Shogun Warriors #1

Continuing with the random scanning (I will do some proper updates at some point), here's the first issue of Marvel's Shogun Warriors series. For those who don't know, Shogun Warriors was Mattel's attempt to sell Popy toys to the American public - comprehensive coverage of the toyline can be found at Wildtoys' Shogun Warriors Page.

They roped in Marvel to produce a comic to help promote the line. In practice - either for legal reasons (the legislation that would allow G.I. Joe and Transformers was still a few years down the line) or by choice - only three figures from the line appeared: Raydeen, Combattler and Dangard Ace. Just as much focus was given to their human operators and the Followers of Light organisation responsible for the Shoguns in the end. The series - unlike its' 1980s descendants - took place in the main Marvel Universe, leading to a crossover with the Fantastic Four when sales slumped. The pilots would even turn up in the F4's own comic after Shogun Warriors was cancelled for an epilogue to their adventures.

Licencing issues (obvious even in the F4 wrap-up, where the robots were unnamed and had their appearances modified) mean the series is highly unlikely to ever be collected. There are scans of the whole run out there, but I've never found any in decent resolution. So I've scanned the first of my complete run. The age of the comics means the colours look somewhat washed out, but if people want more let me know and I'll add further issues to my "To Do" pile.

- Shogun Warriors #1