Cover Story - Top 15 Transformers Covers

Hello, and welcome to Cover Story: digging as little into comic books as we can.  A lot of things happened last week but one of the strangest was an ongoing stream set-up by Shia LeBeouf where he streamed himself watching all of his own films.  This latest act of weirdness by one of the weirdest name actors in the Hollywood community lasted for nearly 72 hours under the hashtag #AllMyMovies and was viewed by pretty much everyone as yet another peculiar stunt from the same man who once attended a premiere with a paper bag on his head.  However, it got a lot of folks talking about LeBouf’s many films, chief among them being the Transformers trilogy, which he was forced to endure in full.  This got me thinking about Transformers and remembering they actually had a quite heroically massive comics run with Marvel back in the ‘80s.  So, let’s dive into the shallow end and get the cover story on the top 15 Marvel Transformers covers. 

We open with a tie, but what a tie.  On the one hand issue #31, the so called ‘Car Wash of Doom,’ has become something of an infamous cover for the series and it’s pretty easy to see why.  The cover would normally be a pretty stock, throwaway evil robot cover, not that much different from the dozens of others peppered newsstands throughout the ‘50s when this kind of thing was the norm.  What sets it apart is, undoubtedly, the setting.  That evil purple bat robot must actually be incredibly small for it to fit inside what I’m assuming is the titular carwash of doom.  I especially like the bizarro angling that seems to be going on with the dimensions of the car wash, the way the ceiling seems to go on forever and especially the fact that this carwash has a lot of open space.

Issue #3’s cover is possibly the most iconic of the entire Marvel run as it was one of the few times a Marvel hero ever directly interacted with the Transformers.  At the time this cover actually didn’t cause that much of a stir but back then crossovers like this were less of a major sticking point, mainly because there wasn’t as interconnected a fan community to drive interest in them.  It does say something though that the creators thought just sticking Spider-man on the cover really was enough to sell this comic, as evidence by the complete of a background and the weird, striped, circus tent floor. 

Something that’s going to become increasingly clear as I look at these covers is that I don’t know that much about the Transformers.  I haven’t even read these comics so if you’re looking for an explanation for why the Transformers felt the need to encase a very small patch of desert in a giant plastic egg and launch it into space I’m not your man.  What I will say is that this cover is absolutely amazing.  Even if the plastic egg thing is completely ridiculous it’s a great kind of ridiculous, the kind that fits with the plastic action man origins of the Transformers.  I especially like how that kinetic driver missile makes exactly none of the sense.  

It seems to have been fired out of one of the palm trees on the captured island while simultaneously being bigger than the entire egg ship it was launched from.  I also seriously question the physics of putting a retractable skylight roof on a spaceship, that just seems like trouble waiting to happen given there’s actually a guy inside that egg ship.  Additionally I don’t think they really needed to fire that impossibly large missile when they’ve already got a Transformer escort but maybe he was just along for moral support.  Finally there’s the absolutely amazing visual of the Transformer ripping his own head off in the top left emblem. 

This is the first of the COVERS to actually be pretty impressive and engaging in its own right rather than just kind of goofily fun or important to discuss.  Basically every iteration of the Transformers has featured humans trying to fight them in some capacity or another but I really like the visualization of that conflict in this cover, even if the humans still feel hopelessly outmatched against the Transformers.  I can’t really think of a good reason a fight between humans and Transformers would naturally progress to the Statue of Liberty, which says to me that those two Autobots on hand were probably the ones who decided to pen the world’s tamest graffiti on one of the most public and beloved American landmarks.  

Even if the idea of a couple of Autobots getting the army called on them because they decided to write middle school disses on the side of America’s proudest statue is pretty dope the actual artwork here is top otch and if you can get around the liberal use of the word “wimps” this is actually a kind of evocative image.  The Autobots have always been humanity’s only real hope against the Transformers so the idea that some of them, for any reason, have chosen to pretty much adopt the Decepticon view of humanity as weak and worthy of being ground into dust is a pretty threatening concept.  Combine that with the fact that there are no pro-human autobots on this cover and it’s a pretty foreboding scene. 

For a 50^th issue special this is a pretty amazing comic cover, especially considering the insane amount of detail that had to go into Starscream’s “triumphant” mode.  It’s that detail that really sells this cover as well as it is because otherwise this would actually be a pretty stalk image.  I like the visual of how giant Starscream is supposed to be in this picture, given that the normal Transformers are already much bigger than a human, but at the end of the day this could’ve easily just been a stock “giant robot over the Eaarth” image, which is still striking if not a little overused, especially within comics.  

The extensive detail in Starscream’s design gives him a very striking and memorable look, to the point that he almost seems more like a ship or a space station than an individual being.  A standard rule of drawing humanoid robots like the Transformers, Red Tornado, or the Vision is to try and keep them either smooth and humanoid or deliberately blocky and cartoonish.  The thinking is that because the character needs to take a lot of action they need to have clean visuals to be clear what they’re doing and to help them stand out among a large group shot or a complex environment.  The level of complexity featured here on Starscream is much more in line with a structure or a vehicle, something that’s allowed to be detailed because of its size and importance rendering it instantly recognizable. 

Firstly: I have no idea why Optimus and Megatron have color morphed into the Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots, it’s possible this has an in universe explanation but it seems far more likely it was a coloring goof.  Secondly, this cover is just amazing in every way.  This kind of incredibly dopey to the point of awesomeness is perfectly suited to the Transformers franchise.  In recent years there’s been a weird sort of push from Gen X nerds and even people with a passing familiarity with the property to imagine there’s more to the Transformers or that they aren’t suited to this kind of high impact shenanigans and I just don’t get that mentality.  

The whole thesis of Transformers is toy cars that become toy robots, that’s base camp.  There’s plenty of room for bigger and richer stories to be told around that core concept but that central goofiness will, inevitably, impact everything that it spawns no matter how serious minded you make it.  Something I really like about this design of Optimus and Megatron is that the vehicles that comprise their bodies are actually still quite visible.  Like if you look at Megatron’s left knee you can make out a cop car and Optimus’ shin seems to be a tank.  One last thing is that the motion lines drawn on the train that Optimus is swinging around like Indiana Jones’ whip are completely ludicrous.  If you actually follow the path traced by the motion lines he swung that train in a number of loops before smashing Megatron with it, which is pretty impressive given Megatron would’ve had to have remained still for the entire build up.

This is another one of the few covers that actually features part of the Marvel universe infringing on the Transformer’s universe…I think, it’s honestly a little hard to tell.  I’m moderately sure that the burly longhaired wrestler looking guy with robo-pants on this cover is the Marvel comics character Champion, one of the Elders of the Universe.  He and the other elders are some of the oldest beings in the known universe but with all that time on their hands they’ve each chosen to stave off boredom by getting super into one specific hobby which eventually becomes their name.  

There’s the Gardener, The Contemplator, The Runner, The Grand Master, and the Collector, who had a cameo role in Guardians of the Galaxy.  Champion’s chosen pursuit is combat, to the point he actually challenged all the heroes of Earth to an epic boxing match once in a story entitled Contest of Champions.  I’m not 100% certain this is Champion however, as he’s usually blue and wears a shirt.  This guy has the same basic character design but blended together with the Ultimate Warrior.  If this guy isn’t Champion I have no idea how he’s lifting that Transformer over his head or how the Transformer managed to shrink down to be the same size as him, but given that this does take place in the Marvel universe were gamma monster and Norse gods rub shoulders on a daily basis I’m not going to raise too many questions. 

This is probably the dopiest act ever to be featured in a Transformers cover: Optimus Prime giving birth to a smaller Transformer.  I realize that this probably wasn’t intended to be Optimus birthing a micro-transformer for purposes that I assume made sense to him but that is unquestionably what is happening here.  It’s just hard to separate whatever the original intent of this image was from the fact the robot is jumping right out of Optimus’ midsection, where a baby Transformer would conceivably be carried.  It is a little strange that the micro-former seems to be getting birthed from Optimus’ engine but this cover already features infinitely more Transformer biology than I ever wanted to learn about.  

I do appreciate that the rest of the cover helpfully chips in with this ludicrous moment, like how all the other Transformers are trying to avoid eye contact with Optimus or the micro-former.  There’s also the incredible tagline of “Optimus Prime—Power Master” which is the most gloriously ‘80s phrase ever, I can only assume the Power Glove will be appearing later in this issue.  Most of all though I just wonder what Optimus is facing towards, like he’s deliberately angled himself away from the action and is firing his gun into the nothingness, he’s not even close to hitting the transforming decepticon, they’re behind him.  Combine that with the incredibly dopey jutting out of his jaw and this cover is just gloriously ridiculous. 

Now from something that was just pure ridiculousness to something so insanely ludicrous it actually becomes completely awesome.  This is the kind of blend of old school ‘50s pulp sci-fi craziness with sleek gloss and modern storytelling conventions that could make Transformers more than just a cash cow franchise but one of actual importance and significance to the genre and blockbuster scene as a whole.  The villain on hand is Unicron, a massive, planet sized Transformer who already looks like a weird blend between a tectonic knight and Satan, so the image of him devouring both the autobots and decipticons is pretty amazing.  

I’m actually using the British version of this cover that adds a shiny layer of gloss to the visual design, giving the visual and color work a greater sheen that enhances the majesty and terror of the moment.  I’m not really sure what the flowing red energy line is meant to be or possibly represent but it certainly looks cool.  Actually the visual design of this image makes it look a lot like Unicron is legitimately eating the Transformers, like they’re fruit slices in his punch.  I’m not exactly sure how gravity is meant to be working here but given that Unicron is big enough to punch planets he’s probably generating his own gravity well, a fact that actually makes this image even more Hellish.  Not only is this a planet-sized robot monster with literal fangs, he’s so massive that gravity itself will draw you into his cavernous maw like a black hole. 

I admit, I’m a sucker for symbolism in my cover and this is probably the best example of that.  There’s really no chance this is actually meant to be the destruction of Earth or possibly Cybertron while a Decpiticon (I think that’s Megatron but it’s honestly hard to tell given the heavy inking here) just sort of shouts happily in space above it but it conveys the sense of destruction, scope, and immediacy of the issue way better than an actual picture from the comic might’ve done.  A lot of that boils down to the amazing color work with what’s just an iconic image.  

Something you don’t really think about with the Transformers is that it’s actually very rare to see them expressing emotion through their facial expressions, usually it boils down to what they say more than how they look to determine what they’re feeling, so seeing the look of pure joy and victory on this face is actually very striking, it adds to the rarity of this moment and the sense this is a unique point in the Transformer’s saga.  What I really love about this cover though, is the lighting effects, especially the way the exploding planet lights up the central Transformer.  It’s a great, eerie visual effect that blends the lines of metaphor nicely.  It also doesn’t hurt that those splashes of energy lines in the background look distressing like blood. 

This is another one of those covers from the Marvel run that’s actually pretty iconic but it’s also a really great cover in its own right.  A big part of this comes from how well Tranformers work with infusing their covers with pulpy, shlocky sci-fi elements but maintaining a sense of visual cohesion.  The Transformers are already blocky, technicolored robots that turn into cars and guns and things so they blend much more naturally with old school weirdness like being inside a video game than if this was a Terminator or Captain Marvel comic.  For those who don’t know that’s not actually what’s happening here though I wish it was because that’d be an awesome story.  

No, this comic is actually much more insane than that and maybe a little stupid in a lot of ways too, the actual plot is that Optimus cheats to win at a video game and feels so dishonored by his actions that he commits suicide.  Fortunately for humanity & Transformity alike Spark, the Transformer’s human friend, saved Optimus’ brain on floppy disk and was able to re-upload him.  That’s probably the most the Marvel books ever delved into the weird idea of using hardwiring or coding with the Transformers which is probably for the best given I kind doubt it’s that fine for a living creature to have their brain toyed with by teen programmers. 

Well this is probably the most nightmarish thing I’ve ever seen.  Seriously, outside of the Colder covers (which I’ll be getting to down the line) this is one of the most terrifying images I’ve seen produced by a major comic publisher and then placed on the cover of a comic.  I haven’t read the issue so I have no idea what happened to fuse these two Transformers together but it looks incredibly, terrifyingly painful.  A lot of that is how eerily undetailed the artwork is.  Like the visual of the two Transformer’s eyes melding into one is enough to make me wince but the fact we can’t see the rest of their body leaves so much to the imagination you can’t help but assume it must be infinitly worse.  This is also the only time I’ve ever seen a Transformer bleed mercury.  

Later comics had them bleeding oil but the molten metal thing works way better with the already very smelted look of the two here.  Also, that splattery, scrawled “Help Us” sign is a really great touch to add to the creepiness of this all.  They easily could’ve made the statement a bit sillier by having a double stemmed word balloon coming from both mouths but the fact the two headed thing had to scrawl the words on the nearest piece of paper makes it seem more likely they can only speak through screaming.  I do like how incredibly unaware the surtitle is, “The Ultimate Team-Up” indeed.  I just imagine that line being said with incredibly amounts of sarcasm and disdain, though it certainly doesn’t make this image any less horrifying. 

I stand by my earlier statement that the Transformers are a fundamentally goofy concept…but this is one of the coolest and most bad ass images I’ve ever seen.  This is the kind of image that I’m shocked isn’t more iconic of the entire franchise, it reminds me a ton of the classic X-Men cover from ‘Days of Future Past’ that featured the wall of taken out X-Men behind Wolverine.  It’s just such a perfect blend of iconically minimalist yet instantly raising the stakes in a great way.  Given this is only the 5^th issue you basically know the Transformers aren’t really all dead but within this moment, staring down this purple murder bot that seems to have a gun for a face, I totally believe that this thing killed every one of the Transformers with extreme prejudice and is probably about to murder the reader next.  There’s not even any good reason for it to write that message on some random wall other than for its own sick enjoyment.  That blend of psychotic humanity with the coldly unstoppable nature of an emotionless robot juggernaut is a big part of what makes this thing so menacing and shows how well the Transformers can work in blending the line between biological creature and programmed life form. 

Like a lot of the best Transformers covers this is a great example of how much the core simplicity and irrationality of the series actually facilitates amazing imagery.  The very simple idea at the heart of the Transformers franchise is also one that works entirely off the logic of “just because,” yes the series provides mythos about Cybertron and the Transformers evolution and such but at the end of the day the Transformers are robots that turn into cars because it’s cool, that’s really the only reason for it.  As a result, they’re able to play around with incredibly evocative and memorable imagery like this cover and even though it doesn’t make any sense your mind is completely willing to accept it.  

Like most of these covers, there’s essentially no logical reason I could throw out to explain why Optimus is surrendering in the rain somewhere and placing a metal version of his logo on the ground to do it, but logic has basically no place here, he’s doing it because it looks amazing.  This is also probably the best rendering of Optimus these comics have ever achieved, enough of the truck is still there to be recognizable but not enough to undermine the seriousness of this moment.  I really like that his eyes are covered by what looks like red sunglasses in this image.  I’m not sure if that was intentional or just a happy accident but it really works well here.  Also, there’s an insane amount of detail on display here with the visualization of the rain.  You don’t realize it at first but if you look closely everything is actually getting hit by the raindrops in a stunning display of detail that just enhances this cover. 

Another comedy weirdness entry and another tie for 2^nd place.  From the very start I don’t think that “A Transformers Christmas” was ever going to be a good idea but I super wish I owned these issues just to learn what insane context actually led to these twin covers.  Like, with Optimus Prime dressing as Santa Claus that at least makes a modicum of sense, plenty of ‘80s heroes discovered Christmas and chose to express it by dressing up as Santa, presumably because they didn’t really understand the concept and no one was kind enough to explain it to them.  So, it’s possibly that Optimus is just dressing up as Santa to celebrate that he and the Autobots learned the true meaning of robo-Christmas, that at least makes some amount of logical sense within the world of the comics.  

However, I have exactly no idea why Starscream is stomping around an alpine forest or why he’s SO angry about it being Christmas.  I mentioned earlier that it’s rare to see the Transformers express facial emotions so the angry look of scorn and disgust on his face is afforded a degree of significance that it in no way merits for the situation of him, seemingly turning to no one, in order to angrily shrug and shout “so what?!”  I actually think there’s some merit to the idea of a Transformers Christmas, if only because every Transformers story is technically a war story and there are a lot of good war stories based around Christmas, most specifically the real life story of the Christmas truce in World War 1.  However, it’s clear that bit of common sense didn’t prevail here and I can only assume this was a prelude to Starscream being visited by 3 ghosts of Christmas and learning the error of his ways. 

Behold: the MOST Transformers image ever put to paper.  Seriously, I have no idea how this image was put together but if you told me the artist just dumped a bucket of random Transformers in front of a little kid and let them go hog wild and just drew what they did I’d have no choice but to believe you.  That’s honestly why this cover is as perfect a representation of what Transformers is, at its purest level.  Other covers might have had more evocative or creative visuals but nothing else sums up Transformers better than a giant cavalcade of multi-colored robots fighting each other in a giant pitched battle on the moon.  

There’s just so much energy, scope, and vibrance contained in this single image I’m amazed one cover was able to sustain.  I especially like how all of the Transformers are getting to do different thing and work in different ways.  Some are in vehicle mode, some are wielding smaller Transformers in weapon mode, the dino-bots are on hand to lend their support, it’s amazing.  There’s no reason this battle couldn’t be made more meaningful through context and individual characters and struggle but as a purely visual representation of the unrestrained fun and self accepting joy of this entire series as well as this cover does. 


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