Editing Transformers Collected Comics

[[Image:CollectedComics4Cover.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Brawn and Starscream are announced as the finalists in the "Who's Got the Best Fists?" competition.]]
'''Collected Comics''' was published by Marvel UK as a companion series to the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|UK Generation 1 comic]]. Its purpose was to reprint entire stories from the comic (hence the name), in many ways a precursor of the modern [[trade paperback]].

They were published on a semi-regular basis alongside the UK comic, usually as Summer or Winter specials. The name ‘Collected Comics’ wasn’t actually used until volume two of the series however.

==Stories reprinted==

The majority of the stories reprinted as part of the Collected Comics series were UK exclusives; however Collected Comics 1 and 2 were reprints of the [[The Transformers (issue)|US 4 issue miniseries]].

[[Image:RavageEnemyWithinColour.jpg|left|180px|thumb|"I was so much more atmospheric in black and white!"]]
When they were originally published in the UK comic some stories, such as "[[Man of Iron (issue)|Man of Iron]]" were printed in black and white, these were later coloured for their publication in Collected Comics. 

Some volumes contained multiple stories, a main story along with a short back-up story to bring up the page count. Especially long UK stories would be split across multiple volumes.

In February 1990 Collected Comics 15 reprinted the first 3 issues of the incredibly popular "[[Target: 2006]]". Unfortunately the master copies for the remaining issues were lost in the post meaning that the remainder of the story was never published in the Collected Comics series. Rather cheekily however Collected Comics 16 used a "Target: 2006" cover.

Collected Comics 17 saw the reprinting of the first 3 parts of "[[Space Pirates!]]". This ended with a 'To be continued…' caption at the end. Collected Comics 18 however saw the first 3 parts of "[[Time Wars]]" being published instead, no explanation for this was ever given, with parts 4 & 5 reprinted in 19. Time Wars itself was also never completed, as due to falling sales, the UK comic ceased publication and the Collected Comics series went into a decline, with its output becoming ever more random.

The UK Annual story "[[Victory!]]" was reprinted twice, once in Collected Comics 14 and once in the 1992 Summer Special. On both occasions the first, eighth, ninth & tenth pages of the story were omitted, although this did not affect the story's readability.

The covers of the first three issues were a reprint of an earlier UK comic cover. This practice was also adopted for Collected Comics 7 and continuously from Collected Comics 13. This would usually be one of the original covers from the story contained within, although in later Collected Comics this was not always the case. Collected Comics 3-6 & 8-12 had newly drawn covers.

==Format==

The publication format of the series changed over time. The first two issues were in a prestige format (with a high price) with approximately fifty pages and cardboard covers, similar to other Marvel specials from 1985. From the third issue the series moved to paper covers, with the number of pages fluctuating between 24 and 48 until issue #8 when they settled on 36 pages, which all subsequent issues have. The price fluctuated depending on the format and length.

==Other specials==

In 1986 Marvel reprinted the US ''[[Transformers: The Movie (Marvel comic)|Transformers: The Movie]]'' adaptation in a single style volume. This was not sold as part of the Collected Comics series but simply as a Winter Special in a prestige format with a cardboard cover.

Another one-off special published was "Plague of the Insecticons!", which reprinted both "[[Plague of the Insecticons!]]" and "[[And There Shall Come...a Leader!]]" from the ''[[Transformers Annual 1986]]''. It was not issued as part of the Collected Comics series but was instead put out in a prestige format with a cardboard cover and a higher price.

==Survival==

Following the demise of the UK comic in 1992 the Collected Comics series continued to be published for a further 2 years (a non-uncommon occurrence for comic specials<ref>[[Lew Stringer|Stringer, Lew]] "[http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/ Blimey! It's another blog about comics!]: [http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2009/07/heyday-of-summer-special.html Heyday of the Summer Special (Updated)]</ref>), although the Collected Comics moniker was dropped after volume 19. An additional 8 volumes were published in this period with the final volume being published in the winter of 1994, over 9 years since the first volume in the series and a year longer than the comic series that spawned it. 

==Collected Comics==
Below is a complete list of all the Collected Comics series. Where applicable the volume number is specified within the title.

===Summer Special 1985===
*[[The Transformers (issue)|The Transformers]]
*[[Power Play!]]

===2 – Special 1985===
*[[Prisoner of War!]]
*[[The Last Stand]]

===Plague of the Insecticons! – 1986===
* [[Plague of the Insecticons!]]
* [[And There Shall Come...a Leader!]]

===3 – Special 1986===
*[[Man of Iron (issue)|Man of Iron]]

===4 – Summer Special 1986===
*[[The Enemy Within!]]

===Winter Special 1986===
*[[Transformers: The Movie (Marvel comic)|Transformers: The Movie]]

===5 – Spring Special 1987===
*[[Decepticon Dam-Busters!]]

===6 – Summer Special 1987===
*[[The Wrath of Guardian!]]
*[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]

===7 – Winter Special 1987===
*[[Dinobot Hunt!]]

===8 – Spring Special 1988===
*[[Crisis of Command!]]

===9 – Summer Special 1988===
*[[Robot Buster!]]
*[[Kup's Story!]]

===10 – Holiday Special 1988===
*[[Second Generation!]]

===11 – Winter Special 1988===
*[[Christmas Breaker!]]
*[[The Gift]]
*[[Stargazing]]

===12 – Summer Special 1989===
*[[Prey!]]
*[[...The Harder They Die!]]

===13 – Holiday Special 1989===
*[[Under Fire!]]
*[[Distant Thunder!]]

===14 – Autumn Special 1989===
*[[Enemy Action!]]
*[[Victory!]]

===15 – Spring Special 1990===
*[[Target: 2006]] prologue, #1 & 2

===16 – Summer Special 1990===
*[[Wrecking Havoc]]
*[[Dry Run!]]

===17 – Holiday Special 1990===
*[[Space Pirates!]] #1-3

===18 – Holiday Special 1991===
*[[Time Wars]] #1-3

===19 – Winter Special 1991===
*[[Time Wars]] #4-5
*[[Cold Comfort and Joy!]]

===Summer Special 1992===
*[[Grudge Match!]]
*[[Victory!]]

===Autumn Special 1992===
*[[City of Fear!]]
*[[Legion of the Lost!]] #1

===Easter Special 1993===
*[[Legion of the Lost!]] #2
*[[Meltdown!]]

===Holiday Special 1993===
*[[Deadly Games!]]
*[[The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire.]]

===Winter Special 1993===
*[[Decepticon Dam-Busters!]]
*[[The Big Shutdown!]]

===Holiday Special 1994===
*[[The Wrath of Guardian!]]
*[[The Wrath of Grimlock!]]
*[[And There Shall Come...a Leader!]]

===Summer Special 1994===
*[[Salvage!]]
*[[Dry Run!]]

===Winter Special 1994===
*[[Way of the Warrior]]
*[[Survival Run]]
*[[A Savage Place!]]
*[[Cry Wolf!]]
*[[Wolf in the Fold!]]
*[[Where Wolf?]]

==Covers==

<gallery>
Image:Tfcolcom01.jpg|'''Collected Comics #1'''
Image:Tfcolcom02.jpg|'''Collected Comics #2'''
Image:Plginssp.jpg|'''Plague of the Insecticons special'''
Image:Tfcolcom03.jpg|'''Collected Comics #3'''
Image:CollectedComics4Cover.jpg|'''Collected Comics #4'''
Image:Tftmadaptukspec.jpg|'''Transformers: The Movie special'''
Image:Tfcolcom05.jpg|'''Collected Comics #5'''
Image:Tfcolcom06.jpg|'''Collected Comics #6'''
Image:Tfcolcom07.jpg|'''Collected Comics #7'''
Image:Tfcolcom08.jpg|'''Collected Comics #8'''
Image:Tfcolcom09.jpg|'''Collected Comics #9'''
Image:Tfcolcom10.jpg|'''Collected Comics #10'''
Image:Tfcolcom11.jpg|'''Collected Comics #11'''
Image:Tfcolcom12.jpg|'''Collected Comics #12'''
Image:Tfcolcom13.jpg|'''Collected Comics #13'''
Image:Tfcolcom14.jpg|'''Collected Comics #14'''
Image:Tfcolcom15.jpg|'''Collected Comics #15'''
Image:Tfcolcom16.jpg|'''Collected Comics #16'''
Image:Tfcolcom17.jpg|'''Collected Comics #17'''
Image:Tfcolcom18.jpg|'''Collected Comics #18'''
Image:Tfcolcom19.jpg|'''Collected Comics #19'''
Image:Tfcolcom20.jpg|'''Summer Special 1992'''
Image:TFUK 1992 Autumn Special.jpg|'''Autumn Special 1992'''
Image:TFUK 1992 Easter Special.jpg|'''Easter Special 1993'''
Image:Tfcolcom23.jpg|'''Holiday Special 1993'''
Image:Tfcolcom24.jpg|'''Winter Special 1993'''
Image:Tfcolcom25.jpg|'''Holiday Special 1994'''
Image:Tfcolcom26.jpg|'''Summer Special 1994'''
Image:Tfcolcom27.jpg|'''Winter Special 1994'''
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collected Comics}}
[[Category:Generation 1 comic compilations]]