An Arc-Closing Showdown Dropped Into The Middle Of The Story – Reviewing ‘Transformers’ #21

As of Transformers #21, we’re only two issues into the series’ latest story arc, after its kickoff last issue and the Megatron-focused “breather” in issue #19. For the most part, this series is structured such that every six issues or so fall into a distinctive arc (with plot and characters threads carrying over arc-to-arc, of course, the key to any good serialized narrative).

As such, we’re still a few issues away from the kind of big action/”this changes everything!” plotting that tends to characterize the back end of the book’s story arcs. Yet most of Transformers #21 reads exactly like that, a series of climatic status quo-shifting events taking place amidst a big Autobot/Decepticon showdown. Its an intense, engaging issue which immediately elevates the bar for whatever follows it.

Before diving into the big fight at the center of the issue, Transformers #21 spends some time on a couple of the book’s lingering subplots. One, involving the Cybertron-dwelling Autobots working to get back to Earth, is fairly straightforward “moving the plot forward stuff.”

The other, in which the US military, under the auspices of General Flagg and to the horror of Doc (two characters familiar to G.I. Joe fans), continue to probe the captured Ultra Magnus, is a great example of writer Daniel Warren Johnson‘s ability to wring pathos out of characters who were initially created to sell toys. Ultra Magnus, a warrior suffering from PTSD, being essentially tortured by the US military, completely upends the traditional Transformers dynamic of heroic Autobots defending good humans from the evil Decepticons; here, the humans are as repugnant as the Decepticons.

And then we get into the meat of the story. With Starscream reconstituted and thoroughly under Megatron’s control once again, the Decepticons launch a pre-emptive strike on the Autobots. What follows is packed with the kinds of status quo-upending twists-and-turns that are usually reserved for the climax of a story arc. There’s big action, resolution to ongoing plotlines, the disappearance of the Ark, and character deaths.

Yet its not all sheer spectacle, as Johnson and artist Jorge Corona keep the action grounded in character. Each of the key developments is driven by choices made by specific characters, acting in the interests carefully setup in preceding issues. The centerpiece of the action isn’t the full-page splash of Superion drop-kicking Bruticus and Devastator, or a full-powered Megatron joining the fray, but rather, the heartbreaking moment when Optimus Prime, having realized that Megatron’s errant arm is influencing his actions, orders the Autobots to blast the arm off his body. The horror and sorrow on everyone’s faces as they follow his orders is the event which looms large amongst all the other incidents.

Taken together, it’s a level of incident that usually marks the end of a story arc. Coming here, early in the current arc of the series, primes (no pun intended) us to expect even bigger things to come in the rest of the story’s chapters. But regardless of what comes next, Transformers #21 stands as an example of the book’s ability to present transforming action figures as compelling, complex characters.