‘Transformers’ #1 is the start of something truly outstanding

The perfect start to what has the potential be one of the best licensed comics of all time.

October 4, 2023

I’m a big fan of Transformers. From Marvel, Marvel UK, IDW, to Dreamwave, I’ve sampled pretty much everything when it comes to the Robots in Disguise’s expansive history in the comic book medium. As the person who previously reviewed IDW’s final year of the license, I could not be happier to be the one to bring you this review of writer/artist Daniel Warren Johnson and colorist Mike Spicer’s Transformers #1 from Skybound.

This book has had quite the media stir for a licensed comic. I can’t think of such a buzz surrounding a franchise being licensed out to a new publisher since Marvel famously started publishing Star Wars again thanks to Disney. The surprise (though not that surprising if you were in the Transformers community where speculation had already assumed as such) reveal of Jetfire in Robert Kirkman’s new excellent Void Rivals comic set the comic world on fire, becoming the best-selling comic to ever feature a Transformer in history. That’s a wide net of a potential new audience, and with Johnson being tapped to create this new solo book, I can safely say this might be one of the most promising books coming out right now.

Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!

Skybound

Starting off with the plot, it’s your basic Transformers set up… or is it? Things are certainly familiar, but it’s not quite the one-for-one G1 retelling a lot of people were speculating on. No, this book actually zigs and zags expectations quite a bit if you’re familiar and comfortable with the usual formula. While the basic premise of the G1 series is followed, we’ve already got a lot of variation with the unfamiliar roster, the shocking character deaths of Bumblebee and Jetfire (two rather popular staple legacy characters) and the Decepticons making the Autobot Arc their home base while the rest of the Autobots are on the run. This certainly is a fresh start with new ideas, which I couldn’t be more excited about. One of the standout scenes for me though, was seeing Prime cradle the lifeless body of Bumblebee in the heat of battle, while Spike just looks on in sadness for these beings he’s never seen before this moment, but clearly recognizing the shared concept of care and empathy. Moving stuff, truly.

The character writing is also just sublime here, with a really interesting new take on the Witwicky family that blends together a lot of ideas from the G1 cartoon, and also the original Marvel source material. There’s a LOT of Marvel in here honestly, both visually and in the writing, and as a fan of that material, I’m all for it. The original Marvel book (and its UK sister book) by Bob Budiansky and Simon Furman are commandments of Transformers lore, and have been tragically overlooked and overshadowed by the fandom and public at-large. The human focus especially feels very Budiansky, who famously stood by his stance of “The Transformers were on Earth! Why shouldn’t they interact with humans?” A sentiment I couldn’t agree with him more on.

It’s actually been quite a while since we’ve gotten a true fresh start on the Transformers story on Earth, with a lot of recent media in the past couple years (save the live action films and most recent cartoon) more often than not choosing to keep the characters in space with minimal non-robot interaction to be seen. This has especially been the case in the comics, with a very vocal part of the IDW Transformers fanbase actively despising the existence of human characters, or the Earth in general, in the Transformers story altogether. This book definitely isn’t aiming to please those fans at this time, but I think it still crafts a very fun start that every fan should at least try. If not for the fresh feel, than absolutely for the STUNNING artwork.

Skybound

The artwork is truly where Johnson and Spicer shine. This may be one of the prettiest books I’ve ever read, with a delightful color palette from Spicer that makes every character pop and stand out, as opposed to a more uniform coloring job that I believe brought down some other previous good books like More Than Meets The Eye. Johnson’s art is so dynamic and expressive, feeling like a fantastic blend of ’80s Marvel and the G1 character models. His experience working on Do A Powerbomb clearly shows here, with Optimus and Starscream duking it out almost exclusively with flashy, impactful and dynamic wrestling moves. Seeing Optimus Prime SUPLEX Starscream into the ground LITERALLY had me yelling “GET HIM, PRIME!” out loud. It really brings the hype, and it manages to actually make me excited to see more action sequences in a comic book, which is not something I can say I tend to crave more of. Accept and enjoy as part of the medium yes, but actively desire more of? Very rarely, stellar job there. It’s odd to say that one of the things I like the most about his art on the book is that it doesn’t feel like “Transformers” art, if that makes sense. The brand, especially in comics, has a history of talented people with a great grasp at mechanical and robot design, which Johnson does too, but he doesn’t feel conformed to that brand aesthetic in the same way IDW books could. It gives the art a real fresh, and again, Marvel Transformers feel to it that I REALLY enjoy.

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.