Shortly before they took the stage at the 2025 New York Comic Con Energon Universe panel, I was able to sit down with Robert Kirkman, Tom Reilly, Jorge Corona, Dan Mora, Conner Hughes, and Ben Abernathy to talk all things Energon Universe. You can read about the Transformers and Void Rivals half of the interview right here, and click here to read the G.I. Joe half.
Dan Mora, Robert Kirkman, Connor Hughes and Jorge CoronaRight off the bat, Robert Kirkman was asked about juggling the writing duties while building towards a big event. He responded, “We want to make sure these characters interact in a believable way, and that it seems like we’re in a cohesive universe. I haven’t heard that we’re building towards a big event. I don’t know what you may have heard. That’s not a priority to us. Our priority is making sure that these characters are the characters and the world is solid and cohesive. Anybody that is enjoying the books can enjoy the books individually. Some day there may be some kind of crossover, but I wouldn’t expect it any time soon. That’s important to us. We’re making sure the books are as strong as possible and work together.”
New Transformers artist Dan Mora was asked how he was approached for the job. He replied, “I couldn’t believe the first time Robert wrote me and said, “Hey I’m Robert Kirkman.” It was very cool.” To which, Kirkman joked, “Then why did you say no??” Dan Mora responded seriously, stating, “I was already committed.” Kirkman let him off the hook, saying, “Nah, It’s okay.” Mora continued, “It’s a great pleasure to draw Optimus Prime. I’m still waiting to have more scenes with Megatron.”
Connor Hughes, artist of Void Rivals, was asked about his approach to the art on his title. “I really tried to jump off Lorenzo’s approach, and have a continuity between his style and what I was doing. Other than that, I try to bring affection to the characters and understand their motivations.”
I then asked Robert what does he enjoy more? The freedom of something new with Void Rivals or working with his childhood toy box with Transformers. Robert answered, “I think my career points to working on something new. The reason I chose to do Void Rivals when we started the Energon Universe was that it was exciting for me to add things to this universe and bring new ideas, and make them mesh with existing G.I Joe. and Transformers characters. All that said, I haven’t worked on fan service characters that I loved as a child since I worked at Marvel. I only worked at Marvel for four years over a decade ago. To be back doing that with Transformers, it’s very difficult and it can be tedious. I’m spending a lot of time on wikis and rewatching episodes on YouTube to make sure I’m getting voices right for the characters. But it’s rewarding to put that effort in and see somebody do a review that says, “Oh my gosh, the voices are so distinct.” It’s hours of painstakingly watching Transformers cartoons, which is such a hard job. I have an assistant that’s in an office next to mine, and sometimes I think he thinks all I do is watch Transformers all day. Sometimes. Which is pretty fun.”
He was then asked about he hopes fan get out of the Energon Universe as it continues. The Walking Dead creator responded, “I hope they see it’s growing, evolving and improving. I hope as it adds complexity and expands, that readers see the effort put in so that it all holds together. I think the universe as a whole is a rewarding experience if you’re reading all the different books. Being able to integrate G.I. Joe stuff into Void Rivals, with Pythona showing up is just how entangled the universe can be. As we move on, G.I. Joe will be in the Transformers world and vice versa. You’ll see more connections. I want it be that thing where Spider-Man is swinging through the city, and Daredevil is on a roof, and it’s okay, he’s over there doing that thing. When you get to that sweet spot, it will be really rewarding for everyone.”
Robert was asked about how he came to take on the writing duties of Transformers. He said, “I love the characters. When it was clear that I couldn’t talk Daniel into staying on the book, it started creeping in. I was like “Do I have time? Can I devote the time needed to it? Will I enjoy it?” Because like I said, I haven’t done non-creator owned work in so long. I was very much on the fence. When Ben said, “Hey, we’ve got Dan Mora. He’s going to be doing #25.” I was like, “Okay! I’m in!.” It’s great, and I thank (Dan) for that, because it pushed me over the edge.” He then slyly turned to outgoing Transformers artist Jorge Corona and joked, “I was like, “I could do a little with Jorge Corona, ah, that’s not worth it.” Jorge joked back, “That’s what I’m getting from this. The guy before? I don’t know. But Dan? Always.” Kirkman agreed, saying, “He’s the guy who pushed me over the edge.”
Corona then added, “It helps that the original characters are coming from the era of cartoons at that time, that the characters already feel like a cohesive universe. Visually, we try to put our own spin to it, but the characters don’t seem out of place next to each other, because as kids, we all mixed our toys together. It doesn’t matter that it’s this franchise or that franchise. I’m just having fun with it. I never found a clash between styles.” Connor Hughes built off that idea, saying “If you played with these things as kids, it’s part of your DNA already. You find the answers already at hand.”
The artists were asked who is their favorite Transformer to draw. Jorge answered first, saying “It was Shockwave for as long as that lasted. Then it became Megatron.” Hughes said, “I got to spend a lot of time in issue #19 with Skuxxoid, so I really came to love the character. All the characters are great.” Kirkman answered, “Just being able to write Optimus Prime’s voice and hear Peter Cullen in my head is a dream come true.”
Dan Mora led with his least favorite character to draw. “I hate having to draw Ultra Magnus,” he said. Robert, looking surprised, asked, “You don’t like to draw Ultra Magnus?” But Connor Hughes came to Mora’s defense, saying “I get it. Ultra Magnus is hard. That helmet makes no sense. Too many things on the chest.” Mora’s favorite? “Optimus Prime is my favorite.”
I closed out the session asking if Hasbro flat out said no on any storylines, and if so what were they? Kirkman was very positive on Skybound and Hasbro’s relationship, answering, “It’s definitely a collaboration. There is some guidelines that we have to follow. But everything is conversation. They’ve been great with setting parameters, and when they don’t want us to do a certain thing, there’s a clear explanation as to why that does make sense. There is some push and pull here and there, but that’s going to be the nature of a relationship like this. I have to say they’ve been great so far, and they said yes to some things that I was sure they’d say no to.”
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage from NYCC ’25.
English (US) · 