The Transformers: Classics UK, Vol. 4 Paperback – July 9, 2013

Target 2006 was the beginning of the best period for the comic, & the quality stories continue in this volume. We start off with a story that may not be a favorite of Simon Furman's but is definitely one of mine, Wanted Galvatron Dead Or Alive. This & the next three stories form a very good arc in which sets up the comics' version of the Post-Movie Transformers Universe & I have to admit, the stalemate is more interesting than the Autobots completely dominating Cybertron like in the cartoon. It also introduces Death's Head, the coolest "freelance peacekeeping agent" this side of Boba Fett. I thought this was a fantastic story all the way through. I personally would not have minded having to buy the Annual to complete the story (Marvel US did that a lot), but I can understand why many people were miffed about it. We then get an excellent little crossover with G.I. Joe (I know they said Action Force isn't G.I. Joe but I pretend that the Joes just happened to have finished a mission in England that turned out easier than expected which explains why they had so many vehicles at the ready). Again although it's not a favorite of the writer's it's a favorite of mine (as are most stories from this period). We do however come to a story that I do agree with him isn't one of his best, Worlds Apart. It's a good story, it's just not fantastic. It's certainly not as good as the Headmasters miniseries. But it's only 2 issues, and then we go back to favorites such as Kup's Story. Kup was my favorite of the Movie characters because he seemed the most interesting to me, so this story was exactly what I wanted to see. Headhunt is another excellent story. I personally think that with the exception of a couple black & white stories, all the stories set in the future are top notch. "What's In a Name?" and "Grudge Match" are also awesome; the last time the Dinobots were used well until Earthforce. Their fight against the Predacons was great, as was the rivalry between Swoop & Divebomb. Ladies' Night was probably the best human-centric story in the whole comic. Yes focusing on humans can turn off the fans, but for me it's only bad if the humans are annoying (like the kids in Child's Play & Spacehikers, & Sam from the live-action Movies). It was great seeing 3 good characters come together like they did here. Sadly, there is one real turkey in this collection: Stargazing which unfortunately happens to be the last of the regular issues in this volume. This is for me the worst of the Christmas stories. Starscream seems out of character, and the plot is just silly. We then come to the other 2 stories from the Annual. Ark Duty is a great little short story, but Doomsday for Nebulos is a mixed bag. The first part is just okay, but the third part is not very good. However the second part, which details the birth of the Headmasters told from Stylor's point of view, is very well written & intriguing. Still, there are quite a few vintage advertisements as well as profiles of characters from Transformers A-Z, so it's not exactly ending things on a bad note, but even if it did, this would still be a recommended collection. But besides the bad stories, you know what the only bad thing about this collection is? All that talk about the UK Thundercats comic in the introduction makes me want to read it. I'm a huge Thundercats fan. I heard the comic lasted 129 issues in the UK, so even after subtracting the US reprints there would be at least a few dozen issues' worth of stories that we didn't get here, and they've got to be much better than some of the crap Wildstorm produced (although I thought Reclaiming Thundera, Hammerhand's Revenge, Enemy's Pride & the one-shot issues were all worthy of the franchise, Dogs of War wasn't that good but it was better than The Return, which sucked). Anyways, I can't wait for Volume 5 so I can finally read the Legacy of Unicron.

Transformers Classics UK Volume 4 is a great book! This book is mostly about the post-movie (from the 1986 Transformers The Movie) Transformers characters from season 3. I think my favorite story in this book is Wanted Galvatron: Dead or Alive. Transformers character, Autobot leader, Rodimus Prime is introduced. It is very good book full of wonderful stories by UK writer Simon Furman. UK Transformers artist, Geoff Senior, is one of the comic artists in this book! This also reprints the Marvel UK Comics were Death's Head makes his first appearance in Transformers UK. I Highly Recommend it! This is one of my favorite Transformers books! A+++++

The fourth installment in the transformers uk series is another great read while not as good as volume three it's on par with volumes one and two. I highly recommend it.

back in the day, 1985-1990, it was hard to keep up with Transformers UK since I'm in America. But these books make sense of it all. I love this series.

IDW's collections of Transformers Classics UK are awesome. They are a must for any Transformers comics fan! The quality of the paperback and paper stock is good. The pages are not the glossy stock most comics and tpb's are the quality is still good and fits with the 80's style. But the extras are what make it worth it. Many times when a comic is reprinted and/or collected there isn't many extras included (except maybe cover reprints). So having in-depth articles, etc make it accessible for fans (such as myself) who wouldn't normally know all the cool little bits of info. and funner to read the stories because of it! The extras include in-depth articles with Simon Furman and others about the history of Transformers UK and each story. Plus there are adverts, covers and other bonus reprints.

There were some excellent stories in this volume . Had a great time reading them. The new characters were fine even though nothing really compares to Optimus Prime. The writing continued to be very good even if the art was sketchy in places (pun intended!)

I came for Death's Head, I wasn't disappointed.