Transformers (Energon Universe)

The Energon Universe began on June 14, 2023 with Void Rivals #1 by Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici, a Skybound original about two stranded soldiers from the warring worlds of Agorria and Zertonia. Retailers were told nothing until just before the on sale date, and the issue closed with a surprise that reframed the whole book: the crashed ship the pair had found was the Cybertronian scientist Jetfire. Skybound and Hasbro announced the same day that Skybound had taken the Transformers and G.I. Joe licences from IDW, and that Void Rivals, an ongoing Transformers series and a run of G.I. Joe books all shared one continuity called the Energon Universe, overseen by Kirkman. Jetfire's revival led him back toward Cybertron and then Earth, where he woke the dormant Autobots and Decepticons and set the Transformers series in motion.,Transformers #1 arrived October 4, 2023, written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson with colours by Mike Spicer and letters by Rus Wooton, and was the best selling comic issue of 2023 by ICv2 estimates, selling out at distributor level before release and running to multiple printings. Johnson kept plotting throughout while Jorge Corona took over pencils from issue #7 in 2024, and Spicer coloured the entire run. The book was brutal from the start, killing Bumblebee at Starscream's hands in the first issue and treating the Autobot and Decepticon cast as a war story about grief, family and survival among the Witwickys. Johnson confirmed in August 2024 that his run would total 24 issues, and it closed in September 2025 with Transformers #24, an Optimus Prime versus Megatron finale whose last act Skybound withheld from press copies.,The line spread outward from there. Four G.I. Joe miniseries, Duke, Cobra Commander, Destro and Scarlett, seeded the human side of the war before a G.I. Joe ongoing launched in 2024 from Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly, and characters crossed over steadily: Miles Mayhem of M.A.S.K. debuted in Transformers #25, Matt Trakker appeared in the 2025 Free Comic Book Day special, and Duke finally met Optimus Prime in G.I. Joe #19 and #20 in February and March 2026. Critically the line landed hard. Johnson's Transformers took two Eisner Awards at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, for Best Continuing Series and Best Writer/Artist, and Jorge Corona won Best Artist at the 2024 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Awards. Skybound has since expanded the imprint with collected compendium reprints of the Marvel and IDW runs, a hardcover deluxe programme, and an adult animated Energon Universe television series announced in October 2025 with Joe Henderson as showrunner.

As of August 14, 2026 the most recent published issue of Transformers is #35, released August 12, 2026, confirmed by AIPT's review dated that day. The current creative team is Robert Kirkman writing, Jason Howard on art, Mike Spicer on colours and Rus Wooton on letters. Kirkman took over as writer with issue #25 on October 8, 2025 alongside Dan Mora, who drew roughly the first arc of the new era; Jason Howard became the regular artist with issue #32 in May 2026 and is still on the book. The current run is a multi-strand story splitting between the war on Cybertron, where Elita Prime now leads, and the surviving Autobots on Earth, with Wheeljack's secret lab work in the Cybertron Shard central to #35. Issue #35 also ends on a Cobra-La stinger, tying the Transformers book into G.I. Joe's mythology. Solicitations confirm what comes next: Transformers #36 on September 9, 2026 closes the arc with a new Superion formed as Thundercracker joins the Aerialbots, and Transformers #37 on October 14, 2026 is titled The Price of Being Prime, both by Kirkman, Howard and Spicer. Latest confirmed sources: AIPT review of #35 (August 12, 2026) and Tformers solicitation listings dated July 1 and July 24, 2026.

Comics data is unusually messy: reprint credits, renumbering and first-appearance claims all contradict across sources. What we could not settle is recorded rather than smoothed over.

• Highest confirmed published issue is Transformers #35, on sale August 12, 2026, confirmed by AIPT's review that same day. No issue later than #35 has been confirmed as published. Transformers #36 (September 9, 2026) and #37 (October 14, 2026) are solicitations only.
• Ratchet's death is widely reported but the issue number, #10, comes from fan wiki and news summaries rather than a solicitation or review that could be opened directly. Treat the number as probable, not certain.
• Exact issue counts for the Destro and Scarlett miniseries could not be confirmed. Duke was four issues and Cobra Commander five; contemporaneous reporting only presumed the other two would match.
• One search summary credited Transformers #37 to Karl Kerschl. The Tformers solicitation listing for October 2026 credits Robert Kirkman with Jason Howard and Mike Spicer, and no Kerschl announcement could be found, so the Kerschl credit is treated as an error.
• The exact content of the ending of Transformers #24 is not stated here. Skybound withheld twelve pages from advance copies, and reviewer accounts vary on how shocking it actually was.
• The identity of Megatron's master revealed in Transformers #31 rests on a single SlashFilm report from April 8, 2026 and is not restated as fact here.
• Void Rivals #33 is dated August 26, 2026 by retailer listings, which is after this research date, so it is not yet published.
• Whether Jorge Corona or another artist handled specific fill in issues during the Johnson run is not fully resolved; Wikipedia's credits table lists several additional artists and colourists including Jason Howard, Ludo Lullabi and Sarah Stern without clean issue by issue attribution.