Planet Terry (comic): Difference between revisions
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Planet Terry'' (comic)}}
{{Comicinfo
|seriestitle=''Planet Terry''
|logo=Planet Terry logo.png
|bgcol=#f43530
|fontcol=white
|format=Ongoing comic series
|reprint={{Marvel|Planet_Terry_Vol_1|''Planet Terry''}} issues 1-3
|original=1984-1985
|TFUKfirst=[[The Transformers issue 16|Issue 16]]
|TFUKfinal=[[The Transformers issue 25|Issue 25]]}}
'''"Poor kid! That's just a ''blank picture frame'' that he signed by himself! He's never even seen his parents!"'''
==History==
In 1984, [[Marvel Comics]] introduced [[w:Star Comics|'''Star Comics''']], an imprint aimed at younger children, in order to fill a gap in the market left by defunct publishers and gain a bigger market share by targeting kids of all ages. Star Comics produced a handful of original titles, taking influence from the [[w:Harvey Comics|Harvey Comics]] style (sometimes a ''very'' heavy influence, as in the case of [[w:Richie Rich (character)|Richie Rich]] and [[w:Royal Roy|Royal Roy]]). Star's bread and butter was licensed titles, producing over four times as many licensed series as their original material. Relevant to us, titles included ''[[ThunderCats]]'', ''[[Inhumanoids]]'', and ''[[Visionaries]]''. The Star Comics imprint was scrapped in 1988, with any surviving series continuing under the Marvel name itself. The longest lasting title was {{Marvel|Heathcliff_Vol_1|''Heathcliff'',}} which ran for 56 issues, 34 of which were published after Star's demise.
One of Star Comics' original titles was '''''Planet Terry'''''. It told the story of a young space traveller, also named [[Planet Terry]], who was searching the universe after being separated from his parents at birth. On his journeys, being ping-ponged through ridiculous situations in the far corners of the universe, Terry gained something of a found family in the form of resourceful gynoid [[Robota]] and fearsome Fearzum [[Omnus]]. In some small way, each adventure took him one step closer to an understanding of his past, but the series concluded after twelve issues with no parental reunion.
''Planet Terry'' joined ''[[The Transformers]]'' in [[The Transformers issue 16|issue 16]], presumably also as a way to target younger readers. It proved a divisive addition, with its wordplay-based sub-[[w:Hanna-Barbera|Hanna-Barberian]] humour at odds with the very real childhood fear of parental abandonment. The Harvey Comics influence made it feel like a throwback to the entertainment from the writer's youth rather than anything that would interest the children of the 1980s. After ''The Transformers'' reprinted ''Planet Terry''{{'}}s first two issues and a truncated abridgement of the third, the title was dropped.
Planet Terry's next fictional appearance came years later in the 2009-2010 miniseries {{Marvel|X-Babies_Vol_1|''X-Babies'',}} which was later collected under the subtitle of "Stars Reborn" (geddit?). Here, an all-signing, all-dancing, all-''rapping'' version of Terry appeared alongside other Star Comics characters as part of the new cutesified and vapid programming broadcast across {{Marvel|Mojoworld|Mojoworld}} following a hostile takeover of {{Marvel|Mojo_(Mojoverse)|Mojo's}} studios by {{Marvel|Mr._Veech_(Mojoverse)|Mr. Veech.}} Over the course of the story it was revealed that these were constructs based on ''real'' (and realistic) versions of Terry, Royal Roy, Wally the Wizard, and Top Dog, who had been imprisoned in VR simulations by Veech. The comic concluded with the X-Babies returning each Star character to their dimension of origin. Both incarnations of Terry had commonalities with the original, but it is unclear if either was intended to be in continuity with the ''Planet Terry'' series, and the pan-dimensional nature of Mojoworld makes it hard to definitively state that the "real" Terry was from {{Marvel|Earth-616|Earth-616.}} Each Star character was left in a situation that is easy to imagine was a pitch for a rebooted spin-off series, and at the same time, backmatter in the individual ''X-Babies'' issues advertised the original Star Comics stories, reprinted contemporarily in the {{Marvel|Star_Comics_All-Star_Collection_Vol_1|''Star Comics All-Star Collection''}} volumes.
Terry's epilogue in ''X-Babies'' was the first on-panel acknowledgement that his silver hair and distinctive space suit were reminiscent of the (pink) {{Marvel|Kree|Kree.}} This was picked up and run with when an Earth-616 Planet Terry appeared in 2016's {{Marvel|Drax_Vol_1|''Drax''}} ongoing series, now an adult and a bounty hunter, interacting with the wider space-faring denizens of the Marvel universe. The series implied that the events of ''Planet Terry'' happened in this Terry's backstory, though by necessity they would have to have occurred roughly when they were published and to an alien child, rather than the far future human the original Terry was implied to be. Still no parents, though.
==''Planet Terry'' stories in TFUK==
*"[[The Search]]"
**"[[A Clue|Part II: A Clue]]"
**"[[Some Answers|Part III: Some Answers]]"
**"[[Malt Shop Menace|Part IV: Malt Shop Menace]]"
*"[[The Saga of Princess Ugly]]"
**"[[Too Close (Enough) for Comfort|Part 2: Too Close (Enough) for Comfort]]"
**"[[The Doom of the Domed City|Part 3: The Doom of the Domed City]]"
**"[[The Doom of the Domed City#Part 4|Part 4]]"
**"[[The Secret of the Space Warp]]"
**"[[The Saga of Princess Ugly part 6|Part 6]]"
==Reception==
*The gamut is run in [[The Transformers issue 20|issue 20]]'s Openers: Jason Kelly of Bexleyheath, Kent, writes in to say that he has "never yet [...] read a better story than ''Planet Terry''. It's great!" Meanwhile, Lewis Mills of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, writes: "I think ''The Transformers'' is great but I have to complain about ''Planet Terry''. It's okay having ''[[Machine Man (comic)|Machine Man]]'' as a back-up strip but ''Planet Terry'' isn't needed – it's babyish!" In a postscript, he adds that ''[[The Chromobots]]'' "aren't much better".
*In [[The Transformers issue 21|issue 21]]'s Openers, Simon Keeling (aged 14) of Littleover, Derby, writes in with a list of bests and worsts, placing "Adding ''Planet Terry''" as the first (and only) on the list of "Best Things Ever Done In ''The Transformers''". His "Best Thing That Could Be Done in ''The Transformers''" integrates his worsts, too: "More of ''Planet Terry'' and ''The Transformers'' and no ''[[Matt and the Cat|Matt And The Cat]]'', ''Chromobots'' and ''Machine Man''."
*In [[The Transformers issue 24|issue 24]]'s [[Soundwaves]], {{TF|Mirage_(G1)|Mirage}} (alias Zachary Gallagher of Birstall, Leicestershire) writes in to say "please get rid of ''Planet Terry'' as soon as possible."
*In [[The Transformers issue 25|issue 25]]'s Soundwaves, Jason Morris of Virginia, U.S.A., agrees with Lewis Mills' summation of ''Planet Terry'' as babyish.
[[Category:Comics]]
[[Category:Planet Terry| ]]
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