IDW Publishing Launching Shared Hasbro Comic Universe
This week, IDW Publishing officially announced a comic publishing venture that would revolve around Hasbro toy properties. Dubbed the Revolution event, this marks the birth of a comic book crossover that will feature Transformers, GI Joe, Micronauts, Rom the Space Knight and Action Man. In addition, it will also include the M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand series.
According to IDW, Revolution will not be a reboot and will take the building blocks for what has come before with IDW and will build them “anew.” It will also bring about a new status quo for all the properties. However, all the existing continuity that has come before with the Transformers and G.I. Joe books will remain intact. However, it’s stated that the ramifications of Revolution will go beyond the event, and all of the characters for these books will exist in the same universe.
Revolution will be a bi-weekly, five-issue event series that will launch IDW’s new publishing initiative. The miniseries will be co-written by Cullen Bunn and John Barber, with art by Fico Ossio. The story kicks off with a world-shaking event that brings all opposing factions together in one storyline that could see the destruction of the universe before it actually began. In addition, here’s a breakdown for the creative teams for the upcoming books:
- ROM: Co-written by Chris Ryall (Onyx), Christos Gage (Marvel’s Daredevil); Art by David Messina (Star Trek)
- G.I. Joe: Written by Aubrey Sitterson (Street Fighter X G.I. JOE); Art by Giannis Milonogiannis (Prophet)
- Transformers: Till All Are One: Written by Mairghread Scott (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, TRANSFORMERS); Art by Naoto Tsushima (TRANSFORMERS)
- Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye: Written by James Roberts (TRANSFORMERS); Art by Alex Milne (TRANSFORMERS)
- Transformers: Written by John Barber (Back to the Future); Art by Andrew Griffith (TRANSFORMERS)
- M.A.S.K.: Written by Brandon Easton (Marvel’s Agent Carter, TRANSFORMERS: Deviations); Art by Tony Vargas (Rot & Ruin)
- Action Man: Written by John Barber (TRANSFORMERS); Art by Paolo Villanelli (G.I. JOE: SNAKE EYES)
- Micronauts: Written by Cullen Bunn (Uncanny X-Men); Art by Chris Panda
Speaking on the announcement, IDW Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall stated: “The Revolution series builds out of a detail that was introduced in IDW’s first-ever issue of TRANSFORMERS in 2005. So to finally be able to build upon the various story elements we’ve seeded over the years, and which come into play in a big way starting with July’s ROM #1 even before the launch of Revolution, is a blast. We’ve been working toward a full-fledged universe for some time and it’s great fun to be able to finally bring it to vivid life, especially since it allows us to give the world new titles like the very-requested M.A.S.K., as well as some exciting new books still to be announced.”
Hasbro’s Michael Kelly added: “We’ve done plenty of crossovers in the past, but nothing near this scope or scale. Our heroes, whether they are from Earth or from distant reaches of the galaxy, all have one thing in common: their powers and abilities are based primarily on technology. We have been able to use this fact to build a natural and believable link between all of these disparate characters. The result is a complex and dynamic world where all manner of conflicts and team-ups can and will exist. If you are a fan of Hasbro’s brands, your time is now.”
IDW will give each series its own Revolution one-shot that ties into the main book as well. There will also be variant covers with artwork by Brandon Peterson, Tradd Moore, John Byrne, James Biggie, Adam Riches, Guido Guidi, Ken Christensen, Art Baltazar, and more. The first issues of Revolution begin in September with issues one and two. The one-shot tie-ins for G.I. Joe, Micronauts, and Rom will be available to order together.