Double-page spreads are something of a rarity in Transformers comics. They pose tremendous amounts of difficulty in production (particularly if a comic features mid-story advertising) in both the pre-press and printing stages.

Any image to be rendered across the two pages has to be worthwhile. You can’t take a double-page spread lightly. You can’t just say it, you’ve got to mean it.

Let’s analyse a selection of double-page spreads featured in the last 25 years’ of Transformers comics and see just what they were used for. Please click on the thumbnails to view fullsize images.

It took Marvel UK’s Transformers comic nearly 150 issues to pluck up the courage to produce a double-page spread inside the comic. Here, artist Dan Reed picks up the gauntlet and uses it to hold his pencils and inking brushes.

The spread is littered with Transformers, boiling with carnage.

The reader has no choice but to pour over the spread, inspecting every square inch to see who they can spot. It’s like a “Where’s Wally” for Transformers. Dan Reed may not have been everyone’s favourite artist, but he certainly knows how to populate a battle scene!

Marvel UK never again produced an original double-page spread in the comic itself. In 1989’s Transformers Annual, the story “Destiny of the Dinobots” did include one.

In something of a contrast to “The Legacy of Unicron” spread, Andy Wildman/Stephen Baskerville’s “The Void” features a crowd of Transformers in a double-page spread but instead of fighting, they are all just standing around. Well, not just standing around, as they have just been told their race’s origin. Most of them are simply stood, shocked, but Apeface at least is taking the opportunity to enjoy a banana.

The opening act of Simon Furman’s “Rhythms of Darkness” must surely be one of the most chilling scenes in all Transformers history, punctuated by this double-page spread by Jose Delbo of a ruined Manhattan with a dead Rodimus Prime strung up between the Twin Towers. Prime’s appearance is not obvious at first; the reader has to look for it. But as the eye catches Prime’s fate, the brain catches up, and the horror of scene slowly makes its point. It’s one of the most effective uses of the double-page spread in Transformers.

(Other double-page spreads published by Marvel USA were of Unicron attacking Cybertron in Transformers 75, and the arrival of the Swarm in Transformers: Generation 2 12.)

By the time Transformers comics were being published by Dreamwave in 2002, the use of double-page spreads seemed to shift from portraying intense battle scenes or imagery that required a longer glance and substantial thought to making sure Big Things looked big enough.

Here, in the fourth issue of Dreamwave’s first Transformers mini-series Devastator (as drawn by Pat Lee, Rob Armstrong, Edwin Garcia, Ramil Sunga, Gary Yeung, Alan Wang, and Kenny Li) emerges from the San Francisco Bay. He certainly is a Big Thing. But actually how big? Here are some figures. San Fransisco bay is about 30 m deep at its deepest and the tallest buildings in the city are about 200 m and above. Devastator stands with water up to his waist and is also taller than most of the buildings in the city. The logical explanation is that Devastator must shrink in water.

Dreamwave’s next use of a double-page spread was of “Cyber City” in Armada #1. Seen enough? Good, let’s move on. I’m not a tour guide.

Another Big Thing, apart from Devastator, is Omega Supreme.

In Dreamwave’s ongoing Transformers #4, artist Don Figueroa renders Big Thing Omega Supreme at a suitable scale, filling the double-page spread with his imposing form.

We’ll stop for a moment to ask a quick question. Was there ever a normal sized Transformers character that was rendered to fit a double-page spread? Yes, as it happens. In IDW Publishing’s preview issue of their “Infiltration” mini-series, jet-mode Thundercracker is shown unleashing a sonic boom upon Ratchet and his puns-for-names human passengers. Sure, it’s a double-page sound effect, but it’s a very effective use of the format, and catches the reader off guard.

IDW Publishing’s next use of a double-page spread was somewhat controversial. In their commemorative adaptation of Transformers: The Movie, three additional pages of story were added to the trade paperback release. Two of those comprised a double-page spread of Omega Supreme, Superion and Defensor battling it out with Bruticus and Menasor.

The eleventh issue of IDW Publishing’s “All Hail Megatron” maxi-series features two double-page spreads. If that isn’t some indication to the pacing problems this series has suffered from, then I don’t know what is.

Here, artist Guido Guidi renders Devastator across two pages. And, like the Dreamwave version, the Decepticon is portrayed in widescreen Wank-o-visionTM.

Devastator is big, we get it.

However, Guido draws Devastator much, much more kinetically than Pat Lee’s lumbering version.

There’s only one Autobot apparently big enough to take Devastator on and, you guessed it, it’s Omega Supreme. With a punch that requires a double-page spread, Omega Supreme takes down his Big Thing counterpart. Look closely and you’ll see a teeny tiny Ironhide and Astrotrain in the foreground. These Big Things are immense!

So it seems like Devastator and Omega Supreme are going to be walking away, crowned King and Queen of the Double-Page Prom. Unless there is one other in the ranks of the Transformers that wants to step forward…

Thank you, Metroplex! The robot form of Autobot City is the largest known Transformer (or second, if you count Unicron as belonging to the species) and should surely have at least one double-page spread dedicated to him. For IDW Publishing’s “Spotlight Metroplex” artist Marcelo Matere depicts Metroplex as a breath-taking behemoth. Literally whipping up a storm just by standing up, this is a robot with presence.

Thus concludes The Hub’s dissection of Transformers double-page spreads. Our journey has taken us from the 80s/90s idea of highly detailed, big scenes making full use of the double-page format to the contemporary practice of using it to spotlight just the larger characters.

Category: Features
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