An Abrupt But Satisfying Conclusion — Reviewing ‘Transformers’ #18

It was a little stunning, reaching the end of this issue and reading the letters page, to see it referred to as the end of the series’ third major story arc. Certainly, of all the book’s assorted plotlines, most reach, if not an end point, at least a significant turning point in their developments.

That said, it’s difficult to say many — if any — are truly resolved, which makes the issue an odd “finale.” Fortunately, a few key events are executed well enough to make up for the fact that the endings in Transformers #18 are rather limited.

As with the previous issue, there is simply a lot going on in Transformers #18. To his credit, writer Daniel Warren Johnson does his best to keep things straight by condensing everything into three distinct settings, and then bringing each to their (relative) conclusion before moving on to the next. So the book opens by picking up where last issue’s cliffhanger left off, with the debut of Shredhead and the immediate impact he has on the Autobot/Decepticon fight back on Cybertron.

From there, it cuts to the Spike/Carly, Arcee/Beachcomber/Ultra Magnus plotline, which features both a bit of development in Ultra Magnus’ PTSD (as Carly draws on her and Spike’s own recent experiences to emphasis that Magnus is not alone) and a key piece of plotting that pulls the shared threads of the Energon Universe even tighter. 

Finally, the issue concludes with the big Decepticon combiner battle in Seattle. This is both the most intense and visually exciting part of the issue, and the most worrisome. One of the things this iteration of the Transformers has done really well is capture the sense of scale of the Transformers relative to humans and their world. Artist Jorge Corona continues that here, both in terms of the destruction being wrought by Devastator and Bruticus’ fight, and in their size relative to other Transformers.

There’s a great ¾ page panel showing Bruticus’ head towering over Starscream and Astrotrain that perfectly illustrates the fact that the Combiners are giant robots made up of other giant robots. Later, Corona contributes to the series’ other visual aesthetic, having big robots perform wrestling moves, via a double page spread of Devastator delivering a modified neckbreaker to Bruticus. Visually speaking, it’s everything we want from this book. 

Yet that same sense of scale risks bedeviling the Energon Universe endeavor. While last issue and this one make a point of showing Optimus Prime and the other Autobots doing their best to get as many humans out of Seattle as possible, the fact is, this one robot fight is destroying the city on a scale of several 9/11s, and thus, should, realistically, lead to massive societal changes in this world.

Obviously, that may be where Johnson, Corona, and Skybound head Robert Kirkman are going. But even in the meantime, it’s hard to read something like GI Joe when it’s supposed to take place in the same world as this series (a fact underscored by a direct reference to the GI Joe team in this issue) and not wonder why they’re even bothering with Cobra while Seattle is getting ground to rubble by giant robots. 

Fortunately, the execution and sense of fun permeating this series is enough to overcome those concerns — or at least buy the book more time to see how it all plays out. And as much as the conclusions of these three main arcs may feel more like waypoints than actual conclusions, the ending of Transformers #18 certainly promises major ramifications for the series going forward, as this third “act” of the book concludes. With the Autobots largely sticking to triage as the Decepticon Combiners battle it out, it falls to a returning Megatron to ultimately end the Decepticon civil war.

The quiet which descends on the issue following the Sturm-und-Drang of the fight as Megatron reveals his presence is palpable. Johnson and Corona unveil Megatron in another double splash; in direct contrast to the earlier Devastator/Bruticus one, it is quiet and still, Starscream and Soundwave frozen in place as Megatron simply declares, “enough.” The final page, as the shadow of Megatron falls on the remaining Autobots, is chilling. Even if Transformers #18 feels more like “another chapter” and less like “the conclusion of an arc”, it ends on a suitably final note, one which sells the notion that what was “before” is over, and everything is different now.