Four Page Preview of Skybound Transformers #1

And we're back in 1984!

I was happy Skybound taking over TF from IDW, excited by Daniel Warren Johnson handling the comics. But this early preview is kind of disappointing.

The 4-page insides are just not... exciting? The covers featuring Starscream, however, intrigue.

The art style is more suited for organics than bots. Not that I expected anything else - it IS Daniel Warren Johnson's signature - and the layout is fantastic (except the physically illogical fall into the exhaust ports and reveal the rear of the Ark part... like, HOW!?). Johnson's artwork always reminded me of the French comic books I read back in my youth - Tintin, Asterix and the likes when I grew up in Montreal. Guest I'm still getting used to it for TF but it's not hard to get past this. For me that's better than the Marvel TF style that doesn't age well... even back in the late 80's... so I'm not complaining.

snavej wrote:And we're back in 1984!

Some of the items the humans are carrying seem like maybe not. It's not definitive, though.

snavej wrote:And we're back in 1984!

Where's the fanny pack?

I like the covers for the most part, even if I'm getting Bayverse psycho Prime vibes. As for the actual art, it's not impressive. This is my first experience with Daniel Warren Johnson's style, and he did not make a good impression. It's not terrible, but the story had better be top notch elsewise I don't think I'll stay with it.

cloudballoon wrote:

snavej wrote:And we're back in 1984!

Where's the fanny pack?

We can't say. This is a family website.

Its not bad, but not enough seen yet to say good either. For the first time in a long time, I can go into a new Tranformers comic with an open mind and that what I'm going to try and do. Those covers are great though. Its just gonna to be hard to gets use to not seeing Burcham, Milne, Roche, etc. art and even Malkova on the 2.0 stuff. Maybe some of them will pop up every now and again.

Interesting. So it looks like Spike is somehow going to be responsible for the Transformers' revival on Earth.

This is shaping up to be everything I dreamed of and more. Feels like Transformers is finally back.

Eh, still not really impressed at all.

Didn't Earthspark do this 'kids create Transformers' thing? I know the Skybound people are doing 'awakening', not 'creating' but it's fairly similar.

snavej wrote:Didn't Earthspark do this 'kids create Transformers' thing? I know the Skybound people are doing 'awakening', not 'creating' but it's fairly similar.

Earthquake, kids, D-void, or whatever, they gots to wake up somehow, hopefully the how isn't whats important.

Hero Alpha wrote:

snavej wrote:Didn't Earthspark do this 'kids create Transformers' thing? I know the Skybound people are doing 'awakening', not 'creating' but it's fairly similar.

Earthquake, kids, D-void, or whatever, they gots to wake up somehow, hopefully the how isn't whats important.

Joke: Primus is the opposite of Unicron, so D-void is the opposite of D-mass! [Pronounced dumb ass.]

Please ignore Johnston's breathless and overly credulous hype, but I don't question the headline, and it's noteworthy in itself.

Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers #1 Opens With Over 153,000 Orders
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/daniel- ... 00-orders/

Launching a book with six figures is an accomplishment, but it's only a marketing one. The trick will be sustaining that level of interest. Still, it's a promising beginning.

Presenting Seibertron.com's exclusive cover of the highly anticipated Transformers #1 from Image Comics and Skybound. This remarkable variant cover showcases the artistic prowess of the esteemed Marco Ferrari. Transformers #1 is written by Daniel Warren Johnson, with art contributions from both Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer.

This exclusive offering is scheduled for release alongside the onslaught of Transformers #1 cover variants on October 4th, 2023. Our exclusive cover can currently be acquired for the price of $20, plus shipping, with a purchase limit of five per customer. Pre-orders for this exclusive and the other cover variants can be made through our website at shop.seibertron.com, or simply by following the image or link provided below.



Here is some additional information about Transformers #1 from Image Comics:

THE ALL NEW TRANSFORMERS ERA STARTS HERE!

Superstar creator DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON (DO A POWERBOMB, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth), alongside ENERGON UNIVERSE showrunner ROBERT KIRKMAN (VOID RIVALS, INVINCIBLE), reimagines Hasbro’s robots in disguise for a brand-new generation.

Optimus Prime was supposed to have led the Autobots to victory. Instead, the fate of Cybertron is unknown, and his allies have crash-landed far from home, alongside their enemies—the Decepticons.

As these titanic forces renew their war on Earth, one thing is immediately clear: the planet will never be the same. New alliances are struck. Battle lines are redrawn. And humanity’s only hope of survival is Optimus Prime.

Discover THE TRANSFORMERS like you’ve never seen them before!

Starscream looks very intimidating in that cover.

That cover actually looks cool

I may just have to get into this new continuity on the ground floor after all.

Smoking/steaming eyes indicate fury. Remember G1 UK where Frenzy did it?! Oo-er! He's gonna get us! (Calm down, fangirls!)

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:That cover actually looks cool

I agree except for Ftenzy (or Rumble, I don't remember if this is RIBFIR or RIRFIB)

ScottyP wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:That cover actually looks cool

I agree except for Ftenzy (or Rumble, I don't remember if this is RIBFIR or RIRFIB)

The smile is a little weird, yeah.

I always go Rumble is Red, so I'm just gonna say Frenzy

It is confirmed Frenzy.

Below you can see the connecting cover variant for Void Rivals 4 which is also being labelled as a spoiler. It is by Karen S Darboe and features Shockwave. This comic, and cover, should be available in comic stores today.

Void Rivals #4 and other Void Rivals comics are available in the Seibertron.com store: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_dkr%3D1%26%20...%2029%26_sop%3D10%3C%2Fa%3E%26

You'll let us know what you think of this comic series so far.

Wow. Shockwave should look bigger. Not really intimidating.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Wow. Shockwave should look bigger. Not really intimidating.

There is literally nothing there to compare him to, how can he look small?

The new design is quite intimidating. Especially the cannon arm.

They've arrived! Ships next week.

He looks like a midway point between FOC and TFP. Was the Universe MMO game going to have him in it?

Another TF 1 exclusive to add to the massive pile of them - the local chain around here, Ultimate Comics, just put theirs up for preorder. https://ultimatecomics.com/product/tran ... pre-order/

I really hope we get some classic tpbs out these series, I wasn’t a fan of the way they released IDW2 all together in compendiums. Cool to have no doubt, but collecting each series by volume will never lose its appeal imo.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Wow. Shockwave should look bigger. Not really intimidating.

There is literally nothing there to compare him to, how can he look small?

I didn't really mean his size compared to others, I meant his own body dimensions. He should be bulkier and beefier. Also he looks like he skipped leg day, but most versions have that problem, except Beast Hunters and Bayverse.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Wow. Shockwave should look bigger. Not really intimidating.

There is literally nothing there to compare him to, how can he look small?

I didn't really mean his size compared to others, I meant his own body dimensions. He should be bulkier and beefier. Also he looks like he skipped leg day, but most versions have that problem, except Beast Hunters and Bayverse.

Combination of art style and being drawn from the toy itself I am afraid.

The cover art and his design in the interior are not the same. Interior art is a much more G1-ish design rather than the Prime (dare I say Beast Hunters-esque?) design on that cover.

His inclusion was a little interesting but also really weird. They basically hard cut out of nowhere to a two page interlude with him talking to that pig guy from The Gambler (Sucksoid or whoever) then go right back to the Void Rivals story. Bizarre pacing that reeked of "hey, hey guys, look it's Transformers! 'Member Cybertron? We 'member."

ScottyP wrote:The cover art and his design in the interior are not the same. Interior art is a much more G1-ish design rather than the Prime (dare I say Beast Hunters-esque?) design on that cover.

His inclusion was a little interesting but also really weird. They basically hard cut out of nowhere to a two page interlude with him talking to that pig guy from The Gambler (Sucksoid or whoever) then go right back to the Void Rivals story. Bizarre pacing that reeked of "hey, hey guys, look it's Transformers! 'Member Cybertron? We 'member."

That guy is not in the Gambler. Sleezardo is in the Gambler. The guy you mean doesn't appear until Season 3.

ScottyP wrote:The cover art and his design in the interior are not the same. Interior art is a much more G1-ish design rather than the Prime (dare I say Beast Hunters-esque?) design on that cover.

His inclusion was a little interesting but also really weird. They basically hard cut out of nowhere to a two page interlude with him talking to that pig guy from The Gambler (Sucksoid or whoever) then go right back to the Void Rivals story. Bizarre pacing that reeked of "hey, hey guys, look it's Transformers! 'Member Cybertron? We 'member."

We were checking in on Skuxxoid's plot. Not sure how that was bizarre.

Below is a press release from Skybound Comincs:

The Autobots are rolling out in a big way this month, with the arrival of Daniel Warren Johnson’s eagerly awaited Transformers #1. The issue’s first printing has already sold out from the distributor. But no worries — a second printing will arrive in comic shops on November 1st, with a selection of very cool variant covers. Check ’em out below, after these official details on the book…



Today Skybound, in collaboration with leading toy and game company Hasbro, announced that TRANSFORMERS #1, the debut issue of writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson’s massively anticipated series, has sold out at the distributor level days before its release at comic book shops. The second launch in the all-new Energon Universe, TRANSFORMERS #1 will return with five commemorative second printing covers, available in comic book shops beginning November 1, 2023.

TRANSFORMERS #1 begins a brand-new era for the iconic TRANSFORMERS franchise from Daniel Warren Johnson (Extremity, Do a Powerbomb, DC’s Wonder Woman: Dead Earth) and colorist Mike Spicer (Stillwater, Murder Falcon). Optimus Prime was supposed to have led the Autobots to victory. Instead, the fate of Cybertron is unknown, and his allies have crash-landed far from home, alongside their enemies—the Decepticons. As these titanic forces renew their war on Earth, one thing is immediately clear: the planet will never be the same. New alliances are struck. Battle lines are redrawn. Humanity’s only hope for survival is Optimus Prime and the Autobots.

The issue will return with five brand-new second printing variant covers:

Covers A & B, drawn by Jason Howard, spotlight the iconic Optimus Prime and Starscream respectively.
Covers C & D, drawn by Lewis LaRosa, respectively feature Johnson’s Autobot and Decepticon teams.
A special spoiler Cover E, drawn by Greg Tocchini.

In that second one with Soundwave, his head and missile launcher are too far to the side (his left, our right). I appreciate that TFs are very flexible but it looks a bit weird.

This review is spoiler free aside from the mention of the presence or some characters or lack of.

I keep thinking of that big bold line from the original G2 comic with “this is not your father’s Autobots” and how the strategy for franchises has changed since the Poochie filled era of the 90s. The recent era of deconstructing heroes is now past as well and instead what people want is nostalgia, like a reboot to G1. BUT, while nostalgia can seem like an easy sell, it must be done right, which is very tricky. There must be familiarity but it can't just be a retread.

After having read the first issue, I can confidently say that writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson gives us a G1 reboot in glorious loving fashion. While it can easily be seen as a reboot to both the G1 show and the G1 comic, it is also a new story, and made accessible to all types of Transformers fans. Fans of the original G1 comics are bound to get a kick out of Johnson’s art since it is very reminiscent of Geoff Senior at times. There is a great panel of Ratchet getting an action scene which reminds me of how Geoff Senior would juxtapose a dynamic and fluid scene with such simple shapes making up blocky and angular characters. We get that same contrast here in Johnson’s art. The bright colours from Mike Spicer are the icing on the cake, complementing the art perfectly for a classic feel.



The story itself is very familiar, as intended for the opening of a new saga reinventing G1. But within the first issue, Johnson makes it clear that it is not a simple retread of G1, with a significant character death. This, along with the mysterious lack of a particular villain, sets the rest of the comic in uncharted waters. The familiarity now rests simply with the characters. This is the opposite of deconstructing characters and it reminds me instead of seeing Peter B Parker in the first Spider-verse movie, where we have characters in a new story and new continuity, but written in a way that you can instantly recognize them in a classic portrayal. While there have been a lot of different versions of Optimus Prime, Jetfire and Starscream throughout the brand’s 40 years, consistent traits have lingered throughout, creating specific personas we attribute them with to the point where we can tell when a character isn’t acting as he should (or as we think they should). And in this comic, these characters feel like the ones I know and love. Optimus is as heroic as we all know him to be, Starscream is as malicious as you’d expect him to be and Jetfire battles with the familiar internal conflict.



One last point I want to address is a change to the chronology by Johnson that I find very significant for the brand. He reduces the time for both the war and the main bots’ slumber from millions to hundreds of years. It’s just a change to the dialogue, with no other repercussions, but that’s all I needed. Interactions make more sense now, I can better imagine the length of the war, and there being little change from when they crashed, if that is revealed to be the case, will make more sense. But this is just a personal nitpick I had with storylines in the past and Sci Fi in general (paging Doctor Who), so I was glad to see it addressed here.

Overall, I recommend this issue to any Transformers fan who wants new G1 content in their life. It is a really meaty issue too, leaving you both satisfied and wanting more. Plus the humans present are not annoying, nor remove any of the spotlight from the bots (if ever there was any concern).

4.5 out of 5 stars



You can pick up this comic today at your local comic shop or grab it at our toy and comic store (along with thousands of other products) at shop.seibertron.com. We also have an exclusive cover for Transformers #1.

We had the pleasure to talk to the writer and artist of the new Transformers series from Skybound, Daniel Warren Johnson, to get to know more about what to expect in the coming months along with an explanation for the big spoiler moment. Below is a summary of what was discussed.

Firstly, it was interesting to see that while Johnson grew up with the Transformers brand and was heavily influence by Geoff Senior for his art style, he has been removed from the modern Transformers content and discussion. So don't expect new characters to show up, even those which have retroactively become part of "G1" fiction, like Drift, Barricade or Windblade. The stories will instead have characters he is ore familiar with, though there may certainly be some G1 deepcuts.
The first issue had a passing remark regarding Megatron's absence and Johnson was not going to tell us more about that. BUT he did explain to us why he picked Bumblebee as the character to bite the dust in the first issue. At a basic level, the scene was made to establish to both new readers and the human characters in the story who were the good guys and the bad guys and how ruthless the bad guys are. Plus, since this comic is meant to be as accessible as possible, Johnson wanted to have well known characters, including the one who dies. This had nothing to do with Bumblebee's overexposure in the past 15 years, though it is interesting to note that Johnson never had a great affinity to Bumblebee growing up.

While the book has a very familiar premise for anyone who grew up in the G1 era, the book is meant to be accessible to all and Johnson asks us to leave everything we know at the door. The story he will be telling is fresh and new. It will be written as a series of arcs, with no end planned at the moment. At the same time though, Johnson is adamant to make each issue feel satisfying in its own right, as we saw with the first issue, with a full character arc for Jetfire. This is something extremely important to him.

A change we felt was significant was the talk of time. In most Transformers fiction, eras are measured in "millions of years" be it the Cybertronian war or the time between the Arc crashing and the bots awakening. Johnson changed that to "hundreds of years" in the dialogue since it felt more logical, but the impact story wise is minimal. It wasn't that big a decision for him and Hasbro had no notes on it. Speaking of Hasbro's involvement, they did give him feedback about the way he draws Optimus' hands. While they would want them to look less human, Johnson is sticking to the Geoff Senior school of robot hands, which are simply human hands with some rings drawn on the fingers. It is also less taxing for him, since he does have the double duty of being the writer and artist.

Speaking of that double duty, it gives an added layer to what we see in the comic and which characters appear. For instance, the cassette Soundwave chooses to deploy is Ravage. Johnson, as a writer, wanted to include this character that he loves and Johnson as an artist really wanted him in the story because it adds a different kind of element to draw. Him being an animal makes him fun to draw and adds contrast to the more blocky shapes of the other bots.

Those were the main parts of the interview, if you want to watch the full interview, you can do so below. But please be aware of some issues with framerate and the interviewer going on some random rants/tangents.

So time wise...they just killed G1 (beast wars) and UK comics dinobots. Bold and an easy pass XD

blackeyedprime wrote:So time wise...they just killed G1 (beast wars) and UK comics dinobots. Bold and an easy pass XD

It's a whole new world, anything is possible. Only 1 character is confirmed dead so far

I thought it was average. Plenty of good stuff, plenty of stuff that wasn't for me.

Really liked the war not being ancient/on an insane timescale, felt the balance of human drama to robot stuff was done well and some of the small nods like Prime's trailer having a real purpose were neato.

The art is not to my taste overall, but the only part that seemed actually bad to me were the attempts at using Geoff Senior-style action. That only works for Senior because his entire style is like that, it's really awkward and jarring here. The tone also gets too edgelord for my liking by the end, but I think a lot of people will like that and not view it as a negative point.

Just seeing the preview, I wasn't interested in this. It's been nearly 40 years since G1 and that doesn't make seeing the crashed Ark or dormant occupants as anything other than an 80's throwback. As much as I loathed IDWverse post-Furman. At least they had the guts to be different.

ScottyP wrote:I thought it was average. Plenty of good stuff, plenty of stuff that wasn't for me.

Really liked the war not being ancient/on an insane timescale, felt the balance of human drama to robot stuff was done well and some of the small nods like Prime's trailer having a real purpose were neato.

The art is not to my taste overall, but the only part that seemed actually bad to me were the attempts at using Geoff Senior-style action. That only works for Senior because his entire style is like that, it's really awkward and jarring here. The tone also gets too edgelord for my liking by the end, but I think a lot of people will like that and not view it as a negative point.

I get all your points (except for the edgelord stuff, I didn't feel that), but I think the wholesomeness and accomplishment of a G1 reboot made me look past them. I don't really care that it's a G1 reboot, but I like that it is done well. Some fans wanted that and I am happy for them. I hated the IDW 2.0 stuff, especially in terms of pacing, so by comparison this issue felt like a great read.

william-james88 wrote:I get all your points (except for the edgelord stuff, I didn't feel that)

Gonna keep it vague since I think this will show in the news story view comments where spoiler tags don't work - what I'm mostly referring to is the final panel of the issue. Made me roll my eyes. In a vacuum it doesn't bother me but as it is, it felt like the definition of a first issue trying way too hard to be serious/grim/important. Move that scene to a later point in the story, heck not even much later, and I think it has more impact.

ScottyP wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I get all your points (except for the edgelord stuff, I didn't feel that)

Gonna keep it vague since I think this will show in the news story view comments where spoiler tags don't work - what I'm mostly referring to is the final panel of the issue. Made me roll my eyes. In a vacuum it doesn't bother me but as it is, it felt like the definition of a first issue trying way too hard to be serious/grim/important. Move that scene to a later point in the story, heck not even much later, and I think it has more impact.

Ah right, I get it now. While I felt it was in line with the way the character was portrayed through the comic, I won't disagree with any of that.

There was plenty to enjoy, but there were some things I have...opinions on. There's something in there I felt was making a point that didn't really need to be made, but we got the truest version of a character I've ever seen in fiction due to that plot decision.

Transformers #1 is one of my most anticipated comics this year and it did not disappoint! It really is the perfect mix of DWJ sensibilities mashed up with the Transformers.

Supreme Convoy wrote:Transformers #1 is one of my most anticipated comics this year and it did not disappoint! It really is the perfect mix of DWJ sensibilities mashed up with the Transformers.

Yeah, I know people here aren't really feeling it, but the reaction online has been positive overall. While I'm indifferent on it being a G1 reboot, I think it accomplishes what it sets out to be.
Here are some more words of excitement I found for this issue:

We are so fuckin back, I knew DWJ wouldn't fail us.

The art's pulpy and fresh, the human and cybertronian characters are both interesting, it's got the signature robot-ultra-violence. 9/10, wish it was longer. Great start, hope we got years ahead of us.

What a fantastic read with some interesting twists to the formula. You can also already tell DWJ gets these characters.

I enjoyed it. How nice it is to see the 'compassionate warrior' take on Optimus Prime again as opposed to angry and vengeful in other media.
Welcome back, Caring Warrior Dad G1 Optimus

Just read the comic. I have to say this is the best TF comic I've read for a very, very long time. Feels good to be excited about Transformers comics again!

Really enjoyable. It is a pretty fresh look at the Sunbow Pilot Episode MtMtE with a ton of hooks for new story.

Listen, you there. That’s right, you reading this. I want you to read this carefully and picture these words in your mind. You understand? Good. Pick. Up. This. Book. It’s everything I wanted in a new Transformers series, going back to the core strengths of the franchise, the mechanical lifeforms learning and changing through their interactions with humanity, with amazing artwork and engaging writing and pacing. Pick it up. ‘Nuff said.

I rather enjoyed it, though I don't remember Cybertronians ever feeling as fragile as they seem to be here. Maybe I'm just used to how hard to kill they were in the IDW days. It certainly looks like two deaths in this issue alone.

~ Grim