they might not become interested in TF comics 'period.'

The Titan G1 trades would probably be the best place to start in my opinion, but that's probably because I'm weird and like to start at the beginning.

That reminds me, IDW is reprinting G1 *again*. But, these edition include the Circuit Breaker appearances. That effectively makes IDW's second run of G1 reprints the only comprehensive run. (Titan's series "mysteriously" left out "Man of Iron" for some reason that I am sure has nothing to do with that story not being written by Furman who just coincidentally was the editor of the Titan reprint series. IDW's run left out Circuit Breaker due to fears of getting sued.)

If I can track down the previous two volumes of the second run of reprints, I will buy the rest. But, I am not going nuts over this.


Anyway, comics for kids:

TF comics have gotten less kid friendly over the years, especially in recent years. But, I am of the mind-set that if a kid can find something, (either at the comic store or in an adult's collection) they are usually pretty good judges of what they are ready for. Granted, they might make mistakes, especially if they find something really out of order. But, you get the idea.

And, there is a case to be made that the old UK stuff is not kid friendly. (There are some really nasty bits in there. "Hey kids, Mirage is gonna toss your room, right before Jazz kidnaps you!"

All things considered0, those IDW TFUK trades are a good place to start. The extra stuff, (story analysis or catalogue scans), would be a good way to expose kids to the larger franchise.

The Titan G1 trades would probably be the best place to start in my opinion, but that's probably because I'm weird and like to start at the beginning.

I would agree, especially relative to the UK comics. (IDW's reprints are under-sized. Titan reprinted the old UK stories at the correct magazine size.)

G2! Absolutely G2.....

I would say that is in the "let them find it for themselves" category. I "discovered" plenty of stuff as a kid. But, *I* discovered it. I kind of knew I should not have found it. And, there was some stuff that I shied away from when I was younger that I "re-discovered" later. This is not unique. (Hell, a friend's now 12 year old does that.) Part of me wonders if your father did not do you a dis-service by *showing* you "Fight Club" when you were so young. Part of the appeal of that movie for a kid is staying up late, waiting for the grown ups to fall asleep, and then just watching it as a clandestine late-night thing.

When I was a kid, I read "The Art of War" because an adult who was still young enough to be cool (maybe 20 or so) told me to read it. "The Art of War" is a better, and more important, book than "Zoo of the Gods" (a book about mythology). But, guess which book holds a special place in my heart for being the one that I "discovered" (and promptly stole) from my parents? (In hindsight, maybe I should not have shared quite as much of that book with the neighbor's 8 year old...)

To take this back to a more basic level.....

-Dream Wave's "Armada":
I would not bother with "Energon" because that never finished, and there is no need to torture a kid with that. But, the DW "Armada" series was accessible, fun, and actually pretty good. Saracinni's run on that book was everything that I wanted the cartoon to be. (I actually liked scenes with the kids...because of the kids. They were fun characters, and contributed to the "sense of wonder" that TF books should have.) Hell, even Furman did a good job on his share of that book.

-early Marvel G1:
Not only is this the foundation, (and by default, very accessible), but the first year and a half or so had some legitimately good moments.

-UK movie tie-in comics:
Yeah, these are filler at best. But, they are current. And, they are accessible.

There's also the thing with making sure kids are interested in comics in the first place. The primary reason I even give the IDW comics the time of day is because I'm already interested in comics 'period,' having grown up grabbing random issues of Spiderman and such (mostly back issues from flea markets and stuff), so I already loved the medium.

This is vital. It is not just comics. Kids (and for that matter adults) do not read much.

"Transformers" and "GI Joe" started me on comics. But, I liked to read anyway. (Thanks mom.) As a kid, I generally read a grade level or two ahead of my peers. Comics were easy. But, I could read a pile of them pretty quickly, and they were about stuff that I liked. But, if I did not read much, I may well have given up on comics when I was 13 or so. (As it was, a really bad teacher in 6th grade nearly killed reading for me. "Children's Literature" arguably does more to discourage literacy than MTV, video games and culture as a whole.)

Of course, with kids, publishers have to get to and through he parents. I have noticed that many of the parents that want their kids to read do not necessarily want their kids reading comics. And, objectively, I cannot entirely blame them. (Honestly, given some of the people in the hobby, are those the type of person you would want your off-spring associating with and being socialized to be like?) And, lets face it, some parents actively prefer that their kids read indie crap, rather than legitimate comics (TF or otherwise).

But, when kids do get access to the comics, the comics need to be accessible, rather than a string of references to older comics and cartoons.


Dom
-still been meaning to catch up on thos UK compilations...