Transformers: Beast Wars Gets IDW Series In Time For Its 25th Anniversary

With the 25th anniversary of the fan-favorite animated series Transformers: Beast Wars, the property is enjoying something of a renaissance. After getting some love from Netflix and even some new toys earlier this year, IDW Publishing announced today as part of their virtual New York Comic Con experience that writer Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, Transformers/Ghostbusters) and artist Josh Burcham (Galaxies, the Wreckers Saga) will join forces for a new Transformers: Beast Wars comic book series, with an oversized #1 issue hitting the stands in February, featuring a lead story and what they describe as an additional 30 pages of story content.

Beast Wars: Transformers, the flagship animated series for the Beast Wars brand, debuted in 1996 and ended in 1999, running for three seasons and 52 episodes. Beast Machines, Beast Wars II, and Beast Wars Neo also took place in a continuity where, rather than transforing into cars, trucks, planes, and other heavy machinery, the familiar Transformers characters turned into animals.

“Beast Wars was a wonderful and weird pivot from the Transformers setup to which I was first introduced,” Burnham said in a statement. “Big personalities, unexpected twists, and actual stakes all popped up regularly on the show, and those are tools that I enjoy using to build new stories. Best of all, the enthusiasm from everyone involved in this project has been so high that I’m feeling constantly inspired!”

“I’m so thrilled to be a part of this team,” added Burcham. “I was a ’90s kid and even though I knew about Generation 1, Beast Wars was really my G1. It’s still my favorite iteration, and I consider it such a privilege to be able to bring the characters to life in this brand new series. Let the Beast Wars rage on!”

You can check out the official description for the series below:

The Transformers: Beast Wars comic series will welcome fans to a future Cybertron populated by scientific-minded Maximals and action-oriented Predacons. When the successor to the Megatron name steals a golden disk and a ship capable of traveling through time, only Optimus Primal and a team of Maximals — Rattrap, Rhinox, Cheetor, and a new character Nyx — can stop them.

Transformers: Beast Wars #1 will be available with multiple cover variants for retailers and fans to enjoy, including Cover A by series artist Josh Burcham, Cover B by Fico Ossio (Optimus Prime), and two Retailer Incentive editions featuring art by Dan Schoening (Transformers/Ghostbusters) and Nick Brokenshire (Star Wars Adventures), respectively.