Titan Books, the English publisher that secured the rights to publish the Transformers comics produced by Marvel in the 1980s (see 'Titan Takes Transformers Trades'), has just announced the release of Dark Designs, the first Titan collection featuring the original Marvel Generation 2 Transformers series.  The soft cover version of the collection, which is due out in September, features a cover by Andrew Wildman, while the hardcover edition that will appear in October sports a cover by fan favorite John Byrne.  The Titan Transformers trades are available in the U.S. through Diamond Comic Distributors.

 

The loss of the reprint rights to the Transformers comics appears to be one of the few editorial mistakes of the current Marvel regime, which may well have underestimated the economic potential in the current revival of various 1980s comics.  Beginning with Image's stunning revival of G.I. Joe (another former Marvel title), and continuing with Dreamwave Productions hugely successful new Transformers: G1 comic (see 'Retro Rules in April'), and now Top Cow's major hit, Battle of the Planets, and Dark Horse new Kiss comic -- the retro boom is clearly in full swing.