Waiting for the next big event is always a moment away, but this time, IDW Publishing is bringing about the end of the Transformers Universe in Transformers: Unicron.
The event kicks off in July as a bi-weekly six-issue event that has Optimus Prime gathering his defenses against “this monstrous threat.” Bringing this event to live are John Barber, Alex Milne, and Sebastian Cheng.
“TRANSFORMERS: UNICRON is a culmination of the years of TRANSFORMERS comics I’ve been a part of… and the conclusion of one of the longest continuous narratives in TRANSFORMERS history,” said Barber. “This is a story of heroism in the face of impossible odds; of a reckoning for an entire universe. I couldn’t be luckier than to have Alex [Milne] right here with me on this—if you know Alex, you know nobody puts more into the TRANSFORMERS than he does, and nowhere before has he drawn drama, action, and pathos at this scale. Tying it all together is the incredible palette of Sebastian Cheng. We’ve never held back before on our TRANSFORMERS comics, but this time we’re pushing ourselves—and each other—harder than ever.”
IDW Publishing is launching the event on Free Comic Book Day (May 5th, 2018) with the #0 issue, with the first chapter arriving in July.
Is this really the end of the Transformers for IDW Publishing? Will there be something coming after? Is Hasbro moving its properties away from IDW Publishing, following a bit of a shakeup due to a rowdy bunch of online “voices”? Now that the Hasbro universe is unified, a world without Transformers will really impact the rest of their properties. So maybe this is an ending ahead of a new beginning.
July is going to be really interesting.
5 Comments
I wouldn’t say they’re really unified any more. GI Joe no longer has a book now that Scarlett’s Strike Force is canceled. Rom/Micronauts and Transformers/Visionaries are both mini series. Transformers has been the heavy hitter with IDW’s Hasbro properties, but sales numbers have dropped dramatically over the last few years.
Despite how much I love the rich universe they’ve made, I can see it is time for a shakeup. This is the longest continuous run of Transformers fiction ever, and they have done a lot of good things over the years. Introducing concepts of romantic relationships between Transformers, creating a deep history of politics and religion, and introducing new characters like Windblade that have gone from the comic page onto TV screens all are things that are bound to be a part of the fabric as Hasbro moves on to their next vision.
Personally I hope it stays with IDW, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it goes to another publisher like Boom Studios. I doubt there’s any chance it goes to someone like DC or Marvel, but seeing what DC has done with the Hanna Barbera stuff, and Marvel with Star Wars, I’d be happy with those too.
Trying to be SJW heroes and pandering to far left idiots is going to bankrupt IDW now that Hasbro is pulling out of their partnership.
Serves them right.
I haven’t seen any news that Hasbro has pulled out of their partnership with IDW Publishing. Do you have a link to share?
Comments on Twitter from James Roberts (Lost Light writer) yesterday confirm this is not the case. There will be IDW Transformers comics after this, just in a new continuity.
They should start calling it Transformers: social justice warriors.