Transformers Collected Comics
Collected Comics was published by Marvel UK as a companion series to the 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.
Marvel US would also publish two volumes - in total, collecting the first six issues of the US comic - under the title.
Stories reprinted
[edit]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 original four-issue miniseries from the US series, retaining the regular ending featuring Shockwave rather than the alternate ending later published in The Complete Works Part 2 (also by Marvel UK).
While the original single issue printings of the early UK stories (such as "Man of Iron") only featured the uncolored black and white lineart for some pages as a cost-cutting measure, the reprints featured in Collected Comics had those pages colored as well, which was then used as the basis for all subsequent reprints of those stories.
Occasionally, corrections to the original stories' printing would be applied to reprints. A character naming error was corrected in the reprinting of "Second Generation!", and the colors for one of the opening splash pages in "Time Wars" were corrected from their original printing.
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
[edit]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
[edit]In 1986 Marvel reprinted the US 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 1985. 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
[edit]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>Stringer, Lew "Blimey! It's another blog about comics!: 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
[edit]Marvel UK
[edit]| Vol. # | Cover | Title | Contents | Notes | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| / | 
|
The Transformers Summer Special |
The Transformers issues: #1-2 "The Transformers" #3-4 "Power Play!" |
Full colour throughout; two page spread of Autobots omitted; unnumbered but retroactively treated as Collected Comics #1 | June 1985 |
| 2 | 
|
The Transformers Special No. 2 or Collected Comics 2 |
The Transformers issues: #5-6 "Prisoner of War!" #7-8 "The Last Stand" |
Features: "The Great Optimus Prime", a challenge to form nine or more anagrams of the word "Optimus"
Full colour throughout |
November 1985 |
| / | 
|
The Transformers: Plague of the Insecticons! |
Transformers Annual 1985 stories: "Plague of the Insecticons!" "And There Shall Come...a Leader!" |
Features: "Hound's Scrambled Word Message", an anagram challenge
Not a Collected Comics volume but released in a similar format |
1986 |
| 3 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 3 |
The Transformers issues: #9-12 "Man of Iron" |
Fully colourised; chapter titles listed in contents; "REMEMBER: NEVER ACCEPT LIFTS FROM STRANGERS!" text removed | March 1986 |
| 4 |
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 4 |
The Transformers issues: #13-17 "The Enemy Within!" |
Fully colourised | June 1986 |
| / | 
|
The Transformers: The Movie |
Transformers: The Movie issues: #1 "The Planet-Eater!" #2 "Judgment Day!" #3 "The Final Battle!" |
Not a Collected Comics volume but released in a similar format; edits made to change the date of events from 2005 to 2006 | November 1986 |
| 5 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 5 or Spring Special |
The Transformers issues: #29-30 "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" |
In an attempt to obscure a continuity error in the artwork, Bumblebee is recoloured green and pink | April 1987 |
| 6 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 6 or Summer Special |
The Transformers issues: #31 "The Wrath of Guardian!" #32 "The Wrath of Grimlock!" |
May 1987 | |
| 7 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 7 or Winter Special |
The Transformers issues: #47-50 "Dinobot Hunt!" |
October 1987 | |
| 8 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 8 or Spring Special |
The Transformers issues: #42-44 "Crisis of Command!" |
April 1988 | |
| 9 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 9 or Summer Special |
The Transformers issues: #59-60 "Robot Buster!" #132 "Kup's Story!" |
June 1988 | |
| 10 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 10 or Holiday Special |
The Transformers issues: #63-65 "Second Generation!" |
This printing changes Dead End's name to Drag Strip | July 1988 |
| 11 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 11 or Winter Special |
The Transformers issues: #41 "Christmas Breaker!" #93 "The Gift" #145 "Stargazing" |
November 1988 | |
| 12 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 12 or Summer Special |
The Transformers issues: #96-97 "Prey!" #98 "...The Harder They Die!" |
May 1989 | |
| 13 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 13 or Holiday Special |
The Transformers issues: #99 "Under Fire!" 100 "Distant Thunder!" |
Features: Transformers AtoZ profiles on Apeface and Brainstorm (advertised in the contents as including Chromedome, an advert appears on Apeface's designated page, edging Chromedome out of the book) | July 1989 |
| 14 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 14 or Autumn Special |
The Transformers issues: #152-153 "Enemy Action!" Annual 1986: "Victory!" |
"Victory!" is abridged, removing four pages entirely | October 1989 |
| 15 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 15 or Spring Special |
The Transformers issues: #78 "Target: 2006" prologue #79 "Target: 2006" part 1 #80 "Target: 2006" part 2 |
Concludes with "CONTINUES IN COLLECTED COMICS 16" – it wasn't, as the masters were apparently lost in the mail | February 1990 |
| 16 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 16 or Summer Special |
The Transformers issues: #172-173 "Wrecking Havoc" #189 "Dry Run!" |
May 1990 | |
| 17 | 
|
The Transformers Special - Collected Comics No. 17 or Holiday Special |
The Transformers issues: #182 "Space Pirates!" part 1 #183 "Space Pirates!" part 2 #184 "Space Pirates!" part 3 |
The conclusion was not collected | July 1990 |
| 18 | 
|
The Transformers Holiday Special - Collected Comics No. 18 |
The Transformers issues: #199 "Time Wars" part 1 #200 "Time Wars" part 2 #201 "Time Wars" part 3 |
An attempt is made to correct an infamous colouring error on the first page of part 3; concludes with "CONTINUED IN COLLECTED COMICS 19" | April 1991 |
| 19 | 
|
The Transformers Collected Comics 19 or Winter Special |
The Transformers issues: #202 "Time Wars" part 4 #203 "Time Wars" part 5 #198 "Cold Comfort and Joy!" |
"Time Wars" ends prematurely with "TO BE CONTINUED!", but the conclusion was not collected; "Cold Comfort and Joy!" concludes with "THE END?"
The copyright indicia is copied from a contemporary issue of The Transformers, including mentioning Machine Man |
Winter 1991 |
| / | 
|
Transformers Summer Special |
The Transformers issues: #135-136 "Grudge Match!" Annual 1986: "Victory!" |
Features: Transformers AtoZ profiles on Skywarp, Slag, Rampage, and Ratbat
As with its printing in Collected Comics No. 14, "Victory!" omits four pages |
July 1992 |
| / | 
|
Transformers Autumn Special |
The Transformers issues: #164-165 "City of Fear!" #166 "Legion of the Lost!" part 1 |
September 1992 | |
| / | 
|
Transformers Easter Special |
The Transformers issues: #167 "Legion of the Lost!" part 2 #168-169 "Meltdown!" |
April 1993 | |
| / | 
|
Transformers Holiday Special |
The Transformers issues: #170-171 "Deadly Games!" #213-214 "The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire." |
"The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire." part 2 is printed without the recap border seen in issue 214 | July 1993 |
| / | 
|
Transformers Winter Special |
The Transformers issues: #29-30 "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" #230-231 "The Big Shutdown!" |
"The Big Shutdown!" is presented in full colour, as it was in issues 330-331 | December 1993 |
| / | 
|
Transformers Holiday Special |
The Transformers issues: #31 "The Wrath of Guardian!" #32 "The Wrath of Grimlock!" Annual 1985: "And There Shall Come...a Leader!" |
April 1994 | |
| / | 
|
Transformers Summer Special '94 |
The Transformers issues: #160-161 "Salvage!" #189 "Dry Run!" |
July 1994 | |
| / | 
|
Transformers Winter Special |
The Transformers issues: #237 "Way of the Warrior" #238 "Survival Run" #239 "A Savage Place!" #272 "Cry Wolf!" #273 "Wolf in the Fold!" #274 "Where Wolf?" |
Features: Transformers AtoZ profiles on Defensor, Devastator, Bonecrusher, and Bombshell
The comic stories are presented in full colour, as they were in Transformers Annual 1991 |
Winter 1994 |
Marvel U.S.
[edit]| Cover | Title | Contents | Notes | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The Transformers: Collected Comics #1 - The Story Begins... |
The Transformers issues: #1 "The Transformers" #2 "Power Play!" #3 "Prisoner of War!" |
Pages are omitted | November 1985 |
|
The Transformers: Collected Comics #2 - The Battle Continues... |
The Transformers issues: #4 "The Last Stand" #5 "The New Order" #6 "The Worse of Two Evils!" |
Pages are omitted | 1985 |