The Energon Pub

Transformers: Beast Wars #12—Cover A: John Yurcaba
Erik Burnham (w) • Josh Burcham (a) • John Yurcaba (c)
“Maximals Strike Back,” Part Three! Comes to a stunning conclusion as we see the Maximals and Predacons battle come to a head! Will Megatron get his way? Will Optimus be able to fight back the might of the Predacon forces?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers: Best of Optimus Prime—SPOTLIGHT
Bob Budiansky, James Roberts, Chris Metzen & Flint Dille, John Barber, Brian Ruckley(w) • Don Perlin, Alex Milne, Livio Ramondelli, Kei Zama, Beth McGuire-Smith (a) • James Biggie (c)
Optimus Prime—leader of the Autobots, hero of the cosmos, protector of all life stands tall in the minds of fans around the world! Collected for the first time in this oversized edition are some of Optimus Prime’s finest moments from his most beloved creators—from video game battles to the death to claiming the matrix to some of his most climatic heroic stands!

Best of Optimus Prime collects The Transformers (1984) #24 “Afterdeath,” The Transformers (2009) #23 “Chaos Theory, Part 2,” Transformers Autocracy #9 “Transformation,” Optimus Prime #25, and Transformers (2019) #6 “Orion Pax: Free Fall.” With a new cover by master artist James Biggie!

FC • 100 pages • $6.99

Transformers: Wreckers—Tread & Circuits #4 (of 4)—Cover A: Jack Lawrence
David Mariotte (w) • Jack Lawrence (a & c)
The Speedia 500 is over, and now Velocitron’s attention turns to the swearing in of the new Senate—led by the race’s winner! This is the Wreckers’ last chance to put an end to Mayhem’s rampage! But will they wreck and rule... or be wrecked themselves?!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Transformers #39—Cover A: Alex Milne
Brian Ruckley (w) • Anna Malkova (a) • Alex Milne (c)
The rescue continues! Chromia has led a team deep into Decepticon–controlled Iacon to rescue a captive Autobot, but how will they get out and back to Crystal City? Meanwhile, Cyclonus’s reunion with Provoke takes a new turn as a long-held secret is revealed!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Rodimus Prime wrote:ANOTHER "Best of" collection for Optimus? And with THOSE titles included?

BumbleDouche wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:ANOTHER "Best of" collection for Optimus? And with THOSE titles included?

My thoughts exactly!

Also: does anyone really collect these "Best Of..." books? Speaking for myself, I've already got all of those stories collected in TPB form, but where they're presented in order of natural story progression, with the issues before & after included also.

A collection like this plucks an almost arbitrary selection of stories, excised from different continuities. For those of us who collect the comic series, we've already got the stories presented in better, more logical formats.

I'm assuming collections of this sort are designed to hook new readers, but for those new to Transformers or the comics, I'd have thought the random selection of stories in this & other collections like it would do little but confuse readers unfamiliar with the material, taken out of context as they are.

Am I wrong, or missing something obvious?