Fans at New York Comic Con packed into a room to hear creators associated with the Energon Universe, the combined G.I. Joe and Transformers universe published by Skybound talk about what has come so far and what can be expected over the next few months. The panel consisted of Skybound founder and Void Rivals writer Robert Kirkman, G.I. Joe writer Joshua Williamson, G.I. Joe artist Tom Reilly, Transformers artist Jorge Corona, and Skybound Senior Vice President and Publisher Sean Mackiewicz.
The upcoming launch of the Energon Universe G.I. Joe series was the main focus of the panel, with variant covers and character profiles on display throughout. Joking about the overwhelming success that Skybound has enjoyed with its licensed Hasbro comics, Sean Mackiewicz joked, “Robert read The Secret and manifested this.”
Robert Kirkman let his love for G.I. Joe be known right at the start. The The Walking Dead creator said, “So many great things have been done in G.I. Joe comics. The only thing we could do that would seem like a fresh take was to focus on individual characters.” He playfully antagonized the crowd by stating that the Joes have the best rogues gallery in comics. “Better rogues gallery than Spider-Man, Batman. Am I getting groans? I will fight anybody.” He did admit, “I like Clayface, but you can’t put him in a movie ’cause a movie has got to be grounded.” But then went back to twisting the Bat-knife by saying, “Bane is lame”
They showed a picture of a new Joe, Risk, who will make his debut in G.I. Joe #1. “I have all these toys, but I had to bring in new characters,” explained G.I. Joe writer Joshua Williamson. Joshua spoke about this love for the G.I. Joe Classified line of toys. I’m sure he will be extra thrilled if and when Hasbro introduces Risk as a Classified figure. Williamson described Risk as ““He runs counter to Duke. Duke isn’t a boy scout character, but he doesn’t want to take unnecessary risks, unlike Risk.” Risk is a thrill seeker. In his free time, he cage fights, Williamson explained to the crowded room.
Tom Reilly had a lot of fun designing the brand new character for the series. “Designing new characters for GI Joe is on the Mount Rushmore,” said Reilly. He went on to say, ““You know what I’ve never seen before? I’ve never seen a Joe wearing a tie. Or a suit.” Kirkman added, “Tom gave him a shotgun, and we made it gold, and I thought let’s call it the moneymaker.” And while Risk wears a suit, Tom explained, “It was very important for me not to make him look too much like John Wick.”
When it came to putting the new lineup of Joes together for the first issue of the Energon Universe G.I. Joe series, Josh explained it was a bit of a give and take. “This one, Robert goes no. This one, Robert goes no. But putting the roster together, I thought who was early in the toy line?” I followed this up by asking him if we can expect additions to the team to follow the same way, with those in the second or third waves preceded later characters. But Joshua explained that no, he’s not planning on adding characters that way. Robert joked, “We should look into this Snake Eyes guy, he’s popular.”
At the start of G.I. Joe, the Baroness, a character forever associated with Cobra, is a Joe. Everyone expects her to defect at some point, but Joshua Williamson says not so fast. “We want to honor history, but not repeat it. You’re all asking when is Baroness going to switch sides? Maybe she won’t.” Williamson noted that with making Baroness a Joe, there are very few women left on the Cobra side. Sean quipped, “Because women aren’t evil, Josh. Just men.”
The panel attendees were shown variant covers, one of which showed a Cobra Valkyrie. They’ve been talked about in lore, but never introduced in the comics. Williamson liked that “The Cobra Valkyries only shoot the wounded in the field.” They take the field after a battle, sending wounded Cobra troops to Valhalla.
Another difference in the Energon Universe is the fierceness of Cobra Commander. “We want this Cobra Commander to never retreat. Early on, someone yells “Retreat!” and he shoots him in the head,” revealed Williamson. This is very different than the cartoon version of Cobra Commander, whose catchphrase was “Retreat!” almost as much as it was “Cobra!”
The Energon Universe panel didn’t only focus on G.I. Joe though. Next up was Void Rivals, which will a G.I. Joe character guest star very soon. Robert had difficulty figuring out how to get G.I. Joe characters into Void Rivals, which takes place in deep space, but Joshua Williamson had the answer. Kirkman said, “How do we incorporate G.I. Joe? How do we incorporate G.I. Joe?. Josh said these big Cobra-La creatures could be space worthy.” And so Pythona, of Cobra-La will appear in Void Rivals #13, and stick around for at least a few issues of the series.
Speaking of Void Rivals guest stars, Josh asked Robert, “Are you going to have her meet Hot Rod?” To which, Robert jokingly responded, “Do you want to talk about this later?” before turning to the crowd and saying “When I’ve had my fill, I’ll give the G.I. Joe characters back to Josh.” He then recounted a funny story about Hot Rod and Void Rivals. “I love ‘86 movie. I love Hot Rod. At a meeting, I said I’m so surprised I haven’t plugged Hot Rod into this book yet.” To which Daniel Warren Johnson responded, “I really love hot rod, I wish I could have done something with him.” Robert’s reaction: “I was like oops.” He then added, “Look, Daniel would have killed him anyway. I’m going to say I saved Hot Rod in the Energon Universe.” And, “You have Hot Rod on a cover and Pythona on the cover of the same book. Who ever thought that was possible?”
The next book up was Transformers. Sean, talking about what Starscream was going through in the comic, recounted Daniel Warren Johnson saying to him, “Sean, I got a crazy idea. He’s going to get his legs back eventually, but he’s going to on HISS Tank for awhile.” And then added, I don’t know if Hasbro will ever make a toy of this.” To which Robert Kirkman quickly joked, “Not our problem!”
Jorge Corona loves working with Daniel Warren Johnson, but was worried about following him up on art duties on Transformers. He needed to “work with Dan while keeping the intensity. I need to keep the same level. I’m very thankful people have been liking the second volume. I thought I’d be getting death threats” Sean then asked, “What kind of industry do we work in that death threats are the expectation?”
They previewed some pages showcasing Ultra Magnus. Sean explained, “In issue 11, he’s going to transform and then run away. He’s been in prison for a million years and is so psychologically scarred.” Jorge added, “How can we show the promise of the character in the present? He’s an imposing character but then we see how broken he can be on the inside.” Sean says the Cybertronian Autobots blame Optimus Prime, who has been focusing on saving Earth. Sean said Elita-1 tells Optimus, “Everything that is suffering on Cybertron is suffering because of your poor leadership.” Sean then hinted, “If you all are Megatron fans out there, get ready very soon.”
Oversized hardcovers collecting the first two trade paperbacks of each Energon Universe series will be released starting next year. For the G.I. Joe prequels, two will be collected in each hardcover. Robert Kirkman bragged that they have long term plans and aren’t rushing things. “We’re in this for the long haul. It might happen now. It might happen year 3.” To which Sean added, “Except Snake Eyes.” Talking to Joshua Williamson after the panel, he reemphasized this, telling me about how long he’d been working on the series, and how far out he has ideas planned. Don’t expect Joshua Williamson to walk away from this toy box anytime soon. Expect the Energon Universe to be around for many New York Comic Cons to come!
Stay tuned for more NYCC ’24 coverage from The Beat.
English (US) · 