The burdens of leadership can take their toll all too often. Autobot Commander Optimus Prime, in under 40 issues, has lead a mission into deepest space to protect his own war-torn planet, deliberately crashed his ship into a primitive alien world to stop his enemies, had his mind probed and plundered in a search for the Creation Matrix, had a fake head connected to his body to decimate his own army, and, to top it all off, dressed as Father Christmas to cheer up a human child.

“Prelude: Optimus Prime”, the first UK-originated comic strip to tie in with the Transformers (2007) film, is much like a reunion for its creative team. The kids that Titan Magazine’s new Transformers comic is aimed at might not recognise the creative team, but twenty year veterans of the franchise certainly will.