The Energon Pub

SCOOP has revealed a convention exclusive cover for IDW Publishing's upcoming Transformers: Dark Cybertron #1 drawn by none other than Rob Liefeld. Those of you who were collecting comics in the 90's will recognize the homage to Liefeld's The New Mutants #87 cover.

This exclusive convention variant will be available at Virginia Comicon, which takes place Saturday and Sunday, November 23rd through 24th at the Old Dominion Building at the Richmond International Raceway, 600 East Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222. Check out the cover below.

Convention guest Rob Liefeld, creator of Youngblood and Deadpool, has supplied a convention exclusive cover for IDW Publishing's Transformers: Dark Cybertron #1, and convention guest SL Gallant has illustrated a convention variant for G.I. Joe #196, which is written by Virginia Comicon guest Larry Hama.

His name is really "Optimus" - "Prime" is his title.

Nondescript background, hulking disproportioned body, generic grimacing faces, needlessly exaggerated eye twinkle, 90's "EXTREME" look...

Yep, that's one uber Liefeldian cover, alright.

Oh my god.


I must have this.

I think this is an awesome comic book convention exclusive cover. I miss the good ol' days of the early 90s Marvel comics. Fun stuff back in the day.

I need this in my life!

Wow. So generic!
Getting shots of the two together makes me want the New Mutants comic more. The TF "homage" feels uninspired and crappy - Liefeld can draw better than that! Wow... did he phone this one in or what?

I'm not a fan of the convention Dark Cybertron cover myself. Although it would be cool it Optimus became one of the most powerful telepaths with that flashing eye, like Cable

Am I the only one who think of Heart of Darkness?

Metrosuplex wrote:Wow. So generic!
Getting shots of the two together makes me want the New Mutants comic more. The TF "homage" feels uninspired and crappy - Liefeld can draw better than that! Wow... did he phone this one in or what?

So, in others, a typical Liefeld cover.

BATTLEMASTER IIC wrote:I'm not a fan of the convention Dark Cybertron cover myself. Although it would be cool it Optimus became one of the most powerful telepaths with that flashing eye, like Cable

Houston, I think we have a reference!

Optimus w/ awful eye flash = Cable.

I am no fan of Rob Liefeld but I like this cover for the fact that it's an homage to 90s style comic book covers.

Who better to reference a Rob Liefeld cover than Rob Liefeld himself?

Awesome 90s cover! As much as I love it, unfortunately I won't be getting it because...

1) It's not worth venturing into the South to get a copy

2) It's not worth ordering either. I'm pretty sure that they don't make physical copies of comic books anymore. Is this book even real?

Only Liefeld would do a homage to himself. No wonder everyone hates this guy, (and his horrible art).

I like Liefeld. I still have some of his comics from the 90s. But man, that cover looks awful. Makes Optimus looks scrawny like Bumblebee, and damn, that's bad

Come on, if you're gonna do an exclusive, make sure it's good. Just because it's a popular artist doesn't mean you have to accept everything they do. A great swimmer may not be a great basketball player, although both are athletes. Being good at something in the same field doesn't make them good at everything in that field. Find Transformers or tech artists, not a popular human artist to draw tech or robots. Bad choice and bad exclusive!!

President-prime wrote:I like Liefeld. I still have some of his comics from the 90s. But man, that cover looks awful. Makes Optimus looks scrawny like Bumblebee, and damn, that's bad

Scrawny? Prime's drawn in the staple Liefleding oversized hulking body that's too muscular for him to even move.

President-prime wrote:Come on, if you're gonna do an exclusive, make sure it's good. Just because it's a popular artist doesn't mean you have to accept everything they do. A great swimmer may not be a great basketball player, although both are athletes. Being good at something in the same field doesn't make them good at everything in that field. Find Transformers or tech artists, not a popular human artist to draw tech or robots. Bad choice and bad exclusive!!

People don't hire Rob Liefeld if they want good-looking art. Liefeld artwork equaling subpar artwork is kind of the meme of the guy.

If you're asking for Liefeld, you're asking for awkward artwork full of bad 90's EXTREMEness.

Did Rob Liefeld become the Pat Lee of his day?

Seeing those two Liefeld covers side by side really brings back all the was hyped and crazy in a carefree comic collecting industry, before it all fell down!

If this, along with the My Little Pony Micro Series #5 where both available to the U.K. for a reasonable price, then I would buy for sure!

I would love to see a Todd McFarlane homage to his own classics Spidey cover but with [insert favourite Transformer here]!

robotmel wrote::D
Did Rob Liefeld become the Pat Lee of his day?

Liefeld was Lee's inspiration. No joke.

Sabrblade wrote:

robotmel wrote::D
Did Rob Liefeld become the Pat Lee of his day?

Liefeld was Lee's inspiration. No joke.

Indirectly, also Mark Waid and Alex Ross' for Kingdom Come.