Marvel's The Transformers
Transformers 50

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Transformers #50 Universal
Grade: 9.8
Page Quality: WHITE
Certification #: 0957931009
Owner: AlphaPrimeIan

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: Marvel's The Transformers
Date Added: 9/13/2012
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

Highest grade! This is 1 of 9 CGC 9.8 books!

Synopsis "Dark Star"

Out in the vacuum of space, the Underbase travels ever closer to Earth...

On that planet, the Aerialbots are the first to respond to the alert beacon triggered by Buster Witwicky. Seeing the responsible party, they quickly radio back to the Ark and Fortress Maximus. A full Autobot response battalion arrives within a matter of minutes. Spike is reunited with his brother only to find him on the brink of death. He places Buster within a heating unit in Fortress Maximus's chest to fight off the effects of exposure and frostbite. As the Autobots gather their wits enough to question the situation at hand, though, they are treated to a full scale Decepticon attack, as Ratbat and Scorponok have detected their approach.

The following battle is quick and merciless, and comes to a stop only when Ratbat ends up confronting Fortress Maximus and his own former prisoner, Buster. Buster outlays what Starscream told him before departing, and makes Ratbat see reason about putting his feud with the Autobots on hold until the larger issue can be dealt with. The various faction leaders agree to work together and make a space-worthy craft to hunt down Starscream.

At the edge of space, the most treacherous Decepticon of all leaves his star cruiser to bathe directly in the light of the Underbase's powerful knowledge and knowledgeable power. Before he absorbs much, however, he is blasted out of the way by Optimus Prime, manning the guns on the island starship. Unfortunately, that momentary exposure was enough to supercharge Starscream, and he manages to grab hold of the entire star cruiser he stole and toss it straight through the island ship, leaving the combined armies crippled and stranded in space, and the Decepticons in particular without any means of star travel from then on.

For some reason, Starscream chooses to let them live drifting in the vacuum of space. He also chooses to return to Earth and attack it instead of chasing down the Underbase to fulfill his lust for power. He also announces in advance the exact set of cities he plans to assault. Clearly, the "knowledge" part of the Underbase takes awhile to set in.

Optimus Prime enacts Plan B and summons the Ark to pick them all up and speed back to Earth ahead of Starscream. As the factions begin splitting into teams to cover Starscream's previously identified destinations, Optimus makes the stunning announcement that he will stay aboard the Ark and not confront Starscream. The Decepticons quickly dismiss this as pure cowardice, and leave for Earth in disgust.

Autobots and Decepticons alike confront Starscream one after another and in groups, but ultimately he slaughters them all. The only difficulties he runs into are the Pretenders and those who are binary bonded, as the organic outer shells and bonding prove somehow resistant to his destructive energies. As the battles continue, both Ratbat and Scorponok become suspicious that Optimus Prime's alleged cowardice might actually be greed to capture the Underbase for himself, and abandon their respective battles to return to the Ark and confront him.

Aboard the Ark, Optimus Prime and Hi-Q are guarding Buster Witwicky, while constructing a rocket with reflective panels, designed to catch the Underbase and change its course. Buster makes the mistake of radioing his brother during the battle, though, and Starscream realizes the potential threat an absent Optimus Prime poses to him. He takes off for space to intercept the Autobot leader and the Ark. Ratbat and Scorponok get there ahead of him, however, and confront Prime. After Scorponok blasts Prime and annihilates Ratbat, he heads off to reach the redirected Underbase on his own. Optimus manages to replace his Powermaster engine in time to go after Scorponok, and physically drags the two of them out of the Underbase's path, so that it strikes Starscream instead. The combined power of the Underbase mutates Starscream until he is overwhelmed with power, and is obliterated.

In the aftermath, Optimus Prime explains to Scorponok that he learned his lesson about the Underbase millions of years ago. He arranged for the reflector rocket and for Buster's "ill-timed" radio message to Fortress Maximus in order to lure Starscream back out into space, where he would surely try to take all of the Underbase's power and destroy himself. The Cybertronian leaders part in peace, but Scorponok makes it clear that the war will begin anew, tomorrow...

Published: November 1988
  
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