Transformers vs. G.I. Joe
| This article is about that trippy IDW comic where Cybertron and Earth collided. For other stories with G.I. Joe, see G.I. Joe crossovers. |
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe is a comic book "maxi-series" published by IDW Publishing between May 2014 and June 2016. It represents the first crossover between the two brands since IDW gained control of both licenses, and takes place in a separate continuity unrelated to either of the "main" universes the company has developed for the 'bots and Joes. The series is distinguished by its retro-styled artwork and storytelling, emulating the look and feel of the Silver Age of Comic Books.
The series was followed by a one-shot in March 2017, which presented itself as the comic book adaptation of a fictitious movie made based on the series.
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Overview
Optimus Prime has been banished from Cybertron, and the Decepticons rule the metal planet under their god-emperor Megatron. The Transformers' homeworld arrives in Earth's solar system, where Decepticon representatives are sent to accept the surrender of Earth's representatives, G.I. Joe, who are in the process of mopping up the remnants of the Cobra terrorist organization following the apparent death of the Cobra Commander. Naturally, the Joes do not take kindly to the aliens' aggression, and war breaks out between the two planets.
A Joe team is sent as an advance unit to Cybertron, where they first clash, then ally, with a group of Autobot rebels. Simultaneously, Cobra's new leaders, Destro and the Serpentress make contact with the Decepticons, learning that the ancient snake-cult from which Cobra grew is actually intertwined with Cybertronian activity on Earth going back centuries. Realizing that they are "related" much more closely than they realized, Cobra and the Decepticons begin working together to create the perfect hybrid of human and Cybertronian—but not before they crush the Autobot/Joe resistance, and Megatron slays the Autobot leader Grimlock. A small Joe/Autobot unit flees into the depths of the planet, following the dreams of the Joe Bazooka in an attempt to find and break the hold Megatron has placed over their creator Primus that has allowed him to dominate Cybertron.
Meanwhile, former Joe ninja-commando Snake Eyes goes undercover within Cobra for reasons of his own. Believing him to be a traitor, Joe field leader Duke hunts Snake-Eyes down, resulting in a fight that send the pair tumbling through Destro's M.A.S.S. Device. Set adrift in interdimensional space, they discover the lost Optimus Prime, and help him escape the clutches of the eldritch Quintessons and return to reality. Optimus rallies the scattered Autobots and Joes under his leadership, but when he faces down Megatron, he loses—dramatically. Worse yet, at the moment of Prime's defeat, Cybertron collides with Earth, destroying the humans' homeworld utterly.
While the Decepticon/Cobra alliance celebrates, the Autobots and Joes venture ever deeper into Cybertron finding both their planets to have been created by an entity named Daiakuron, itself a creation of the mysterious "Makers". Soon enough, Megatron triggers Primus's transformation to robot mode, directing the god to consume the sun to supercharge his powers and create a Decepticon Empire.
As Primus wraps the star in a dyson sphere, chaos breaks out on his surface as it is revealed Earth was not destroyed, merely dented. Optimus Prime, repaired by Ultra Magnus, enters the battlefield, sending Megatron hurtling into the sun and reclaiming the Matrix of Leadership while the Joes defeat the Cobra forces. Despite this victory, Optimus is unable to reason with the energy starved Primus requiring the god to be stopped by Atlas, the robot mode of Earth.
With the war over, both Transformers and humans colonize the solar system, entering into a new age of peace and cooperation. As Rodimus guides Primus back to his original orbit, Optimus leads the Ark 2, with a crew of both Transformers and humans, to find the Makers.
Production
IDW senior Transformers editor John Barber co-writes the series with artist Tom Scioli. Scioli's artwork is heavily inspired by comic book legend Jack Kirby, and the artist previously made his name emulating Kirby on the Image Comics series Gødland. While Kirby's kinetic artistic style is the primary influence on the look of title, it is not carbon-copied; many other artistic influences shape the book, including Jim Steranko, Herb Trimpe, and Frank Miller. In terms of writing and tone, the cast is populated with bombastic Silver Age characters and over-the-top dialogue, while the plots are a steady flow of Kirby-style wild, outlandish cosmic sci-fi ideas delivered at a hypercompressed pace, with potentially multiple dozen characters appearing on a single page. This storytelling technique was designed in emulation of film adaptation comics (such as Kirby's own adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey) and chosen as a way of compensating for the book's huge cast and limited page-count; an adaptation, Scioli calls it, "of a movie that doesn't exist."[1]
Though both the Transformers and the Joes and Cobras are all very much recognizable as their classic selves, Transformers vs. G.I. Joe presents perhaps one of the most radical reimaginings of their world yet. Characters are reinvented by stripping them of their fictional history and examining them as toys to find new takes on old concepts—Soundwave's opening chest, for example, is used as a prison to hold Joes, while Destro's metal mask becomes indicative of his being a cyborg, and Optimus Prime is given a "optimal" mode for survival between dimensions that is simply a half-transformed version of his toy that reinterprets his fist-less arms as eyestalks. In addition to this from-the-ground-up reworking, however, Scioli also heavily researched Transformers and G.I. Joe lore during production and includes multiple references to both in the book, often remixed into something very new. For instance, the series blends together the creation stories of Primus and the Quintessons and connects the result to the Ancient astronaut hypothesis. That is in turn interlaced with the Cobra-La backstory from G.I. Joe: The Movie, which is itself merged with the ideas of ancient gods seen in the G.I. Joe episode "Sins of the Fathers" to create the concept of the ancient and terrible Koh-Buru-Lah. Scioli crafted a "very long outline" before producing the first issue, but the book is full of ideas created on the fly. He describes his goal with the series as to create "the most important universe there is,"[2] and describes that universe as being "the central hub that all universes originate from like spokes in the cosmic wheel."[3]
The series has carved out an identity for itself as one with a visual style entirely unlike past Transformers and G.I. Joe comics; in-keeping with that, a variety of atypical artists provide variant covers for the series, including noted alternative comics artist Ed Piskor and 1990s trend-setter Rob Liefeld.
Collections
- Transformers vs. G.I. Joe Volume 1 TPB (December 24, 2014) ISBN 1631401904 / ISBN 978-1631401909
- Chapters 1–4
- Extra content includes:
- Cover gallery.
- "Battlefield report," an overview of weapons used by the Joes.
- Sample of Tom Scioli's original layout for several pages.
- Commission art by Tom Scioli.
- Chapter commentaries by Tom Scioli and John Barber, with illustrations.
- Optimus Prime wanted poster.
- Transformers vs. G.I. Joe Volume 2 TPB (November 11, 2015) ISBN 1631402706 / ISBN 978-1631402708
- Chapters 5–9
- Extra content includes:
- Cover gallery.
- Chapter commentaries by Tom Scioli and John Barber, with illustrations.
- 24-hour comic book by Tom Scioli.
- Chapters 10–13
- Extra content includes:
- Cover gallery.
- Chapter commentaries by Tom Scioli and John Barber, with illustrations.
- Transformers vs. G.I. Joe Quintessential Collection Hardcover (December 27, 2017) ISBN 1631408607 / ISBN 978-1631408601
- Chapters 0–13, the FCBD Funnies strip and Transformers vs. G.I. Joe: The Movie Adaptation.
- Bonus material includes: commentary and extras by creators Tom Scioli and John Barber.
- Strangely, Black Cybertron is printed so that the first two pages come at the very end of the book, but the last page is printed directly after issue 9's commentary.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 73: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Part 1 (July 11, 2018)
- Chapters 0–7
- Bonus material includes cover art, a creator commentary on issue #0 and an exclusive interview with Tom Scioli.
- Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 74: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Part 2 (February 20, 2019)
- Chapters 8–13
- Bonus material UNKNOWN,
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Volume 1; cover art by Tom Scioli -
Volume 2; cover art by Scioli -
Volume 3; cover art by Scioli -
Quintessential Collection; cover art by Scioli -
Definitive G1 Collection: Vol. 73: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Pt. 1; cover art by Don Figueroa and Scioli -
Definitive G1 Collection: Vol. 74: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Pt. 2; cover art by Figueroa and Scioli
