The Transformers Compendium Vol. 1

The Autobots' ship, the Ark, crashed on Earth four million years ago, and a volcano reactivates everyone aboard in 1984. Autobots and Decepticons resume their war in America, and Buster and Sparkplug Witwicky become Optimus Prime's allies. Shockwave seizes command of the Decepticons, Megatron returns, and the fight over Earth's fuel becomes routine. In issue #24, Optimus dies, but his mind is saved on a floppy disk. The Autobots cycle through new leaders as the conflict spreads to Cybertron and to the planet Nebulos, birthplace of the Headmasters. In #42, Optimus returns in a new body built on Nebulos, bonded to the Nebulans. The book runs through #46, with the war nowhere near over.

1. Behind the scenesMeant to last four issues

   Marvel launched Transformers as a four-issue miniseries in 1984. It sold well enough that the book ran all the way to issue #80 in 1991.

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2. Behind the scenesThe man who named the robots

   Editor Bob Budiansky came up with most of the original Transformers' names, including Megatron, Starscream and Ratchet, and wrote the tech specs on Hasbro's toy packaging.

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3. ReferenceSpider-Man in issue #3

   Because the series was set in the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man shows up in issue #3, "Prisoner of War!".

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4. Behind the scenesOptimus dies in the comic too

   Optimus Prime dies in issue #24, "Afterdeath!", and gets a funeral in #26. He comes back in a new body in #42.

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5. Behind the scenesA Daniel Warren Johnson cover

   This Skybound edition has a cover by Daniel Warren Johnson, writer-artist of the current Transformers book, and it gathers Marvel's first 46 issues in a single book.

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