Robert Kirkman has become one of the biggest names in the comic book world for good reason. Creating the legendary undead franchise, The Walking Dead, Kirkman has had plenty of headlines thanks to the Invincible animated series, based on his original Image Comic. Now, Kirkman has decided to take the role of writer for the current Transformers comic book, expanding on the Energon Universe alongside his role in leading the series Void Rivals. Recently, we had the chance to chat with Robert about the Autobots, Decepticons, their battle, and a possible big event that sees the Transformers and G.I. Joe collide.
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To start, Kirkman described what drew him into helping to create the Energon universe: “I was born in 1978, and I was six years old when Transformers started in 1984. I saw the Transformers movie in theaters, I claimed I saw G.I. Joe’s movie in theaters, but I don’t think that happened. I used to race home every day to watch Transformers and G.I. Joe, I collected both toys. One of the first comics I ever got was a G.I. Joe comic, and the first time I saw Spider-Man’s black costume was thanks to a Transformers comic. I live every iteration of Transformers and G.I. Joe, and I still collect the toys.”
Robert also noted that the Energon Universe’s origin might not be what many expected, “It’s not like Hasbro came to us or anything, Hasbro was going to other publishers, and publishers were putting presentations together. We were scrambling because we didn’t know it was available. We came in at the last minute, put together a presentation, and went all-out. We got lucky enough to secure the rights. I feel like it’s working, and it’s a passion project for all of us. We’re excited to work in this universe. There’s not much business planning with all this; it’s very much creative and fun first.”
Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe
Obviously, a big part of the Energon Universe so far has been the integration of the Transformers into a world where G.I. Joe and Cobra are going to war. In our chat with Kirkman, we inquired whether an official crossover event between these two groups was in the works, “Internally, there is a roadmap of some big confrontation that could eventually happen. It’s not something we’re in a hurry to get to. The ‘event book’ has been kind of abused in this industry and when you have multiple events happening per year, they’re not really events anymore. If/when we get to it, it will be very methodically approached and it will be the biggest thing that’s ever happened to the Energon Universe. You will feel the ramifications for years afterwards, so it’s something we’re taking our time building to. I wouldn’t expect it anytime soon.”
Swinging back to the Transformers themselves, Robert shared his favorite part of writing the Cybertronians, “Nothing is more fun than trying to channel Peter Cullen when you’re writing Optimus Prime dialogue. I had the pleasure and honor of working with him in Invincible and it’s a real high watermark in my life to have interacted with him, it’s no end of meaningful in trying to uphold Optimus’ character. It’s about picturing whether the lines could be spoken by Peter, and the same with Frank Welker (Megatron) and Soundwave as well. Trying to find those voices, I try to feel like these lines could exist in the original cartoon so that’s fun. I’m having a lot of fun with the character Bulkhead, he didn’t exist in Generation One and most of our stuff revolves around ‘G1’ so it changes things in an interesting way.”
The Violence of Cybertron
Writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson previously helmed the first twenty-four issues of the Energon Universe’s Transformers comic. In his run, Johnson put both the Autobots and the Decepticons through tough times, which is something that Kirkman took into consideration when taking over the title. “Daniel’s run was relentless in the best way. Were there any issues where someone didn’t die? I think that I have a reputation for killing characters, and I see comments online about me saying, ‘Oh gosh, the death is going to continue. It’s going to get worse now that Robert’s on the book.’ I love playing against type. My first issue, I bring two characters back, and I don’t kill anyone! I may lull readers into a false sense of security for awhile, who knows?”
Robert also noted that death is no stranger to the franchise as a whole, while also noting that there is another element that has been a factor in Transformers history. “Death has been a tradition in Transformers, as set up in the 1986 animated movie, and I also love that there’s a tradition of resurrection. Thanks to the return of Optimus Prime and the fact that these characters are mechanical, in some cases, it’s just a matter of repairing them to bring them back. I’m definitely going to be playing with the fact that these are not humanoid, biological entities. There will be things that are different about them, I love the fact that they’re aliens, so I’ll be playing that up. Their lives work differently from ours.”
Working With Dan Mora
A major surprise for Kirkman hopping onto Transformers, was the arrival of artist Dan Mora to the Energon Universe. Making a big name for himself with books like Superman, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, and Absolute Power to name a few, Mora has been making big waves in the superhero world. Robert praised Mora’s work before explaining how he came onboard.
“He is the most valuable asset at DC Comics, and they want to keep him happy, and he wants to draw some Transformers. He reached out to Ben Abernathy (Executive Editor at Skybound) and has been a huge fan of Transformers forever. He loves Optimus Prime and has been jonesing to play in the sandbox. We’re really fortunate to have him, and he’s one of the best artists working today. His enthusiasm shows in every panel of every page. This is a guy who loves drawing comics, and that’s why he does so much of it. As much as I love Transformers and was dying to write this book, I have so much going on. When I found out Dan Mora was working on it, I had to say yes. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with this guy.”
Transformers #25, the start of Robert Kirkman and Dan Mora’s run, arrives October 8th, 2025. The final cut-off date for retailers is September 15th.
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