MONSTER MECHAS – the 80s toy no one remembers!
How's that for a #throwbackthursday?
Remember this?
Issue 3 of Monster Mechas – the official tie-in comic of the hit toy brand that took both the US and the UK by storm in the 1980s.
Published by Mega Comics' UK-imprint, the fortnightly series reprinted stories from Mega’s US mini-series written by Will McMann with art by Fred Stringer. The issue also included a Clankenstein fact-file and 10-page back-up strip featuring Mega’s own cybernetic super-hero The Steel Hammer.
Launched in late 1984, Monster Mechas was the brainchild of New Jersey-based Miko Max toys who knew they had to take a big swing if they wanted to challenge the He-Men and transforming toys of the day.
According to internal Miko Max memos, the initial idea of combining giant robots with classic monsters and mythological creatures came from lead designer Marv ‘Boris’ Rogers who had been a fan of monster movies since first seeing The Wolfman as a kid.
The issue – which showcased the sinister leader of the Horrorcons Mechula taking on Unichrome, second-in-command of the heroic Cryptoids – came with the third of a set of four pin badges that was given away free with the early editions. This one featured Wolf-Bot, the name the fan-favourite TerrorByte was known in Great Britain due to a printing error in the Miko Mix 1984 toy catalogue.
And the eagle-eyed among you will notice that this wasn't the only mistake to get past the proofreaders. Issue 4 was the last issue to feature the original logo which included a rogue apostrophe that almost got Rogers fired when it was noticed six months after the toy line had hit the shelves.
A corrected version of the logo would be found on all merchandise from this point, including the second wave of toys and all 334 issues of the comic (two more than Marvel UK's rival Transformers run no less!)
Except, of course... none of that happened. I doubt any of you will remember Monster Mechas as... there was no such thing, and certainly no bestselling comic!
So what the heckity-heck am I blathering about?
Well, this all came from Small Press Comics Day back in July when I had the pleasure of meeting Bristol-based graffiti and comic artist Keith Hopewell, A.K.A SP Zero.
While attending an event at Mike's Comics in Bristol, we started talking about our love of classic 80s toys and how fun it would be to create a cult toy line that never existed. Before I knew it, Keith had started sketching characters and I was creating background lore for Monster Mechas: Creatures of the Might!
We've had so much fun that we've decided to create a series of fake covers that we'll share here on the Cavletter, our social feeds and maybe even a few cons.
Who knows... one day, there might even be merch.
(Keith, we're at least having t-shirts, right?)
So, keep your eye out for more adventures of the heroic Cryptoids and evil Horrorcons. You've already seen Mechula and Unichrome... but who is the hairy brute in the corner box?
