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  By Simon Hall

  Sep 4, 2015
  First off, I know the author, just so's you know and don't think this is some terrible puff piece by one of his mates. I've been following the Transformation blog since its inception and whilst I like the internet, staring at it for too long makes my eyes go funny, so often times I do think 'why can't this be in a book so I can read it nicely at my leisure or again'. Mr Webb seems to have had similar ideas, so a deft bit of self-publishing later and here we are. Marvel UK's Transformers comic is one of the publishing success stories of the UK comic book industry. It's fair to say that the success of Transformers allowed Marvel UK to expand and develop its own originated titles. For fans, it became more than a comic. The comic went to great lengths to engage with its readership, offering an opportunity to swap toys, comics and interact with other fans in a way that many other titles just didn't. The blog - and subsequently this book - has been a joy to read, detailing everything in the... More > comic, from its editorial content, letters pages, the title story itself, the back ups and the gag strips. Stuart's writing style is witty and insightful, with some good observations on character motivation and the internal logic of the strip. There's a warmness and affection for the source material, but this doesn't stop some pointed criticisms of where things haven't quite worked. The book does rely on a strong degree of familiarity with the source material, so this isn't something that will appeal to casual fans. Being an unofficial publication, there's none of the relevant illustrations to er, illustrate some of the points being made. As well as the comic itself, the book also touches on the Ladybird books, Annuals, cartoon and animated movie which really allow you to get a feel of how entrenched Transformers quickly became. The design of the book is tight, with some illustrations by Andrew Turnbull. Being a self-published book, there are one or two typos that have slipped through the net aswellassentences that have gotalljumbled together, which can be a bit distracting. My copy also has a few pages where the layout has been set incorrectly, so that you'll be halfway through reading about one issue and suddenly you're reading about another. Being familiar with Choose Your Own Adventure books, I quickly figured this out. These minor production flaws don't distract from the content however, and the book is a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging read.< Less
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