Summary

• The shocking Transformers #4 ending made fans think all heroes were murdered, leading to an iconic #5 cover.
• Hasbro rejected the iconic Transformers #5 cover featuring the implication that the heroes were all dead, fearing an impact on toy sales.
• The editor of the comic convinced Hasbro that kids were smart enough to know that the Transformers weren't REALLY dead

Welcome to the 932nd installment of Comic Book Legends Revealed, a column where we examine three comic book myths, rumors and legends and confirm or debunk them. In the third legend of this installment, discover why Hasbro almost wouldn't let Marvel use what turned out to be the most iconic Transformers comic book covers of all-time.

One of the more interesting changes in Marvel's publishing strategy in the early 1980s was the introduction of the "limited series" in 1982, with Contest of Champions. The ability to do limited series, which was aided by the development of the direct market system (where Marvel would sell directly to distributors that would sell directly to comic book stores), allowed Marvel to try out some concepts for series that it would never have given a chance if it had to commit to doing them as an ongoing series. A place where the change was specifically felt was in Marvel's licensed comic books. When you're doing a comic book based on a toy or a cartoon, it sure helps to be able to do it first as a limited series to see if it has legs before jumping into an ongoing series.

So when Marvel launched its Transformers comic book series in 1984, based on the Hasbro toyline (which Marvel had developed for Hasbro, much like how it had worked with Hasbro a few years earlier on the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, which led to a comic book series that launched as an ongoing in 1982 before Contest of Champions. It's an interesting question as to whether G.I. Joe, or Rom the Spaceknight, for that matter, would have been a limited series had it launched after Contest of Champions had proven the practicality of the limited series format for Marvel...DC, of course, had already been doing limited series for a couple of years by this point), it launched as a miniseries at first...

This led to one of the most shocking endings to a comic book based on its cover marketing. The fourth issue of the four-issue Transformers series, clearly labeled as the final issue of the series...

ended with the Transformers all seemingly being killed by Shockwave...

Of course, when that happened, Marvel knew it was converting Transformers into an ongoing series with the next issue (and the letter column, which started in this issue, also made it clear), but most of the fans picking up #4 off of the comic book rack didn't know that BEFORE reading the letter column, and it really looked like the series had ended with all the heroes just getting MURDERED on the final page!!! The possibility that they WERE dead led to an iconic cover for Transfrormers #5, but a cover that caused some problems for Marvel with Hasbro!

Who drew the cover for Transformers #5?

The cover to Transformers #5 was painted by Mark D. Bright, better known as M.D. Bright (or "Doc" Bright), who sadly passed away recently (here is my obituary for the brilliant comic book artist). Before he broke into the world of comic books, Bright worked as a teacher while trying to get work as an artist, and around 1982, he started to get some nice assignments, like painting covers of science fiction novels, and also doing some work for toy companies, and, of course, slowly, but surely he started to get assignments at Marvel Comics.

This cover was one of his first Marvel works, and it has become probably THE most homaged cover in the history of Transformers comic books! And yet, when it was first done, Hasbro REJECTED IT!

What was Hasbro's problem with the cover to Transformers #5?

In an interview for AIPT last year, Christopher Priest, who was the editor on the series at the time, explained what went wrong with the cover:

For Transformers #5, the first issue of the ongoing series, I commissioned a painting from Mark Bright. He’s the guy who painted that cover and most people know him from Power Man and Iron Fist. But he was also a painter for the covers of science-fiction novels. So I commissioned him to paint the cover for this relaunch, and I sketched out this whole idea of Shockwave with the smoking gun, standing by this wall. And I said, “Leave space on the wall so we can carve into it, ‘are all dead.'” So it reads: “The Transformers are all dead.”

Mark sent this beautiful cover, and we sent it over to Hasbro, and they rejected it.

Why would they reject this cover? And the notes we got back from Hasbro were, “Well if you say the Transformers are all dead, the kids will stop buying the toys.” That was maybe among the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard from a licensee. I had to explain to this person — who I’m sure was a perfectly nice person — but who knew nothing about comics and probably even less about toys. They won’t stop. They won’t believe the Transformers are all dead. Kids are not that stupid.

And it’s comic books. Even if they were all dead — they’ll be back next issue. I mean, come on, who bought that Superman was dead? The whole backlash about Superman coming back to life was utterly ridiculous. Do you really think DC was going to walk away from Superman? Are you insane? But at any rate, after a few conversations, I managed to talk them into it.

And thank goodness he did!

Thanks to Christopher Priest for the really cool story!

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That's it for Comic Book Legends Revealed #932! See you next installment! Be sure to check out my Entertainment Legends Revealed for more urban legends about the world of film and TV. Plus, Pop Culture References also has some brand-new Entertainment and Sports Legends Revealeds!

Feel free to send suggestions for future comic legends to me at either cronb01@aol.com or brianc@cbr.com.