EDITOR EXCLUSIVE
Robot Wars
There’s more than meets the eye to Skybound’s new Energon Universe as Transformers return
WORDS: STEPHEN JEWELL
The cover for Transformers issue one, by Mike Spicer.
AFTER TAKING OVER the rights to Transformers and GI Joe from IDW, Skybound Entertainment secretly launched the Energon Universe in June, when Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici’s Void Rivals was revealed to be part of a new line of books. That range will be augmented this month by the debut of Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers, and then by the Josh Williamson-scripted miniseries Duke and Cobra Commander in December and January respectively.
“Robert shared with me the idea of what is now Void Rivals years before we formally pitched to Hasbro,” editor Sean Mackiewicz tells Red Alert. “He wanted to create a new entry point for readers to explore the Transformers universe, which included creating new characters and civilisations and hiding a huge surprise in the centre of it all in the form of Jetfire. That idea grew to unite Transformers and GI Joe and merge them with this entirely new franchise.” With Transformers and GI Joe having first been turned into comics by Marvel US – and UK – in the early ’80s, Skybound are building on a legacy that stretches back several decades. “I was a huge fan of Transformers and GI Joe growing up and they were superheroes to me before I discovered superhero comics,” recalls Mackiewicz. “GI Joe: A Real American Hero was the first single-issue comic I ever owned, so it’s been great to return to the original incarnations and also catch up on everything I’ve missed since then – and maybe restart a toy collection in my office!