Summary

• Transformers #1 introduces a new era for the franchise in the Energon Universe, seamlessly tying into the G.I. Joe titles and Void Rivals.
• Daniel Warren Johnson's art in Transformers #1 is explosive and dynamic, infused with influences from manga, war movies, and pro-wrestling.
• The comic strikes a somber tone, exploring the emotional weight of the characters as they face the threat of extinction and the aftermath of personal tragedies. Johnson masterfully balances the human and Cybertronian conflicts, making both equally compelling.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Transformers #1

The Energon Universe era of Transformers is finally here, as writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson’s first issue in the all-new series debuts this week from Skybound Entertainment. Hotly anticipated since its announcement last summer, Transformers #1 more than lives up to the hype, delivering a story that’s every bit as heartfelt as it is action-packed.

Coming from the creative team of Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer and Rus Wooten, Transformers #1 kicks off a new era for everyone’s favorite Robots in Disguise. The new series is the perfect introduction for the franchise in the Energon Universe, a shared continuity with the G.I. Joe titles and new series Void Rivals, where the Transformer Jetfire is awoken on a distant moon after spending centuries in stasis. The character winds up being the catalyst for the new story, as Transformers #1 picks up where Void Rivals left off, with Jetfire searching the galaxy for his fellow ’bots, bringing him into Earth’s orbit…

Daniel Warren Johnson Starts A Bold New Era For Transformers

The issue kicks things off with a series of s juxtaposing the Autobots fleeing a war-torn Cybertron with the past of “Sparkplug” Witwicky. Readers learn Witwicky is a war veteran dealing with the death of his oldest son, Jimmy, an astronaut who died in a space-shuttle crash. Sparkplug is awoken by his son Spike, who finds his dad drying out in VFW bar. Not sure how to break the news that he’s been accepted into Berkeley and wants to follow in his brother’s footsteps, Spike heads out to a local cliffside with his girlfriend Carly to do some stargazing. The two wind up falling into a chasm during an earthquake, where they discover a crashed spaceship filled with a host of comatose giant robots.

Before they can properly get their bearings, Spike and Carly are interrupted by Jetfire, who activates Teletraan I, the computer powering the crashed ship that begins repairing and reawakening the damaged Cybertronians. Not aware that a war broke out between the Autobots and Decepticons on Cybertron, Jetfire accidentally starts the war anew on planet Earth. As a result, Optimus Prime and his surviving Autobots find themselves in the fight of their lives against the newly-repaired Decepticons. It all adds up to a gripping debut issue, starting things off at a ten and only cranking up the intensity from there.

What’s immediately apparent about Transformers #1 is the pitch-perfect casting of Daniel Warren Johnson in the writer/artist duties. Johnson is one of the most exciting cartoonists of his generation, and his work here proves why. His art in Transfomers #1 explodes off the page, filled to the brim with dynamic layouts of blistering robot action that starts early and doesn’t let up for the remaining twenty-odd pages. Pulling from sources as varied as manga, war movies and pro-wrestling, Johnson stirs his influences together into something that feels fresh and wholly new - all of it ably assisted with the deft palette of colorist Mike Spicer.

Transformers #1 Is Just As Heartfelt As It Is Action-Packed

Perhaps most remarkable of all about the new series is the emotion Johnson is able to infuse the story with, taking a toy-line from the 1980s and turning it into something with real weight. Johnson has shown this command of tone in his previous works like Murder Falcon, Beta Ray Bill and Do A Powerbomb!, vacillating between ridiculous fight scenes and heartfelt character dynamics until there is no discernable difference between the two. It’s a brilliant way to reinterpret the classic G1 Transformers story, taking the bones of the lore established in the '80s cartoon and taking it to another level by finding the emotional reality of the situations depicted.

From the very first page, Transformers #1 strikes a somber, mournful tone. The characters are all picking themselves up after a great tragedy - in the case of Optimus Prime and his Autobots, quite literally, as they’re left broken and battered following the crash on Earth. There’s a heaviness that hangs over the proceedings, a desperation born out of characters facing the end of some sort. For the Autobots and Decepticons, they’re literally faced with the threat of extinction due to a war over the dwindling resource of Energon, the power source that gives them life; for Spike and his dad, the end of their world already came with Jimmy Witwicky’s death, causing a chasm between them that neither one knows exactly how to cross. Two sides splintered in the face of insurmountable odds, separated over the very thing that should unite them.

Johnson also finds the parallels between the father figures in the story, as Optimus Prime is a veteran in a decades-long war much the same way Sparkplug Witwicky lived through his own war on Earth. Both carry a tremendous weight upon their shoulders, evidenced in the juxtaposition between the flashback of Sparky standing over a dying fellow soldier and Optimus later mourning the death of his friend Bumblebee. Now that Spike finds himself under the protection of Optimus, Johnson makes both the human and Cybertronian conflicts feel of equal importance by having their emotional stakes tied so closely together. Few other stories in the franchise have made the human story just as compelling as the robot drama (and vice versa), but Johnson manages a perfect balancing act between the two.

The fact that Johnson is able to wring all of this from a toy tie-in comic about transforming robots is kind of a miracle. With just a single issue, the writer/artist has already crafted a story that is far superior to any of its filmed adaptations, creating a rich world that feels exciting and emotionally authentic. By all rights, a Transformers comic shouldn’t be this good, but the Energon Universe team pulled it off, launching the Transformers into a bold new era that will leave readers eager to find out what happens next. Now that the franchise is in the capable hands of Daniel Warren Johnson, it’s never been a better time to be a Transformers fan.

Transformers #1 is on sale now from Skybound Entertainment