Press Release
Darkness falls on the AUTOBOTS this November in the comic book event Transformers: Dark Cybertron! This series pushes the TRANSFORMERS characters to their limits, but they’ll have the help of some creative superstars on their journey. Joining writer and IDW senior editor John Barber and fan-favorite scribe James Roberts in a top-secret meeting earlier this year, the artistic force of Phil Jimenez helped plan Dark Cybertron from the start! “I’ve been a fan of the TRANSFORMERS brand since I was 13,” said Jimenez, “and this was a fanboy dream come true. The beauty of this story is it plays to the strengths of the characters and to my strengths as a storyteller; epic, world-shattering scale as well as those beautiful character moments that make readers care about a bunch of giant ‘Robots in Disguise.’”
The war between the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS is over—but when the relentless SHOCKWAVE enacts a scheme millions of years in the making, yesterday’s nightmares tear apart today’s peace. “OPTIMUS PRIME, RODIMUS, BUMBLEBEE, even STARSCREAM—all these characters believed war was behind them, for better or worse,” says Barber. “The big question—other than who will survive—is whose side will the DECEPTICONS be on?”
The twelve-part series starts in Transformers: Dark Cybertron #1, then alternates between the monthly TRANSFORMERS titles Robots In Disguise and More Than Meets The Eye, concluding in a finale issue in March. This is the first time that both Transformers series have crossed over. “It’s thrilling to see the two casts crash back into each other’s lives,” says Roberts. “Fittingly, given the scale of SHOCKWAVE’s ambition, this is a massive, galaxy-spanning story—and one that shakes everything up.”
Co-written by Roberts and Barber, superstar artist Phil Jimenez provides layouts and covers for issue one, and variant covers for the whole series—as well as doing the art for the GENERATIONS action figure releases from Hasbro and planning the event from day one! Jimenez is joined by a who’s-who of Transformers artists, including Robots in Disguise series artist Andrew Griffith, who provides finished art on the lead-off issue. According to Jimenez, “the script for #1 was probably one of the best I’ve worked from in years. Totally awesome stuff —I just hope people don’t mind me butting in and adding my own two cents (or three) to this super cool universe. I think it all worked out pretty seamlessly, actually!”
This is an exciting time to be a fan of Transformers, with multiple series from IDW, fantastic toys and more from Hasbro. In that spirit, and in an unprecedented publishing move, Dark Cybertron comic books will be included in select GENERATIONS action figure releases from Hasbro, following their initial release from IDW. This is the first time that an entire mega-event has been distributed in such a way. “TRANSFORMERS fans are some of the most loyal and dedicated—but many of them have never seen our comics,” says Barber. “Dark Cybertron will introduce these fans to the world of comics—and we can’t wait to bring these new readers into the fold.”
