In the year 2026, you’d be forgiven for not being giddy with excitement over a new shared continuity for the Transformers and G.I. Joe comics lines. But you’d be wrong.
(El Gordo side note: click on the embedded videos throughout this post and make sure to have sound on, for the full Energon audo/ visual experience!)
It’s been forty years since the iconic animated Transformers The Movie rolled out across cinema screens in 1986. In the following year, Hasbro’s companion toy line G.I. Joe enjoyed home video success with the debut of G.I. Joe The Movie. And in between these releases, Marvel comics published the first of many franchise crossovers with a four-issue G.I. Joe And The Transformers miniseries. Over the following four decades these complementing brands shared numerous crossovers and continuities, across a range of comics publishers, and by present day are as synonymous to their aging fanbase as Peanut Butter and Jelly. But in the summer of 2023 a couple of events were synchronised to light a fire under this partnership. The blockbuster Paramount movie release Transformers Rise of the Beasts closed with a tease that the next instalment would see a live-action crossover with G.I. Joe characters. And within a few short weeks Robert Kirkman, the writer mastermind behind such breakout hits as Invincible and The Walking Dead, announced The Energon Universe to be published by Image comics.
Kirkman’s bold strategy to freshen up these time-worn brands was to go absolutely all-in, soup-to-nuts, on a common universe with multiple intermingling strands of plot, that would look back to the nostalgic toy and animation roots for inspiration, and yet tell a cohesive overall epic storyline when read in totality. Kirkman would serve as ‘showrunner’ over a team of fan favourite writers and artists, telling individual ongoing stories but with shared characters passing between each. The common DNA which combines the whole project is Energon, a futuristic energy source which is much sought-after by multiple parties, for use in powering devastating weapons of intergalactic war.
The core title is Void Rivals, written by Kirkman himself, with art by Lorenzo De Felici and Matheus Lopes. This is a full-bore space opera, telling a story of intergalactic war between sworn enemy races the Agorrians and the Zertonians as they battle over control of their shared home The Sacred Ring. Although Kirkman’s plotting involves multiple character threads spread across the galaxy, the main storyline follows two enemy soldiers, male Darak of the Agorrians and female Solila of the Zertonians; who are forbidden by law to interact with each other, but are forced to overcome their prejudices and combine their efforts to get to the heart of a conspiracy fuelling the centuries-old conflict. This comic is without a doubt the slowest burn of all the Energon titles, being interested more in world-building than in propulsive action or set-pieces. Kirkman is a master at this sort of long-form storytelling though; the characters are really well fleshed out and surprisingly likeable, and it’s easy to invest in the journey they go on, and in the devastating discoveries they make along the way.
The first issue of Void Rivals was the opener of the entire Energon Universe, and it was not initially marketed to shops or customers as a tie-in to these brands. The link, and the entire shared universe launch was only revealed to customers on the week that this title arrived at comic shops; a move that took everyone by total surprise, and super-charged the buzz around the future plans that Kirkman had in place. A few months later, the ongoing Transformers comic launched by multi-award winning writer and artist Daniel Warren Johnson.
This latest retelling of the Transformers follows pretty closely to the pitch of the original cartoon; the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons are two warring factions of giant robots who crash landed on earth many centuries in the past, and their continuing battle threatens to spill over and endanger the human population in the present day. The pace is fast and the action is hard, with Johnson bringing his love of professional wrestling into play as the robots flip suplexes and drop big legs for maximum destruction. In fact, I couldn’t help but hear the iconic Stan Bush power ballads from the 1986 animation in my head as I lapped up Johnson’s crowd-pleasing set-pieces.
Energon is not just a throw-away plot device for these comics. The scarcity of the power source is a critical driver of the storyline and tone. Due to the limited resource, both the Autobot and Decepticon forces are limited in the number of warriors they can repair; keeping the cast of robots at a manageably small level. In addition, the threat of ‘permanent death’ for the Transformer characters is a genuine threat, as the possibility of easy repair/ resurrection has been curtailed. Johnson wrote the first 24 issues of the Transformers comic, and over the 4 volumes his plots escalate dramatically towards a climactic all-out battle between good and evil. The pace is non-stop, and could be exhausting if read in one-go, but when consumed in concert with the rest of the Energon titles, Transformers provides an undeniably entertaining blockbuster spectacle.
The biggest surprise of the line for me is how much I have enjoyed the G.I. Joe strand. From my memories, this cartoon series was not as heavily pushed in the UK in the 80’s. The toyline and comics were rebranded as Action Force, and although the figures and vehicles were certainly a favourite amongst myself and my friends; I would struggle to recall who the majority of the characters were, apart from the bio details revealed on the back of the toy packaging. Writer Joshua Williams, supported by Dan Watters and Kelly Thompson, addressed this by introducing many of the key characters in a sequence of interlinked mini-series. The figurehead of the virtuous G.I. Joe team, Duke, and the mastermind of the nefarious Cobra organisation, Cobra Commander, had their own mini’s spin out of the early events of the Transformers series. These were followed up by further mini’s for super-spy Scarlett and global arms-dealer Destro.
By the time Williams launched the ongoing G.I. Joe comic, it felt like a crossover event series in and of itself. There are a considerable number of factions amongst both the Joes and Cobra; created by design in the 80’s to make the line of figures more collectable to kids. Williams’ leans into this, with a shifting background of alliances and betrayals propelling the story forward. The plotting is terrific; the main storylines explode with the energy of Hollywood action movies, complete with daring rescues and deadly face-off’s. Meanwhile, lower-key b-plots provide changes of pace and locale, whilst tee-ing up further confrontations in the future. Although the ongoing events of the Transformers comic are referenced tangentially, they serve to tie the G.I. Joe’s adventures into a broader reality, rather than overshadowing them.
Particular credit needs to be given to the art team of Tom Reilly with colours by Jordie Bellaire. Reilly’s linework is crisp and stylised; showcasing the terrific redesigns of each character whilst the action and explosions really pop off the page. Bellaire’s colours are minimalist and pared back, giving the pages a pop-art look which reinforces the retro pulpy espionage feel of the stories, and makes it all feel a bit more grown-up. Their artwork on the Duke miniseries, and on the first and third volumes of the G.I. Joe ongoing are a highlight of the entire Energon project.
The Energon Universe will be entering it’s third year in 2026, and there seems to be plenty of storytelling potential still to mine. As of issue 25, Kirkman has taken over the writing duties of the Transformers comic, and the various plot strands can be expected to draw closer to a massive crossover between all titles. In the meantime, fan favourite characters such as Snake Eyes and the Dinobots have not even been introduced yet. And, although I’ve been careful to avoid major spoilers here, seeds have been sown for the Energon Universe to draw in even further iconic toylines. The whole line gets a big thumbs up from this 80’s kid, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes next!