“Yesterday’s” Comic> The Transformers #18

“I told you I don’t want to buy your stupid bridge!”

The Transformers #18

Marvel Comics (July, 1986)

The Decepticons, having received the Decepticons of Earth’s message in the previous issue, have created a “space bridge” that can inter-dimensionally travel between Cybertron and Earth. The Cybertronian Autobots  race to destroy it but Blaster’s more worried about Spanner, the neutralist scientist Scrounge was trying to find–at the cost of his life. However, its worse than that, because Spanner has become the bridge and Blaster can’t bring himself to kill him. Not that it matters when the battle from last night’s Friday Night Fight breaks out. Straxus is destroyed and the bridge damaged while Blaster, Perceptor, Powerglide, Cosmos, Seaspray, and Beachcomber are stuck on Earth, and greeted by police cars.

What they got right: The second half of the “Cybertron” story and there will be a lot to discuss in the “other notes” section as this issue set up a number of later events. Shockwave and Megatron’s teams of Decepticons are re-united but most of the action takes place on Cybertron. I like that this version of the Space Bridge is an actual bridge rather than some circle you stand into get sucked into a gate in the sky. Softer landings, I’d think. The art is well done and if Straxus had to go down, he went down hard! You also see how Blaster was affected by Scrounge’s death. Last issue he didn’t seem to care about the guy he was saving but not he was willing to put the mission in jeopardy in order to save another innocent from dying. Nice character development in the span of two issues.

What they got wrong: This is where Donny became quite the jerk. Sure it’s funny to see him stand up to Megatron but it’s not very believable. I’m not a fan of Spanner’s robot mode as part of the Space Bridge. It is rather ugly and I don’t see how it would be easier to place explosives on that mode than on his bridge mode. I don’t think he needed to transform to let us know he was now part of the Space Bridge.

Other notes: Another disappointment is that although the Bridge returns in later stories Spanner’s fate is never brought up again. He just kind of disappears. Did the Cons pull him out of there/kill him? The confrontation between Donny and Megatron, as well as the return of Shockwave and the Seekers, would come up again next issue and Donny would play a role in the next few issues alongside the Autobots and RATT. The “Cybertron Seven” will return in a few issues and things won’t be going so good for our heroes.

Recommendation: Get both #17 and #18 and you have a great story, but both issues also work as stand-alone stories. Either way they’re quite recommended.