Publisher: Image Comics (Skybound Imprint)
Writer/Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colours: Mike Spicer
Release Date: 4th October 2023

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The first issue of Skybound’s eagerly-anticipated Transformers series condenses the three-part pilot entitled “More than Meets the Eye” of the original 1984 animated series, while reimagining certain characters and events. Gone is the cheerful father and son relationship between Sparkplug and Spike. In this version, Spike is a gruff, drunk construction worker while Spike is a wide-eyed adolescent who dreams of becoming an astronaut. Carly is still Spike’s love interest, but she’s an aspiring artist here.

The Autobots and Decepticons are still at war, and some might argue this version is dark for the sake of being dark, but it successfully puts the aspect of war on full display in the style of G1 (Generation 1). The action and violence in this book are more akin to “The Transformers: The Movie” (1986) than the series. We’re talking grisly character deaths, people. Fans of the comics might not be as shocked, but fans of the television series might experience a bit of a trauma seeing these versions get blown to bits like they did in the 1986 movie.

Johnson’s artwork is on point for most of the book – the Transformers specifically are an exact match to their G1 counterparts. So much so that I can’t decide which cover to buy – it’s between the main cover or double dipping to get the two team covers. For me, the art only suffers slightly whenever the background is shown as solid colors or when it features a lot of negative space. For example, Rachet kicks Starscream with a giant K-TONG! sound effect behind them, which looks so juvenile to me, not to mention the fact that it interrupts the rest of the action. The difference between that panel and the rest of the book is as stark as the Transformers animated movie when compared to season three of the television series.

The design of the human characters is fine, but the drama seems a bit melodramatic. However, Johnson’s art blends the G1 characters and the modern world seamlessly. The characterization of the Decepticons is what has me most excited. They’re actually evil, particularly Starscream. He was my least favorite character, but this interpretation shows him as being cunning and legitimately ruthless.

This series looks set to be the “What if…? Dark” of the Transformers universe, which at the very least is an interesting concept, even if it will take a little getting used to for certain fans of the franchise.

Rating: 4/5.

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The writer of this piece is: Laurence Almalvez
Laurence tweets from @IL1511

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