Today I got to read Void Rivals #1, which kicks off the new Energon Universe encompassing Image Comic’s licensed comics for Transformers and G. I. Joe.

The comic is written by Robert Kirkman (creator of The Walking Dead, Invincible), drawn by artist Lorenzo De Felici (Oblivion Song, Kroma), colored by Matheus Lopes (Supergirl – Woman of Tomorrow, Kazar – Lord of the Savage Lands), and lettered by Rus Wooten (The Walking Dead, Invincible) of Skybound Entertainment.

Summary
It begins with a crash. A small spacecraft hits the ground hard and its unconscious pilot, Darak, is pulled from the wreckage by the automated A.I. gauntlet he wears, called Handroid.

Handroid drags Darak to a medkit and administers a first aid injection which brings the pilot back to consciousness. Darak is a humanoid that belongs to a group called Agorrians, who are at war with another group called Zertonians. Darak was engaged in ship-to-ship battle with a Zertonian when he was caught in the gravitational pull of a comet that sent him speeding toward an uncharted quadrant, far from his home, The Sacred Ring. Darak and Handroid assess the damage to his ship and ascertain that it is beyond repair.

Suddenly a spear hits the side of his ship, and Darak realizes that he and Handroid are not alone. His Zertonian opponent was also on the unknown planetoid. They briefly struggle, and just as Darak is about to end the Zertonian with a killing blow using a rock, the Zertonian, Solila, asks Darak to spare her. Darak begrudgingly agrees to spare her after she impresses him with her honesty, though Handroid warns him that such an action is treason.

Darak has Handroid scan Solila’s ship and they determine that using parts of his ship they could affect repairs and leave, but he cannot do it alone. So Darak and Solila work together to repair Solila’s damaged vessel. They are surprised to see how compatible their technology is as they work on the ship together, thought Darak chalks it up to Zertonian spies stealing Agorrian tech.

It goes well until Solila accidentally connects the wrong cable, causing an explosion. Darak jumps quickly and knocks Solila away from the explosion, shielding her with his body, saving her life. In turn, Solila saves Darak’s life when they land, as he is set on fire by the explosion and she puts it out.

Upset that now both ships appear to be beyond repair, Solila walks off to die alone. Darak returns to try to repair Solila’s ship. As he works, Solia runs back, telling Darak to follow her because she has found something.

Darak follows her to a ravine where another spacecraft’s wing is sticking out from under some rocks and dirt. They don’t recognize the type of ship that it is, but they decide to inspect it to see if it is space-worthy.

They give it a small infusion of energy, just to see if anything still works on the ship. Suddenly the ship stirs and begins to shift, converting into a giant humanoid robot. The robot introduces itself as Jetfire, a Cybertronian scientist. He asks where he is and how long he has been there, and they reply that they don’t know. Jetfire examines himself and determines that from the erosion patterns on his outer surface he has been there possibly for millions of years. He expresses an intense desire to return to Cybertron, apologizes that he must leave, and without delay converts back to his spacecraft mode and flies off into the sky, leaving Darak and Solila dumbfounded and marooned.

They return to Solila’s ship and Darak begin working upon it again, while Solila suggests that Darak just give up and accept their fate. Inspired by Jetfire’s transformation, Darak is wants to use parts of their flight armor to complete the repairs on Solila’s craft. Solila points out that it is taboo for them to take off their helmets, and they trade insults at how hideous each others’ faces will be to bear, and Handroid advises against it. Necessity prevails, they remove their helmets, and to their shock they are the same species.
The comic wraps up on this revelation with Darak remarking “It’s just like my vision” and Solila replies with “What vision?”.

Review
The story is tight and well paced, easy to follow, and drops hints of much more to come from this brand new Energon Universe. It is reminiscent of the season 3 opening episode of The Twilight Zone, starring Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery, titled Two, and also of the 1985 Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr sci-fi classic Enemy Mine. The distrust of the two protagonists is established, but pragmatism overrides it, and the antagonistic factors become the challenge of repairing Solila’s ship, battling hopelessness, and finally bridging the cultural gulf between them and casting their societal prohibitions aside to survive. There’s a lot going on without it being overly wordy. As Kirkman has shown in his previous works, interpersonal conflicts and struggles are well within his bailiwick.

De Felici’s artwork conveys the action and environments well without being overly detailed. There’s an aesthetic subtlety to the panels that channels action without being bombastic, with the line work and angles shifting to match the action, tension, or disparity between the two main characters. The character designs are distinct and interesting, with Darak and Solila having everyman/everywoman builds. His drawing of Jetfire accents the angles and geometry of the both of the robot’s modes, with line work giving textures to the eroded surfaces on his exterior. His inks also reveal detailed inner workings of Jetfire’s body when he changes modes, with mechanisms, cables and circuitry showing in-between the moving parts. It looks very much as if De Felici used the Commander-class Siege Jetfire action figure as a model for his work.

Lopes’ colors, likewise, are subtlety muted with earth tones dominating many of the panels and slight variations in the colors’ saturations to create a sense of depth. Action scenes are accented with splashes of conflict colors, and fast movement expressed with blurs of color that are not accompanied by line work. His colors also complement De Felici’s sharp contrasting inks, where it’s giving the terrain depth and texture and wrapping the protagonists’ helmets in shines and reflections without overpowering the simplicity of their designs.

Wooten’s letter work stands out without robbing the imagery of its power. His asymmetrical onomatopoeias help guide the reader’s eye through the action it represents. He also nailed the G1 Cybertronian transformation sound pretty well, as I caught myself making it along with his sound effects. He also used different fonts for the organic humanoid protagonists (Darak and Solila), who speak with a more common san serif font with round word bubbles and straight tails, and the mechanical characters (Handroid and Jetfire) who use a more structured italic font in word bubbles that are rectangles with rounded corners. Handroid additionally has its text in red, matching its color, and sharp angular tails on its word bubbles. Jetfire’s text is black, similar to the protagonists’, and his word bubbles have lightning-bolt-like zig-zagging tails.

Overall I am impressed with this introduction to this new universe, and I am excited to see where Skybound takes us in the future. As a Transformers fan, I chased this comic down as it was revealed to be the first in the new Transformers/G. I. Joe shared universe, and I was not disappointed. Jetfire only graces 5 of the book’s 26 page narrative, and I wish it had been more of a surprise, but I understand why they let us know through the media, because I most certainly would have missed this comic and had to track it down later on the aftermarket if they had not. Jetfire’s brief appearance opens up a new vista in Transformers lore, and teases more questions about what we have to look forward to.

Void Rivals looks as if it could stand on its own as an intriguing book. Though I have just met these characters, I already want to know more about their stories and their worlds. I am very curious to see what happens to them next, and the fact that two of my favorite Hasbro properties share the Energon Universe with them is just gravy.

Robert Kirkman’s epilogue letter give me a lot of hope for this new universe, and he shows his colors as a Transformers and G. I. Joe fan. He recalls when he watched Optimus Prime die in the 1986 movie, when he was 8 years old, and name drops Duke, Scarlett, Destro, Cobra Commander, and the Quintessons. I expect to see a lot of Sunbow influence in the Transformers comic series, oh hope against hope.

Grab a copy of this comic as soon as you can, and if you can’t find the first printing, with its many variant covers, then try to find the second printing. I definitely want The Monster At The End Of This Book parody cover.