G.I. Joe Goes Back to the 80s; Transformers Rekindle an Ancient War
IDW has announced two four-issue miniseries spinning out of its licensed Hasbro series, a nostalgic take on G.I. Joe and a deadly serious Transformers saga.
Transformers: War’s End, a four-issue miniseries by writer Brian Ruckley and artist Jack Lawrence, brings back the warlord Exarchon and his two generals Shockwave and Skywarp, who vanished long ago after a murderous conflict, and the warrior Cyclonus, who is still struggling with the horrors he witnessed in that war.
“War’s End is about unfinished business: for both the characters and for Cybertron as a whole,” Ruckley said in the announcement from IDW. “It’s the return of Cybertron’s traumatic past to upend its present… and answers the question: If your planet has at its core the collective Spark of your entire civilization, just how vulnerable might that make you?”
Ruckley is the writer of the main Transformers series, and IDW editor David Mariotte described the ongoing series and the spin-off one-shots and limited series as “the quilted pieces of an epic story, helmed by Brian Ruckley,” adding, “War’s End and the ongoing series are where those threads weave together, showing the full picture of the Transformers mythos — past, present, and future — that we’ve been building for years.”
The first issue of Transformers: War’s End will be released in February 2022 with a main cover by Angel Hernandez, a variant cover by Lawrence, and a retailer incentive cover by E.J. Su.
On a lighter note, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero—Saturday Morning Adventures, by writer Erik Burnham, artist Dan Schoening, and colorist Luis Antonio Delgado, aims to recapture the weirdness of the 1980s G.I. Joe animated cartoon. The criminal organization Cobra has launched a new attack, the Aladdin Initiative, with a new weapon that will challenge the entire G.I. Joe team.
“I loved how straight-up weird cartoons can be,” said Burnham in the announcement from IDW. “The G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero cartoon allowed for gremlins, Egyptian gods, and of course, a ninja dressed in an 80’s New Wave outfit, wig and all. You never knew where the show might take you. Writing a story set in that universe, you can do anything… and I’m partnered with artists like Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado, who can draw anything.
The first issue of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero—Saturday Morning Adventures will debut in February with a main cover by Schoening, a variant cover by Megan Huang, and a retailer incentive cover by Billy Penn.
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Source: ICV2
