IDW Revolutionaries Discussion Thread
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 1:35 pmIn a new interview posted on Comic Book Resouces, we learn that there will be a new storyline to follow Revolution in December, and writing said comic will be none other than John Barber, the man steering the Transformers IDW comics for the past almost 5 years! Barber will be joined by Revolution artist Fico Ossio and will be telling an interesting story about an odd group of 4 individuals that will include Autobot Kup, among others. Check out part of the interview below, and beware that there are spoilers for both the Titans Return storyline as well as the Revolution storyline!
CBR News: Was this spin-off project always part of the Revolution plan, or did it develop as you all were putting the pieces together?
John Barber: What became “Revolutionaries” really started at the retreat when we were planning out Revolution and what came next. We all had plans for our individual series, but there wasn’t a book that had an overview of the whole post-Revolution world. I think Cullen Bunn and Mairghread Scott had a couple of big ideas — there were a lot of great writers there, so forgive me if I’m misremembering, everybody was throwing out ideas. I think Cullen suggested Action Man was in a position to look over the whole world, and Mairghread got really specific and brought up the Warren Ellis series “Global Frequency,” where Ellis and a bunch of different artists told stories about an international group of problem-solvers. The genesis is really the three of us throwing ideas around the room, and it became clear I was in a position where maybe I should write it.
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What brings the Revolutionaries together? Did, say, the Transformers or G.I. Joe suggest their respective members, or did they volunteer?
Barber: There’s an event in the country of Kalistan — which is a deep cut for G.I. Joe fans — that mutates a bunch of people. G.I. Joe sends in a team to investigate, but the event occurred at a facility owned by a British company, so Action Man beats them there and — as we’ll see in “Action Man: Revolution” — Kup is hanging out with Action Man at this point. So those two worlds collide, and Garrison Blackrock — who’s a Steve Jobs-style industrialist — was involved because at the center of it all is an ancient artifact he thinks can help him learn about his Cybertronian heritage. Because, oh yeah, Blackrock is actually a Cybertronian who’s had memories implanted to think he’s human.
Once they all wind up together, without giving everything away, a series of events occur that draw the four principle characters in, and that opens up a mystery — what is this artifact code-named The Talisman? — and that draws all the other Hasbro characters into their orbit. Every answer asks a new question that makes the story more personal and — in terms of the universe — more expansive.
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On that note, this book will introduce some new characters into the IDW Hasbro-verse. Do you all have some personal favorite deep-cuts you’re looking to bring to the party?
Barber: Well, the first issue reprints — for the first time — the Joe Kubert “Sgt. Savage and His Screaming Eagles” G.I. Joe mini-comics. That’s a set of characters I don’t really have a personal connection with, those came out while I was, let’s say, between ages where I was into G.I. Joe toys. I don’t know what people think of those characters, but it’s really bonkers stuff. I mean, they had little in-pack comics and they got Joe Kubert to write, draw, color and letter them. The legendary Joe Kubert! The premise of Sgt. Savage is pretty nuts, but within that storyline is a group called I.R.O.N. — the International Robotic Operations Network — who show up in issue one of “Revolutionaries.” Meanwhile, in “G.I. Joe Extreme,” there was the Iron Klaw, and in “Action Force” there was Baron Ironblood. Is there a connection?!?
Ossio: I’m quite excited to draw these new, re-designed characters we did with John and David. I think it’s gonna be fully exploited in a great way. Plus it’s got these cool things to his design. I wanted to be very rational on how these characters were supposed to look and how to make that work, so I can’t wait to play with that on the page.
