The interview with Robert Kirkman discusses where things began with the Energon Universe and what can be expected in the years to come.
After a little over a year in, the Energon Universe, the shared universe created between Skybound Entertainment and toy-maker Hasbro, continues to put out awesome stories. With Void Rivals as the linchpin, the shared universe which includes G.I. Joe and Transformers has given readers a new view on some classic characters. Since it’s inception, readers have been shocked by events such as the early death of the much-beloved Bumblebee (he didn’t survive issue #1), Duke walking around with long, blonde hair, and a Decepticon crew not led by either Megatron nor Starscream.
At this year’s New York Comic Con, members of the comic book press were invited by Skybound Entertainment to media-only event where we met with some of the team behind the Energon Universe, including Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly from G.I. Joe, and Jorge Fornes from Transformer. Also in attendance was Skybound’s publisher Sean Mackiewicz, and CEO (and Void Rivals writer) Robert Kirkman.
Below is the roundtable interview session The Comic Book Spot’s editor-in-chief, Theo, participated in with Robert Kirkman along with other members of the comic book press. During this interview with Robert Kirkman, he talks about the Energon Universe one year later compared to how it was planned amongst other things.
Into the Void Rivals aspect of it, where did you get the inspiration for starting that, obviously, with this universe behind G.I. Joe and Transformers. So how did Void Rivals become that initial marker for you?
Robert Kirkman: I wanted to kind of find a new way into these series. I wanted to kind of you know do Transformers and G.I. Joe in a way that would be the most exciting. And I think that doing it in a shared universe with cohesive entanglements that enrich in every series, enriching… enrich every series? who cares. (laughter) So, I thought that would be like, the, the coolest way to do it. And the way to get to that would be to do a stealth launch of a new book which became Void Rivals. And then Transformers just shows up, you know, I was like, oh my gosh, like, if I was ever reading a book by, like, Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, and The Transformer showed up, I’d lose my mind. It’d be amazing. And so, that was the initial idea. And to make that possible, it was kind of like how can Lorenzo de Felici, the co-creator, and I backwards-engineer an 80s toy property that never existed that can stand next to Transformers and G.I. Joe and feel like it fits. And so, you know, from that kind of like nugget, it was like, okay, well it’s Faction A versus Faction B, and they both have different things that they’re trying to accomplish. Then it’s the Agorrians and the Zertonins, and how do we do something that’s original but definitely feels in the wheelhouse of Transformers and G.I. Joe. And from there we were off to the races.
So It’s one year later. Void Rivals is out. Transformers is out. GI Joe is coming out. And now you have an established universe in the Energon Universe in place. How do you move forward with everything that’s going on and still keep that cohesive[ness] alive between the three titles now?
RK: Yeah, I think that keeping it to three titles is something that is going to help us — at least in the short term. We want to make sure that we make things as sensible as possible. We want to make sure that the continuity is as tight as possible. We want to make sure that there’s an element that we can introduce and a subplot in Transformers that is going to be consistent if it ever comes up in the 50th issue of G.I. Joe. That stuff’s really important to me as a fan. And so it’s something that is, we’re trying to make sure that we accomplish with this.
I think that, more than anything now that we’re a year in and we’ve got kind of a proof of concept and we know that the fan base is on board and the reception has been so positive, it’s really just kind of emboldening us to do more. To… keep expanding the universe in some cool and exciting and different ways to deepen the lore as we go to introduce new characters in three individual books. And it’s given us the leeway to make very far-reaching plans with all three books so that we know where we’re going, we know what we’re trying to accomplish, and we can make sure that, along the way, we kind of weave them together in really cool ways. So, that’s kind of where we’re at.
So we’re like you said more than a year into Void Rivals in the Energon Universe. What has surprised you the most both externally among fans and readers, and internally among Skybound and Hasbro about the response to Void Rivals, and the whole universe?
RK: I think the fact that everyone loves Cobra-La is exciting and very surprising. In the earliest days of putting this together, Cobra-La was to me the essential element that makes merging Transformers and G.I. Joe make sense because in a G.I. Joe world where Cobra-La exists, the Transformers aren’t really that weird. And internally, there’s some perceived resistance to Cobra-La. There are certain fans that adore it. And there are certain fans that hate it. There were some pushback and some concern and I was like I don’t care, I love them, let’s try it. And I was like, you know, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I failed before I’m happy to fail again.
And so we just went for it. And then, then there’s all these like, closeted G.I. Joe, like, Cobra-La fans that are like, “we love Cobra-La. We’re so glad you’re doing this Cobra.” And it’s like, whoa is Cobra-La like the most popular element to the G.I. Joe mythos, which I don’t think is the case, but people seem to really love it. So that was very surprising.
Another surprising thing… just seeing the absolute level of brilliance that Daniel Warren Johnson, was able to bring to Transformers. Unfortunately not able to be at the con here. But yeah, I mean, it was just, he seemed like the right guy. He’s got a great relationship with Sean Mackiewicz. He was Sean Mackiewicz’s, top choice for the Transformers book and I was very excited about the possibility of it, but the way that he’s able to bring life to those characters and the the ins and outs of the story that he’s been able to weave. Absolutely spectacular. So I guess it shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise but it was like, man. Oh, holy crap,
And yeah my goal for the Energon Universe was to do Transformers and G.I. Joe Comics. That I would absolutely love and I’m very happy to say mission accomplished. So this has been a lot of fun for me. It’s one of the reasons why I want to do Void Rivals because I was like, I would rather read this than actually have to do the work of this. So I’ll do Void Rivals, then do this stuff over here and then I’ll enjoy this stuff. You know, it’s a lot of fun.
So we’ve seen Void Rivals, the three worlds have made their appearance in that one series. It hasn’t quite happened yet in either G.I. Joe or Transformers, although they’ve touched upon each other. Is that timeline that you first established, when you guys got together to create this Energon Universe, is it still where you initially had it, or have you made adjustments?
RK: Oh, we’ve made we’ve made countless adjustments. So if you’re talking about the document that Sean Mackiewicz and I got together and kind of put like a Bible for the Energon Universe together in the very earliest days, there a lot of things, especially at the starting point of G.I. Joe and Transformers and keying in on different characters on GI Joe, and, some of the earliest like beginning points of of Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers run… Like some of those things were figured out in that document, but Josh and Tom and Daniel and Jorge Corona and Andrea Milano, like they all have brought their own like things to the Energon Universe and to be honest, like we had all of these far-reaching plans.
We had this very dense document. We didn’t know what we were going to call it. It was like do we call it the Hasbro Universe? That doesn’t really make sense. Are we gonna have to come up with a new word? Like we need to have some kind of distinct thing to call this thing, and does it really work? And Josh was developing Cobra Commander and he started coming up with, “okay so there’s Energon in the swamps and the Dreadnoks have access to it,” and that was something we really hadn’t considered before. And I was like wait a minute if you’re putting Energon in Cobra Commander and Energon is the thing that the Transformers need to live. So there’s Energon there. And then, oh yeah, I’ve totally got opportunities to incorporate Energon in Void Rivals, and then Energon is like this universal thing that ties all these books together. It’s the Energon Universe. So that actually came from what Josh was doing in Cobra Commander.
So, organically as more people have gotten involved, yeah, I mean you pivot, you change things. But it’s always improving things and there hasn’t been any like, great ideas that we came up with that we’ve just left to the side. There’s crazy things that we have planned that we may not get to for five years. But, something I learned from working on Walking Dead and Invincible is that you have to give yourself the latitude to pivot. And so, when I was working on those books, I may know what the next 50 issues are, but I could take a 20-issue detour and then get back on that track. And it makes the book more exciting, and I don’t lose those plans, but I get to do this thing that I’m really excited about that I think is going to blow people away, and is really going to make the book more exciting, and then get back to the stuff I was trying to do. So, we’re always going to be doing that.
So for you’re speaking on your like creative process, whether it’s with Void or just the idea of all these universes coming together. What would you say is your favorite part that gets you so excited and you think will get fans excited for what’s to come in the future?
RK: I mean there’s some exciting new characters getting introduced that I can’t spoil. There’s some really cool twists and turns in G.I. Joe. I mean, I think we’re using it for marketing, so I don’t think it’s… technically, it’s in the the preview that we showed at Comic-Con, but incorporating the actual blue lasers into G.I. Joe the comic. You know, those things have never really been present in G.I. Joe outside of the original cartoon. And again, Josh came up with the idea of like, okay, these Energon-based lasers that the G.I. Joe characters, that Cobra has. And the fact that Cobra has them is very interesting. I think that’s just a super cool element that, again, shows you what G.I. Joe can be. It’s like now they’ve got laser guns and there’s Cobra-La, and there’s monsters, they’re crazy stuff, oh my God. It just shows you that concept is really ripe to do all kinds of cool stuff with.
But yeah, I think the G.I. Joe book is going to be really exciting. I think that everybody loves Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers, and sees all the different things we’re able to do with that. And now you’re going to see Josh Williamson and Tom Riley, cut loose and taking G.I. Joe into some similar directions. I’m really excited to get to this point.
Do you have a passion for adapting your comics into different mediums, or is that a just that you’ve made some great projects and so studios reach out to you and were like, “we want to turn this into TV.” And have you ever had those preliminary conversations with Void Rivals yet?
RK: No, I mean, again, Void Rivals is a Hasbro property. So whatever Hasbro decides to do with it, that’s all well and good. So we’ll see what the future holds, but who knows? As far as a passion for adapting my own stuff, I think it’s fun. I really enjoy it. I’m having the time of my life on Invincible and, you know, very hands-on, co-showrunner. I’m working directly with almost every department on that show. So it’s it’s been a lot of fun. Like I said, I definitely enjoy it. It’s really rewarding to be able to be in the mix and saying, “I like the way this was in the comic, keep that exactly the same. I think we can make this scene from the comic a little better. Let’s try it from this.”
You know, it’s it’s just a really rewarding experience. But you know, I will admit comics are my main passion. That’s why I’ve got this Invincible show going that’s doing very well. And to be honest, that’s like, 98% of my work is working on the Invincible show. Energon Universe stuff is my nights and weekends hobby. I’m spending a tremendous amount of time on it. My kids are teenagers now. It’s fine. It’s a lot of fun and it’s like — Energon Universe and comics — that’s the stuff I’m doing instead of building model trains in my attic. It’s the thing I do. It’s just an absolute Joy. It’s a lot of fun.
Invincible’s a job. (Run the headline) But comics in general, and right now, the only comic I have coming out is Void Rivals. So, uh, there’s some things behind the scenes. People don’t know about yet but, uh, you know, Comics are my passion
So with Hasbro working with you guys, I’m sure that they’re happy with what you guys are doing and I’m sure ummm, there’s things that they’re like Bumblebee, for example. How was it pitching the Bumblebee twist in the end, especially since Bumblebee is, next to Optimus, Bumblebee is probably the biggest character and Daniel just said, “nah off of his head.”
RK: Well to give Hasbro a lot of credit, the Bumblebee thing kind of came from Hasbro. When we were trying to find the initial lineup of the Transformers, we are like, we definitely have to have Optimus Prime, definitely want to get RC in there as quickly as possible. We’d like to do this and we’d like to do that. And they (Hasbro) were like, “okay. Well, maybe don’t focus on Bumblebee that much because Bumblebee’s the focus of this cartoon, he’s the focus of this movie. We do so many Bumblebee toys, he’s like our marquee guy.” They were like don’t feel you need to make Bumblebee front and center just because all this other stuff is going on with Bumblebee. And we were like, “yeah, we can do that.” And so, we weren’t gonna feature Bumblebee, but I think it was Daniel that was like, “let’s kill him.” And they were like, “yeah, that’s definitely not featuring him.”
But it did have impact. I will admit it was it was the oh $#%^ move of the comic. Like, you just did what and because he is front and center usually.
RK: I mean, it’s set the tone for the universe. It was like, this is definitely going to be different from any other Transformers thing you’ve experienced from the get-go. Doing that, that event happening, really kind of set the stage for everything to come after it. And Hasbro recognized that. Hasbro was like, “oh interesting.” Yeah, that’ll be it. That’ll be a crazy take and they’re 100% on board with it. There’s some stuff coming up that I was really like, there’s no way we’re going to be able to get that past them, and rightly so. They have to protect these brands, of course. And they were like, “nah. We can do that.” And I was like, alright. So you’ll see you’ll see in the next year or so.
We’ve slowly been learning about several connections in Void Rivals to a lot of classic Transformers lore. Was this always a part of your initial concept for the series, or is it something that has grown kind of organically as you keep working with Daniel and Josh and Tom and everyone working on?
RK: Yeah. I think that there’s certain things you have to do with the Transformers to ensure they’re the Transformers. And that’s true with G.I. Joe as well. And so, I think that we’re trying to find a core curriculum, if you will, that like makes them work. And so we’re pulling a lot from different file cards from the toys for G.I. Joe and the Transformers animated series and various different things. I think that as we go, we’ll probably pull some inspiration from some other iterations of Transformers and G.I. Joe. But having those 80s cartoons be the kind of touch point for both of those properties, we’re kind of drawing from them for the most part, at least initially. And I think that especially with the Transformers G1 designs, it’s like, that’s really the iconic stuff that everything kind of builds off of. I mean, there’s been many amazing iterations of Optimus Prime but it all kind of goes back to that very initial design. And so, we’re trying to pay tribute to that and also honor that and really give everyone that nostalgic feel for what it is we’re trying to do.
So I didn’t get a chance to ask Josh so I’m gonna ask you. So, any chance you can give a hint as to the last two redacted pages of G.I. Joe #1, those final pages that we can look forward to?
RK: Yeah. Um, Yeah. Uh, no.
***Laughter***
RK: I’ll say… there’s a reason they’re redacted. We want to have some big punch at the end of the book. It should be fairly startling. I don’t know. It’s gonna be pretty shocking. And it’ll end the first issue in a way that you’re like, whoa, where’s issue #2?
And we and we talked a lot about, you know, What happened in issue #10 of Void Rivals. The world of the Zertonians and the Agorrians was really revealed and how that connection with Cybertron was. So now that we’ve brought all that together, we now have all the universes. What is next for Void Rivals as far as you know? Because the rumors are out there as far as how soon before it you know where we find Zerta? Who was that that the center of the black hole? How do you take what those fans are saying? Are they on the right track?
RK: Some people are and some people aren’t obviously. I think that there are certain aspects to the Void Rivals story that are a little bit far-reaching than people might realize. So that entity that we saw inside the black hole at the end of issue #12. Um, you know that’s not an issue #25 story; might be an issue #50 story; might be an issue #75 story. It might be an issue #100 story. We’ll see. There will continue to be developments as the series progresses. But I love that question though. Like, after issue #10 and everything that’s been revealed, what’s next? Where are you going? Where could you possibly go? And it reminds me of Walking Dead, when I would say this is the zombie story that never ends and we were on like issue #12, and they’d be like, “how you gonna keep this going for 25 issues?” “Hey, how’s this gonna work?” What happens when you get to issue #50? People are going to be bored. And I was like, all right, we’ll see. So yeah, I think there’s so much planned for Void Rivals, and you only get a glimpse of how they’re tied into the lore of Cybertron. What could Zerta Trion mean? Certainly sounds like a familiar character that we know about, but you know the name is a little different. So what’s going on there? Oh there’s still so much more to be revealed so yeah, keep reading.
We got to wrap, so one word answer. But did you get more pushback from fans for killing off Bumblebee or Glenn from The Walking Dead?
RK: I mean I definitely got more pushback from Glenn. I would wager that Daniel Warren Johnson got more pushback for Bumblebee.
