'Transformers' Announces Official 'Mazinger Z' Crossover Series

It looks like Transformers has more than Decepticons to worry about these days. The fan-favorite [...]

By Megan Peters

It looks like Transformers has more than Decepticons to worry about these days. The fan-favorite franchise is about to team up with another mecha giant, and Mazinger Z is ready to go all out with a crossover.

Recently, Tokyo Book Store Village Books announced a bit of unexpected news for mecha lovers. It turns out Transformers will cross over with Mazinger Z this spring for a limited comic run.

According to details, the comic will be drawn a bit differently than manga fans are used to. The crossover will be done in western comic style with six Japanese artists on board. Yuu Kinutani, Hayato Sakamoto, Eiji Yoshioka, Kazumi Hoshi, Hidetsugu Yoshioka, and Naoto Tsushima will pen work on each issue — but that is not it. As it turns out, Mazinger Z creator Go Nagai will draw the crossover's release cover himself.

For those curious about the crossover's story, a translated description of the title surfaced online earlier this week. You can read up on the blurb below:

"The story will be about... the Autobots and the Decepticons being sucked into a space-time distortion across dimensions, then appearing in a time Japan where Mazinger Z is active. It is here, along with Dr. Hell and Baron Ashura, that a battle will be unveiled between the 4 sides."

This special crossover is only part of the comic industry's plans to revitalize the Transformers name in print. With a successful film franchise backing it, Hasbro has hopes to turn Transformers into a top-tier comic series, and it will test out plans to do that this year with a new flagship comic run named Transformers. The series will be written by Brian Ruckley with artists Angel Hernandez and Ron Joseph pitching in. As for the story, it will take place long before Cybertron was torn apart by war, and the series will publish twice a month.

"We are eager to begin this new chapter in Transformers storytelling," Michael Kelly, Hasbro's VP of Global Publishing, said in a statement about the new series. "We are excited to begin a tale that will be accessible and appealing to readers unfamiliar with Transformers lore, while still providing the depth and drama that our longtime fans expect. It's a big responsibility, but we've got the right team and the right characters to do it.

"[Writing this series is] a real privilege," Ruckley added. "Just as important, it's an amazing opportunity for new readers to discover and explore one of the biggest universes — and one of the best casts of characters — that science fiction has to offer, and to get in right at the start of a truly epic saga."

So, will you be picking up this crossover when it goes live? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

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