How Void Rivals Sets Up Skybound’s Transformers

Earlier this year, Skybound’s Void Rivals #1 released, unveiling the publisher’s vision for the Energon Universe. The issue had a big connection to the Transformers, with main characters Darak and Solila discovering the Autobot Jetfire, who had been offline for centuries. The Cybertronian didn’t stick around long, quickly taking off, and not returning in subsequent issues. That particular plot point is picked up by Skybound’s Transformers #1, which released earlier today. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. In the issue, Jetfire’s journey leads him to Earth, where he discovers the Ark. The iconic Cybertonian ship is full of offline Autobots and Decepticons, and Jetfire sets to work bringing them back online.

Unfortunately, Jetfire is unaware of the civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons. The scientist left Cybertron in an attempt to find a way to save his home planet before the war broke out. Using Teletraan One, Jetfire begins fixing the crew, with Starscream being the first one revived. When Starscream brutally kills a dormant Bumblebee, Jetfire learns about the Cybertronian war, which has been taking place “for the past hundred years.”

As Teletraan One indiscriminately revives various Autobots and Decepticons, Jetfire finds himself allying with Optimus Prime and Ratchet. While Jetfire is able to help the Autobots, the scientist becomes another casualty of Starscream before the issue’s end.

Transformers Comics vs. Cartoon

The first issue of Skybound’s Transformers series offers a fairly similar storyline to the one that appeared in the 1984 animated series. In the pilot “More Than Meets the Eye,” the Autobot Ark is boarded by the Decepticons, and a battle inside the ship leads to it crashing on Earth. A volcanic eruption brings the Ark’s sensors back online, and Teletraan One begins reviving all of the Cybertronians in the ship, just as it does in the Skybound comic.

The biggest difference with Skybound’s series relates to Jetfire. The character wouldn’t appear in the animated series until “Fire in the Sky,” the seventh episode of the series. In that episode (and throughout the series) Jetfire goes by the name “Skyfire” due to legal reasons. Like his characterization in the Skybound comics, Skyfire is initially unaware of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, having crashed on Earth prior to the Cybertonian Civil War. The Decepticons take advantage of Skyfire’s lack of awareness, and he initially joins them, before switching sides.

Void Rivals and the Energon Universe

With Void Rivals taking place in the far reaches of the galaxy and Transformers on Earth, it seems like the two comics will have connective tissue between them, without either being required reading. Since the first issue of Void Rivals, the series has been fleshing out the Energon Universe. Not every issue has featured an Autobot or Decepticon; the series has also added characters from other alien races that appeared in the original animated series, including a Quintesson and Skuxxoid.

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