Ricky Church reviews Transformers: Lost Light #18…
‘The Everlasting Voices’ isn’t the only thing to conclude in Transformers: Lost Light #18, but seemingly the journey to find Cyberutopia as well. Roberts delivers an issue filled with answers and exposition while still focusing on some good character moments that reflect their development.
Transformers: Lost Light #18 is a pretty exposition heavy issue, particularly in the second half when Rodimus begins piecing together all the clues about where his team really is. It’s densely packed, but Roberts is still able to make the big reveal about Cyberutopia make sense in a clear manner. The fact that Cyberutopia never existed, but was instead a ‘medical’ planet made to make patients experience happy moments before their death, paints their long-years quest as well as myths of the ancient Cybertronians in a different light. Taken with the recent revelations in the Optimus Prime series, the Transformers mythos have certainly been turned on its head.
Even with the exposition and big reveal, Roberts still finds time to imbue the issue with several character moments, both comedic and emotional. Perhaps the best example of the issue’s comedy was Drift hoping the Guardians were “old friends” of Rodimus’ right before one hit Rodimus across the room only for Ultra Magnus to say “To be fair, that’s not conclusive proof either way”. However, Roberts really delivered on the emotional aspect as the Autobots they thought were real began fading away and they had limited time to say goodbye to each other. Cyclonus and Tailgate’s scene was a good payoff to Cyclonus’ evolution and how much these two have been through together. It was a good surprise, though, to reveal Tailgate was in fact real and raises some questions of how he ended up there in the first place.
Jack Lawrence’s art makes those dramatic moments more evocative as he expresses the emotion on the bots’ faces. There is also a very nice homage to the very first panel of Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #1 which began Rodimus and the Lost Light’s journey several years ago, bringing it all full circle. Lawrence’s artwork is complimented by Joana Lafuente’s colours, making each visual pop with a lot of vibrancy.
Transformers: Lost Light #18 may be a bit heavy on exposition for some, but Roberts balances the answers and character moments very well. It is interesting to see how their journey has concluded, but there are still a few more questions left to answer and it seems we’re finally going to get to Rodimus’ long-awaited reunion with Getaway soon.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
Originally published June 20, 2018. Updated June 19, 2018.
