Marvel's The Transformers Year Two, Part III: Return to Cybertron (US #17-20 / UK #64-74)

"To a Power Unknown!" is another one of those stories from the UK annuals that, due to continuity issues, the Til All Are One compendia choose to place in volume four with the other out-of-continuity stories. However, my practice is to try to read them as close to where they could fit if they did fit. For "To a Power Unknown!", that seems to be somewhere between UK issues #65 and 71, as the story has Megatron and Shockwave in joint command over the Decepticons. Given that, I suggest it reads best between Second Generation! and Return to Cybertron, as the latter story leads straight into "Command Performances!", where Shockwave cedes sole leadership to Megatron.

from The Transformers UK #65

Second Generation! Parts Two & 3, from The Transformers UK #64-65 (7-14 June 1986), reprinted in The Transformers: Til All Are One Compendium One (2025)

written by Simon Furman, penciled by Kitson and Jeff Anderson, inked by Perkins and Jeff Anderson, letters by Scott and Annie Halfacree, colours by W&P and T. Jozwiak

Surely this is the most "meh" of all the UK-original storylines thus far. Part two of Second Generation! is mostly a dream sequences, as Optimus Prime and Buster Witwicky see a vision of the future of the Transformers, expanding on "The Special Teams Have Arrived" from ten issues back. At that point, Furman runs out of story, so part 3 is on a totally different topic, the struggle between Megatron and Shockwave for control of the Deceptions, which resolves with them adopting joint leadership. Fine, whatever. 

 

"To a Power Unknown!", from The Transformers Annual [1986], reprinted in The Transformers: Til All Are One Compendium Four (2025)

script by Ian Mennell & Wilf Prigmore, art by Will Simpson, letters by Annie Halfacree, colours by Josie Firmin

from The Transformers Annual [1986]

My kids have watched a decent amount of toy tie-in tv over the years. Seeing things like PAW Patrol and the Hot Wheels show have made me realize that's while it's certainly not high art, we got lucky with Transformers. Its creators took it seriously enough. Every now and again, though, you get a Transformers work by someone who plainly did not take it seriously. Such is true of "To a Power Unknown!", which has a stupid premise and risible dialogue. In another world, it could have all been like this, though, so we should count our blessings. This is kiddie stuff in the sense that it's written by people who think they can get away with crap if it's for kids... which very much jars with the fact that this is the story where the Autobots accidentally kill an innocent human being with a heat-seeking missile! Is this the only human death in Marvel's Transformers? So weird.

 

Return to Cybertron / "Command Performances!" / "Showdown!" / "The Mission" / In the National Interest, Part 1, from The Transformers US #17-20 (June-Sept. 1986) / The Transformers UK #66-74 (21 June–16 Aug. 1986) and The Transformers Annual [1986]; reprinted in The Transformers: Til All Are One Compendium One (2025)

written by Bob Budiansky, Jamie Delano, and Simon Furman; penciled by Don Perlin, Herb Trimpe, and Will Simpson; inked by Keith Williams (with Vince Colletta), Ian Akin & Brian Garvey, and Will Simpson; lettered by Janice Chiang and Annie Halfacree; colored by Nel Yomtov and John Burns

from The Transformers US #17

I am a big fan of Transfan "Broadside"'s analysis of Transformers storytelling as falling into two modes: Budianskian and Furmanist. Named after the two primary writers of the G1 comics, Budianskian stories place the Transformers in a human context, Furmanist ones don't see the necessity of that. (I lean more Furmanist than Budianskian in my tastes, personally; my two favorite pieces of Transformers media, Beast Wars/Machines and More than Meets the Eye/Lost Light are both Furmanist.) As Broadside points out, each man was capable of adopting the other mode, however; Furman's approach in IDW's continuity was Budianskian, while Budiansky's Return to Cybetron arc collected here is Furmanist. Each writer actually excels in the other mode—Return to Cyberton remains one of my favorite G1 comic stories. For the first time, we find out what's been happening on Cybertron in the millions of years since Optimus Prime and the Ark left the planet; it's become an apocalyptic hellhole ruled by the Decepticons. We follow the beleaguered Autobot resistance, particularly Blaster and Scrounge, as they work against Lord Straxus of Darkmount. It's dark stuff, which works well here, and Blaster and Scrounge are both great characters. Poor Scrounge! I might go so far as to suggest that Furman's own "Furmanist" stories (such as the imminent Target: 2006) actually take their cues from it, meaning that both modes of Transformers storytelling are actually Budianskian!

 

After four US issues of mediocre wheel-spinning, this is actually a very solid run of US comics overall. "Command Performances!" features an amazing sequence where the newly built Autobot warrior Omega Supreme lays the smackdown on the Decepticons, but the other highlight is "Showdown!" If Return to Cybetron features Budiansky at his most Furmanist, then "Showdown!" represents the peak of Budiansky's Budianskian mode. Skids has been damaged and isolated from the rest of the Autobots; he's found a grocery store cashier named Charlene in rural Wyoming, who dreams of bigger and better things. Skids enjoys the respite from centuries of war (he was originally an anthropologist), while Charlene enjoys the attentions of someone who validates her dreams of adventure. But real "adventure" finds them when Ravage tracks Skids down, and Skids must go back to war to defend his innocent friends while Charlene must learn to enjoy the life she has. As I said above, I prefer Furmanist storytelling on the whole (though it certainly has its failure modes), but this shows the real potential of the Budianskian approach. It's a lot like Russell T Davies's approach to Doctor Who, actually: these exciting things only matter inasmuh as they affect ordinary people.

 

from The Transformers Annual [1986]

After this, we get a decent UK text story, "The Mission," about Hoist and Jazz on a desperate mission in the Alaskan wilderness. It's intense stuff! And then the first part of In the National Interest, which promises good stuff; Furman always does well by the Dinobots. I didn't expect Professor Morris from The Icarus Theory (UK issues #45-46) to come back! We'll see how this goes in future installments. 

 

This is the sixth in a series of posts about Marvel's The Transformers. The next covers US issues #.... Previous installments are listed below:

1. US #1-3 & 33-34 / UK #1-6 & 9-17 (1984-85)
2. US #4-8 / UK #7-8 & 18-30 (1984-85) 
3. US #9-12 / UK #31-41 (1985-86) 
4. US #13-14 / UK #42-54 (1985-86) 
5. US #15-16 / UK #54-63 (1985-86)