"Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars" was issued in serial form three times: as part of a comic book anthology series, "Echo of Futurepast," in 1984-1985, in a US comic book series in 1991-1992, and in an expanded UK comic series in 1992. There were 6, 5, and 20 issues in these runs, respectively.
Note: In Echo of Futurepast, the US Bucky comic, and the UK Bucky comic, installments 1 and 2 transition at slightly different breakpoints. Similarly, the transitions bridging installments 3-4, 4-5, and 5-6 occur at different points in Echo of Futurepast than in the US and UK comics. Since it came first, the Echo of Futurepast breakpoints are used below for installments 1-6.
#1: In the aniverse, Captain Bucky O'Hare and his crew, aboard The Righteous Indignation, try to evade a squadron of malicious toad double bubbles but suffer a loss when their engineer, Bruce, dies. Left without options, Bucky activates his ship's warp drive. At the same time on Earth, boy genius Willy DuWitt activates his science project, a photon accelerator. The lights turn dark.
#2: The door to Willy's bedroom appears in the Righteous, acting as a portal between the two worlds. After confusion and confrontation, Willy decides to help Bucky's crew. Returning to the ship, First Mate Jenny spots approaching toads and severs the interdimensional link. AFC Blinky re-establishes the connection, and Bucky finds that the toads have captured Jenny.
#3: Willy learns how the harmless toad race built, and then became enslaved by, the master computer KOMPLEX. In response, mammal races banded together to fight their new military foe, forming S.P.A.C.E. Inside a toad magma tanker, Jenny uses her magic powers to defeat her captors. The Righteous comes across a planetoid being drained of its magma by the tanker, and the crew find a strange door on its surface.
#4: Bucky and Blinky enter the door, stumbling upon a miniature paradise and encountering an enigmatic mouse. Meanwhile, Deadeye Duck and Willy approach the magma tanker in search of Jenny, but they run into toads and must flee into the tanker. The mouse shows Bucky a vision of Jenny in a crystal, but it vanishes. The mouse, with a snap of his fingers, then makes the paradise vanish, putting the group back on the planetoid.
#5: Wearing Bruce's old space suit, Willy resembles a Betelgeusian berserker baboon, frightening the toads away. In response, the Air Marshal activates the Void Droid, a huge mechanical monstrosity that succumbs to Willy's water pistol. Deadeye and Willy find Jenny, and they plot their escape, commandeering a double bubble. The mouse flies Bucky and Blinky through space and toward the magma tanker.
(In issue #6, the UK comic alone inserts a scene where the mouse shows Bucky and Blinky a "once in a millennium" alignment of the solar system's planets.)
#6: Jenny, Deadeye, and Willy escape the magma tanker in their double bubble. They run into the mouse, Bucky, and Blinky. The mouse reveals that the planetoid is essentially a figment of his imagination. The planetoid's magma ceases to exist, and the tanker explodes, though the mouse teleports the toads aboard to safety, then vanishes. Willy's parents deactivate the photon accelerator, trapping him in the aniverse.
(In the US editions, Bucky vaguely reassures Willy that they'll get him home. The dialogue is changed a little in the UK version, though in the following issues, Willy succeeds in returning to Earth, without actual explanation.)
#7: The Air Marshal conquers Warren, Bucky's home planet, and KOMPLEX sends Toadborg to oversee the planet's destruction. Bucky tackles a toad slave ship and becomes enraged upon learning that the hares of Warren have been enslaved. On Earth, Willy runs into bullies, then decides to return to the aniverse and Bucky's crew. The slave ship, now controlled by the hares, approaches Genus but trips its satellite defense system.
#8: The Righteous saves the hares aboard the toad ship, first by ramming the nearest satellite and then by transmitting the clearance codes. On Genus, the United Animals Security Council argues about whether to increase war funding when they are interrupted by the freed hares. The council tells Bucky they will commission more ships if he proves the toads are a threat. After that, Bucky runs into Bruiser, Bruce's brother.
#9: Bruiser joins Bucky's crew to get revenge for Bruce's death. The Righteous heads to Warren, where the crew finds the planet has been turned into a swamp. They are attacked by toads but defeat them, getting their hands on a radio transmitter that reveals the toads' plan: capturing Genus once their spy gets the access codes. Bucky and Jenny walk into an ambush, surrounded by toads.
#10: Bucky and Jenny defeat the toads, with the help of Jenny's magic and a little intimidation by Bruiser. The crew flies toward Genus with evidence of the toads' nefarious plans. En route, they run into the climate converter turning Warren into a swamp. Elsewhere, the sleazasaur con artist and scoundrel Al Negator gets a mission from Toadborg: Obtain the access codes to Genus.
#11: Willy heads back to Earth, leaving the crew in need of an engineer. The council commissions an additional ship: The Indefatigable, piloted by Commander Dogstar. Al Negator passes himself off as a warp drive mechanic, gets hired by Bucky, and then distracts the crew, obtains the security codes, and leads the Righteous to a magma tanker. Meanwhile, Willy placates his bullies with his plans for a computerized skateboard.
#12: After chasing Al Negator aboard the magma tanker, Bucky and Jenny take out several toads but then encounter Toadborg for the first time. Jenny holds him at bay with magic, but the toad cyborg neutralizes and captures both of them. Aboard the Toad Croaker, Deadeye and Willy chase Al Negator but run into Toadborg instead. Willy accidentally falls down a shaft, and the Croaker crashes, leaving Deadeye at the toads' mercy.
#13: Willy runs into Al Negator, bartering his Earth play money for the stolen codes. He then enters the control room and confronts Toadborg. Willy destroys the codes, but Negator appears with a copy. Jenny uses her magic to free the crew from their confinement tubes. The crew escapes, with the help of The Indefatigable. Meanwhile, a toad climate converter enters Genus's atmosphere. Bucky and Willy board, again facing Toadborg.
#14: Bucky holds off Toadborg while Willy enters the climate converter and makes it self-destruct. The Genus defense satellites reactivate, chasing off the magma tanker. Bucky and crew receive a celebration on Genus, while on Earth, Willy and the bullies receive first prize in the science fair for their skateboard. Later, the crew responds to a distress signal from a distant planet, finding baboon traders under attack by toads.
#15: The toads bring down the Righteous, causing it to crash land. Bruiser helps Bucky realize that the planet is an illegal shipping outpost run by baboons, while Jenny tries to repair the ship. After working on a plan for attaching a car to an aircraft carrier, Willy returns to the aniverse, and the crew realizes his schematic could be used to fight the toads. Jenny takes them elsewhere on the planet to meet Pitstop Pete.
#16: Jenny convinces Pitstop Pete, the brilliant mechanic, to use Willy's schematic to create a transport for moving fighters through space. The toads raid Pete's workshop, forcing the mammals to evacuate on a double bubble. They return to the Righteous, which is confronted by a toad magma magma tanker that unleashes a toad squadron while Pete tries to finish repairing the ship's warp drive.
#17: The crew hold off the toads thanks to Deadeye's skill with a maser cannon and some assistance from Betelgeusian banana runners, buying Pete time to complete repairs. The mammals escape, angering Toadborg, but the toad warrior is interrupted by a cyborg spider boarding his ship. The spider plots with Toadborg against Bucky. Pete takes the crew to the Fruit Chewey Warehouse, where they meet Captain Mimi LaFloo.
#18: Pete tells Mimi he wants her gunner, Digger McSquint, to work onboard the transport ship he's designing. KOMPLEX punishes Toadborg for allowing Bucky O'Hare to escape. Toadborg sends troops after Bucky and then muses about soon ruling the Toad Empire. The toads attack the warehouse but are defeated by the mammals, including Rumble Bee, Digger's android friend. Toadborg decides to assault the crew himself and is shot by Rumble Bee.
#19: With Toadborg damaged, the mammals flee from the warehouse. Bucky is frustrated at the number of beings aboard his ship. The enigmatic mouse returns, taking Bucky back to the paradise. The mouse shows Bucky that Toadborg has failed in his attempt to deactivate KOMPLEX. The crew flies to a docking bay housing The Screaming Mimi, and Mimi and Pete decide to become its crew. Jenny tells Bucky she must return to Aldebaran.
#20: Jenny, Willy, Blinky, and Pete land on Aldebaran, meeting its ruler, the Mother Superior. She agrees to help supply sensors for Pete's ship, and she then warns Jenny that the toads might learn of and try to invade Willy's world. As they leave Aldebaran, the toads attack, capturing the mammals. Toadborg breaks Blinky and tries to probe Willy's mind, but Jenny and Pete defeat him. Willy fears that Blinky may be beyond repair.
