"The Transformers" comic by Marvel was the first and arguably the best known Transformers comic. Although it was originally intended to be a 4-issue limited series, it expanded into an ongoing series, which ran for 80 issues before being cancelled. The final cover read "80 in a 4 issue limited series". Issues #5–15, 17–32, 35–42 and 44–56 were written by Bob Budiansky, with Marvel UK writer Simon Furman taking over for the remainder of the comic. The comic did not attempt to follow the show and some elements and characters were completely absent, including Ultra Magnus, Springer, Arcee, and Metroplex. The comic started much the same as the show; a crew crash landing the Ark on Earth in the distant past. They are befriended by Buster Witwicky. His brother Spike eventually joins the cause as Autobot leader when he became the head of commander Fortress Maximus. There occurs a considerable amount of fractioning and in-fighting in both the Autobots and Decepticons. However, the series climax occurs when both sides, Autobots and Decepticons, form an uneasy peace to defend Cybertron from Unicron.