Marvel Comics Fun Fact: Seven letterers died during the production of Transformers #1 back in 1984. - ThreadSky

andrewfarago.bsky.social • 3 days ago

Marvel Comics Fun Fact: Seven letterers died during the production of Transformers #1 back in 1984.

1 / 4

Comments

follicular.bsky.social•1 day ago

when I was a kid, I always thought it was silly that there were separate people who did the lettering for comic books. I get it now...

follicular.bsky.social•1 day ago

seriously?

regalpastry.bsky.social•3 days ago

They, The Letterers, toiled for the literary pursuit of telling the worthy, quotable tale of Transformers
The text and the subtext they needed to convey had to be both thorough and concise for as we now know it is a classic tale of feuding autonomous robot/ vehicles with more than meets the eye.

derfbackderf.bsky.social•3 days ago

One of the two (according to Marvel Database) letterers on that issue was Rick Parker! I know him! I'll HAVE to ask him about this one!

andrewfarago.bsky.social•3 days ago

Let me know what he says! I didn't even blink when I read that one as a kid, since the toy packages were all written like that and this was the first time they showed up in a comic. As someone who's written, hand-lettered and edited comics, though...this gives me heartburn.

jafleece.bsky.social•3 days ago

Look at that toy-accurate Ironhide, never to be seen again

travisjamesinks.bsky.social•3 days ago

SEVEN???? What was going on? Did Stan Lee have them working in some abandoned volcano or something?

xerocks81.bsky.social•3 days ago

literally

slangwordscott.bsky.social•3 days ago

This explains why I never got into the Transformers.

jenni4iowa.bsky.social•3 days ago

Is @longtalljodie.com still here? Because this would seem up her alley.

lewstringer.bsky.social•3 days ago

Good grief! Who wrote that issue?

andrewfarago.bsky.social•3 days ago

Bill Mantlo and Ralph Macchio, with Bob Budiansky as the editor. Knowing how these projects work, they probably had a big character bible along with explicit instructions on what kind of information had to be included in the first issue.

spence-united.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yes, and it became a normal book soon after this

jameslp.bsky.social•3 days ago

I didn't know that Don McGregor was still writing for Marvel in 1984.

alsdrumhang.bsky.social•3 days ago

To be fair, there was like some sort of editorial exposition policy at Marvel in the 80s, punishable by termination; Ralph Macchio was replaced by Jim Salicrup by issue #2.

I like to imagine this was said during his dismissal meeting:

blakebraswell.bsky.social•2 days ago

It’s wild how normal this looked to me as a kid. And now I recoil at it.

caroniver413.bsky.social•3 days ago

"I got [my name], Blue Streak, by being as fast as a blue streak-- whatever that is. Some wise guys said I even talk a blue streak-- whatever that is. Anyway, here I am."
I know they all say nothing, but half of this textbox is just him saying absolutely nothing.

seppdecker.bsky.social•3 days ago

They Cloned Chris Claremont!

kenod.bsky.social•2 days ago

Okay, but dialogue like "I'll pry some useful information from them with my optical lasers... even if they die in the telling" is some good evil dialogue.

I shall steal it for an evil ophthalmologist one day.

kidshay.bsky.social•3 days ago

Those robots sure were blabbermouths

93418.bsky.social•3 days ago

LOMOL.

Lettering Organism Made Only (for) Lettering.

toddser.bsky.social•3 days ago

At least the Sienkiewicz cover was cool.

manuelcarmona.bsky.social•3 days ago

😳😳😳

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply