Complete Works

Do you remember that double-page spread of all the Autobots introducing themselves in the first issue of Marvel US's Transformers comic? Well, when Marvel UK reprinted that first story, they missed it out. Instead it was published in the second issue as a wall chart. But that's not the focus of this edition of The Probe.

In 1986, Marvel UK published two hardcover "Complete Works" books that reprinted the first four issues of Marvel US's Transformers. Only this time, that Autobot double-page spread was included... with one major difference: Yes, they replaced two entire panels!


If you think you've seen that new panel before, you're absolutely right: The supplanted panel is from "Crisis of Command" by Geoff Senior.

And the changes in "The Complete Works" didn't stop there...

In the US, the Transformers comic was originally planned as a 4-issue mini-series, but, of course, it proved so popular that a regular series was commissioned. The end of "The Last Stand" as originally published ended with a cliff-hanger showing Shockwave's arrival at the Ark.

This same ending was reprinted in Marvel UK's Transformers comic, unaltered. (Except for the fact that some of the pages were in black-and-white.)

Seemingly, in an attempt to round off the story with more closure when it was republished in the hardcover "The Complete Works", the cliff-hanger was scrapped and instead Optimus Prime's speech is extended by the UK creative team.