I was looking into getting the new Transformers Classics omnibuses that I heard about. Are they any good?

I'm also interested in hearing about them. As long as I live, I'll never forget this cover:



Those early issues all had great covers with fairly plain interior art.

The first thirty or so issues are passable if you were a fan of the cartoon. I recall a few interesting stories, though it's mostly aimed at the kid market. There's not a lot of development and things tend to happen quickly; it's mostly a showcase for whatever toys there were pushing at the time, so one issue would have Omega Supreme, another on the Stunticons, another the Predacons, and so on.

I remember #35-55 being pretty bad... This was the time of the "Pretenders" which were really fucking stupid ... and the stories were generally pretty phoned-in.

The book really picked up when Simon Furman took over the scripting around #55. The run from about #60 to the final issue (#80) is, hands-down, the best run on the Marvel title.

This is the only collection of comic books I that I own the entire run of.

I have never been able to read it all the way through. I always get stuck and uninterested around that issue 35 mark.

Maybe I'll get around to reading the entire run this summer. Although I had my #80 graded so there's that.

<-- points to user name.

Yeah, I might know a little something about them. :-)

I'm a die hard Transformers comics junkie. I became aware of the comics as a kid with issue #8 (with the Dinobots on the cover). The story at the time immediately captured my attention. It was during the storyline where Shockwave took control of the Decepticons from Megatron and Ratchet was the only Autobot functional. It was heavy stuff compared to the fluff of the cartoon. I was hooked and stayed hooked all the way through #80.

There are definitely good periods and not-so-good periods of the book. I'd say the first volume of Classics (original issue numbers #1-14) is a must-read. Shockwave was just so awesome, and Ratchet's plight as a warrior out of necessity was a great storyline.

The quality starts to dip from there. There are interesting concepts throughout the series with Budiansky at the helm. The Headmasters miniseries is really interesting as you see the true impact the Transformers war has on a peaceful planet. The Underbase saga was fun if you like robot carnage. But the series really hits its high point when Simon Furman takes over with #56. He starts building towards the infamous Unicron battle which takes place in #75. Awesome stuff!

In case anyone is interested, I collect original artwork from the Transformers comics:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=5484

Yeah, the Furman/Wildman days were my favorite. Of course, as a kid (and yes, as an adult too) I collected the toys so I was delighted to see the toys featured, even if the monthly schedule meant that it was off by a bit. From that first issue, where they did a roll call of both sides, I was hooked.

I don't think the collected editions have the Spider-man issue, though I don't know how they fill in the gap. And I always lose interest when they have too much focus on the humans, especially when they form that team... ugh. One thing that always stuck with me was how dominant the Decepticons were... all five of the Dinobots were no match for Shockwave, and the big bads like Megatron, Jhiaxus, etc. were all way too much for their autobot counterparts.

IDW made a sequel to the series with Furman at the helm, but I never got those. I will say I love the current IDW Transformers universe, which picked up quite a bit around All Hail Megatron and especially Last Stand of the Wreckers. Yes, a lot of it is glorified fanfic (and I'm still horrified at what they did with Arcee's origin), but all comics are basically glorified fanfic at this point, with most writers having grown up with their favorite superheroes and whatnot.

I thumbed through a copy at a Barnes & Noble recently and seem to remember the Spider-Man issue being included.

There was a version of these collections a few years ago which didn't include any of the Marvel characters. As far as I've been able to find out, these new versions have everything included. Except for the Spiderman face logos that were on the little white rectangles on the covers.

Correct. The prior versions of Classics had text summaries of the Spider-Man and Circuit Breaker stories. The current version has those stories fully intact.

I've been reading the TBPs of Regeneration One (Furman's continuation of the Marvel series) and while it's been fine, I prefer the original G2. Yaniger's art was tremendous, though he was only on for a short while.

We're those the ones that came out in early 2000s? I remember thumbing through issues with a arctic dig to find a Decepticon (Starscream?).

My understanding is that pretty much any Simon Furman-related Transformers stuff is pretty damn good. I never got into G1, but love the Beast Wars TV show.