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The Transformers ongoing series is the crown jewel of Skybound Entertainment's Energon Universe, a shared Transformers/GI Joe continuity that intertwines the two beloved nostalgia franchises. With writer Daniel Warren Johnson and artist Jorge Corona stepping down after a planned 24-issue run, Skybound boss and creator of The Walking Dead and Invincible Robert Kirkman is taking over as writer with artist Dan Mora joining him on the title as of Transformers #25.
Though Kirkman undeniably has his own style and storytelling sensibilities, Kirkman tells Newsarama that his plan is to keep the transition as smooth as possible for existing readers, while also slowly, methodically expanding the Energon Universe.
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Newsarama: Robert, you're taking over as writer of Transformers following Daniel Warren Johnson's stellar run. What made you decide to be the one to follow him?
Robert Kirkman: I love Transformers, and we knew pretty much from the beginning that Daniel was going to be doing 24 issues. There was a tremendous amount of effort on my part, [editor] Sean Mankiewicz's part, [editor] Ben Abernathy's part, to try and talk him into doing more issues over the last year, just because we all really enjoyed what he was doing. It's one of my favorite books that I look forward to every single month.
It was a real bummer to lose him, but as it got closer and closer, the opportunity was just too much for me to say no to. I've loved Transformers for as long as I've been alive, and it just seemed like it would be a lot of fun to actually be the one writing the book.
When we started the Energon Universe, I thought Void Rivals would be enough to scratch that itch. I wanted to do the Transformers adjacent book that had, like, new characters and new ideas in it. But every time I'd put a transformer in Void Rivals, I'd get more excited about Void Rivals.
So I knew it was something that I'd like to do eventually, but the honest thing is, I'm very busy, so I was still very much on the fence. But then when I realized that Dan Mora was going to be drawing the book, it was like, "All right, like, I can't fight this anymore. I gotta do that."
Daniel's run was so good, and obviously, there are a lot of things that you'll carry over into yours. What I want to ask though, is, what are the things that you think you're going to do differently? What are the goals that you have to make it your own?
Honestly, the goal at the beginning is to not do anything different. I think that I have a personality and I have a style of writing that is going to creep in, whether I want it to or not. So there's obviously going to be some differences, but the goal here is to have a completely seamless transition.
I'd like it if you didn't look at the credits, you wouldn't even really notice, you know, that there was a change in the writer position. So I'm going to try to keep everything going that Daniel was doing with the intense action, and the really heartfelt moments, and really great character beats and things like that.
I'll probably be exploring Cybertronian lore a little bit more than he was, just because I'm a real nerd for that stuff. And, you know, I'm definitely going to be introducing some new characters into the book and changing some things up and evolving characters in some cool ways. So there's going to be a bit of a transition, and some changes narratively, but it's going to be the same style of book.
On that note, what is different about coming into an established comic like Transformers, versus starting something that's creator owned, like The Walking Dead or Invincible or Skinbreaker, which we talked about recently?
It's easier. When you do a new book, an original book with original characters, you're building everything from the ground up, and you have to find the things that make the universe unique and interesting and compelling and inject the characters with as much substance as possible, so that they will be able to carry the book.
It's a tightrope act that I've really gotten addicted to, because I love the challenge of, can you start from nothing and come up with something that's compelling and interesting, that an audience is actually going to enjoy?
There's pressure on Transformers, because there's such a great tradition of telling these stories, and there's a reverence for these characters that you have to acknowledge at all times and make sure you're getting it right.
Optimus Prime has to sound like Optimus Prime at all times. Megatron has to sound like Megatron at all times. That's a little bit more difficult, but that's also kind of the fun of it too, because you're becoming part of a tradition and a legacy. And I think that's pretty exciting.
Without spoiling anything in Transformers #25, there's a character who appears that expands the Energon Universe a bit. What's been your strategy for building those connections across the line's different titles?
The way that I like to do it is twofold. I want it to be as seamless as possible, I want everything to happen organically. I think that it's very organic to have Starscream flying around and encountering some military jets, one of which just happens to have Duke inside of it. And I think that could have been anybody in that jet. That's why it's a seamless thing. You don't have to know who Duke is. You don't have to know what GI Joe is for that scene to make sense.
That's another thing that we try to do as we're expanding the Energon Universe and adding more elements into it. You don't really have to know anything that came before. It's a fun Easter egg if you know what these things are, but it's really just a key part of the Energon Universe, and we will tell you exactly what it is and why it's there. And if you've only ever read Energon Universe books, you will be 100% up to speed. You know, we don't want anybody to ever have to feel like they need to do homework or research for this stuff.
Random characters in the background of a Transformers cartoon show up in Void Rivals all the time. You don't need to know who they are. It's cool if you do, and that's a lot of fun, but they're there for a central part of the story, and if you're following that story, you know why they're there.
We're trying to straddle that line of paying tribute and having cool nostalgia moments and making sure that we're not doing anything slap-dash, but if you're a new reader, it's completely accessible.
I want to circle back for a second and talk about Dan Mora, because he's just such a force of nature. He's probably my favorite superhero artist right now. How did he come onto the project, and how has it been building a working relationship with him?
I've been talking to Dan for a while now, just trying to see if our schedules could ever align. He's very happy at DC, so we haven't been able to make anything work. But Ben Abernathy also has a really good relationship with him from his time at DC. And Dan reached out and was talking about how much he loves Transformers and how much he'd love to be able to do a stint on the book. Ben was able to work his magic and make it happen. So like everything with the Energon Universe, it really comes from someone having a passion for these characters and wanting to play in the sandbox.
Is he gonna be doing double duty at DC, or just Transformers right now?
Dan's schedule is Dan's schedule, and he certainly has a lot of books coming out. He lets us know, "Hey, this is going to take six weeks, this is going to take four weeks," and we've scheduled accordingly. I don't know exactly what he's doing on top of Transformers, but I know he can do multiple books at a time, and has for a good long time, so I believe that will continue.
On top of Dan Mora, Transformers #25 has an opening sequence drawn by Jorge Corona that sets the stage for the transition. How was it working with him after his own run on the title?
It was a blast working with Jorge Corona on that opening sequence. That was a lot of fun. I think he's been great on the book. We're hoping to get him back as soon as possible onto the series. Working with him was a real dream of mine. I've loved his work for a long time.
Speaking more generally about Transformers, how did you decide that they would be the cornerstone of the Energon Universe? Energon is a Transformers concept. They're kind of the core of this idea. What made that feel like the right way to go?
I think narratively, it just worked as a catalyst. The Transformers coming to earth seemed like a really big kind of kickoff point for this universe. And, you know, trying to find a new way into GI Joe, trying to start at square one. The Transformers arriving at earth seemed like a fun roundabout way of setting that off and putting that in motion.
And then when you talk about having a whole universe of characters, it's nice if that universe isn't confined to one planet, and Transformers brings that as well, because there is a lot of outer space lore and different planets and things that they've visited, and there's a lot of stuff there that we're going to be using as time goes on. And so I think as a linchpin to a universe, Transformers just narratively, had a lot of things that allowed us to build on them.
I would say another linchpin to this universe is Cobra La, which will become more and more apparent as we get deeper and deeper into the runs of these books. I think that was a really, really cool science fiction element that expands the world of GI Joe in a way that allows it to more naturally interact with Transformers and Void Rivals and things like that. It's really just about finding the narrative elements that exist in these properties and have existed for years, and figuring out ways to weave them in a convincing way.
Looking back, how do you feel the decision to launch the Energon Universe by surprise in Void Rivals worked out?
I feel great about it. I think it worked out splendidly. I think that it created a sense of excitement and mystery around these books. And I think that continues to this day. I think Transformers #25 is another example of that. I think there's at least a couple of things that happened in that book that you couldn't have really anticipated when you went to the store to buy it. And I think that that's something that everyone should be striving to include in their books.
Some sense of like, "Wow, I didn't expect this." You people to be as amazed as you can possibly make them as they're turning pages.
I think comics is a magical medium where there's a surprise built on every page turn, and we should be working toward that as much as we possibly can. So yeah, by starting the Energon Universe with that surprise moment, it really kind of put us on that path and trajectory of trying to surprise and entertain people at every turn.
To wrap up, I want to ask, what do you see as the future of the Energon Universe? Are you going to keep bringing in more and more of these connected properties? Is there potential for it to continue expanding infinitely?
No, no. It's going to expand methodically and at a pace where you won't even notice the expansion. I'm perfectly happy with it being three titles for a good long time. At some point in the future, it will probably expand to four. I can't see us adding titles at a rate faster than one every two or three years, if we keep expanding past four titles - we may never.
There's not a corporate goal to expand to a certain number of titles, to meet certain revenue goals, or anything like that. Everything that drives the Energon Universe is creative, and so we're keeping it small, and keeping it manageable. Right now, it's just myself and Josh Williamson as the writers on the line, and we're keeping things fairly self contained.
As a universe, there will be some fun expansions and neat things that happen along the way, but keeping things manageable for our sake and for the readership's sake, we're not looking to blow up anybody's budget by expanding to 567 monthly titles ever. Expansion is not the goal. Telling cool stories and putting out fun comics is the goal.
There will be an expansion to a certain extent of the Transformers Universe in #25 and that's going to continue for the next few issues. Hopefully people will be really excited about all the stuff coming up, because I really am. I'm hoping to hit the ground running on this book and really, wow people. Hopefully people enjoy it.
Transformers #25 goes on sale October 8. While we wait, be sure and stay up to date on all the Transformers news you need to know.
