I had the pleasure of sitting down with Robert Kirkman, Tom Reilly, Jorge Corona, Dan Mora, Connor Hughes, Ben Abernathy, and others to talk all things Energon Universe just before they took the stage at the Energon Universe panel at New York Comic Con 2025. You can read half of the interview about Transformers and Void Rivals here and the GI Joe half by clicking here.
Dan Mora, Robert Kirkman, Connor Hughes, Jorge Corona
Robert Kirkman was asked about juggling his writing career in preparation for a big event. “We want these characters to interact in a believable way and make it seem like we’re in one cohesive world. I haven’t heard that we’re building towards a big event. I don’t know what you’ve heard. That’s not a priority for us. Our priority is to make sure that these characters are characters and that the world is solid and consistent. There may be some sort of crossover at some point, but we didn’t expect that. That’s important to us. We strive to make our books as strong and work together as possible.”
New Transformers artist Dan Mora was asked how he was asked to do this work. He replied: “I couldn’t believe it when Robert first wrote to me and said, ‘Hi, I’m Robert Kirkman.'” It was so cool. ” To which Kirkman joked, “Then why did you say no??” Dan Mora answered seriously, stating, “I was already committed.” Kirkman said, “Well, it’s okay,” and released him. Mora continued, “I’m so happy to be able to portray Optimus Prime. I’m still waiting for more scenes with Megatron.”
Void Rivals artist Connor Hughes was asked about his approach to the title’s art. “I tried to jump beyond Lorenzo’s approach and create continuity between his style and what I was doing. Other than that, I tried to endear the characters and understand their motivations.”
Then I asked Robert what’s more fun? The freedom to do something new with Void Rivals or work in your childhood toy box with Transformers. Robert replied, “I think my career is about working on something new. The reason I decided to do Void Rivals when we started the Energon Universe was to add something to this universe, bring new ideas, and build on the existing GI Joe and Trans. That being said, I haven’t worked on a fan service character that I loved as a kid since I worked at Marvel for only four years, over 10 years ago. Doing that with Transformers can be very difficult and boring. I spend a lot of time browsing the Wiki and rewatching episodes on YouTube to make sure I get the characters’ voices right. But it’s rewarding to make that effort and see someone give a review saying, “Oh my gosh, the voice is so clear.” Struggling to watch Transformers anime for hours on end is a lot of work. I have an assistant in the office next to me, and I sometimes wonder if he thinks I just watch Transformers all day. sometimes. That’s a lot of fun. ”
He was then asked if fans would like to see the Energon Universe continue as it is. “The creators of The Walking Dead want you to see this work grow, evolve, and improve. We hope readers will understand the effort put into making it all come together as it grows in complexity and expansion.” If you’ve read all the Mana books, I think the whole universe is going to be a rewarding experience. Having Python coming in and being able to integrate the GI Joe stuff into Void Rivals is just how complex the universe can be. Joe goes into the Transformers world and vice versa. You’ll see more connections. We want it to be like, Spider-Man is hanging around the city and Daredevil is on the roof, okay, he’s doing that over there. Once you hit that sweet spot, it’s going to be really rewarding for everyone.”
Robert was asked how he came to write the Transformers script. He said, “I love the characters. When it became clear that I wasn’t going to be able to convince Daniel to continue writing this book, it crept in. I thought, ‘Do I have time?'” Can you devote the necessary time to it? Would you enjoy it? ”Because, as I said, I haven’t done anything in a long time that wasn’t owned by the creator. I was so lost. When Ben says, “Hey, we have Dan Mora,” he’s going to be doing No. 25. ” I thought to myself. It’s in! ‘That’s great and I’m grateful to (Dan) because it pushed me over the edge. ” He then jokingly turned to Jorge Corona, the departed Transformers artist, and joked, “I thought, ‘Maybe Jorge Corona could do a little bit, but oh, that’s no use.” Jorge jokingly said: The guy from earlier? I don’t know. But what about Dan? everytime. Kirkman agreed, saying, “He’s the guy who pushed me to the limit.”
Corona further added, “It helps that the original characters come from that era of comics, and the characters already feel like a unified world. Visually, we’re trying to put our own spin on it, but it doesn’t feel out of place for the characters to be next to each other, because when we were kids, we all mixed our toys together. It doesn’t matter if it’s this series or that series. I just enjoy it. I’ve never found a clash between styles.” Connor Hughes took that idea further and said, “If you played with these things as a kid, it’s already part of your DNA. The answers are already at your fingertips.”
Artists were asked who would draw their favorite Transformer. Jorge first answered, “I was Shockwave as long as that lasted. Then I became Megatron.” Hughes said, “I got to spend so much time with Skuxxoid in issue #19 that I really fell in love with the character. They’re all great.” Kirkman responded, “Just being able to write the voice of Optimus Prime and hear Peter Cullen’s voice in my head was a dream come true.”
Dan Mora drew the character he hated the most. “I hate having to draw Ultra Magnus,” he said. Robert looked surprised and asked, “Do you hate drawing Ultra Magnus?” However, Connor Hughes defended Mora, saying, “I get it. Ultra Magnus is hard. That helmet makes no sense. There’s too much stuff on his chest.” Maura’s favorite? “Optimus Prime is my favorite.”
I ended the session and asked if Hasbro had flatly said no to the storyline, and if so, what was it? Kirkman was very positive about Skybound’s relationship with Hasbro, saying, “It’s definitely a collaboration. There are some guidelines that we have to follow, but it’s all a conversation. They’re great at setting parameters, and when they don’t want us to do certain things, there’s a clear explanation as to why that makes sense. There’s some push and pull here and there, but that’s the nature of relationships like this. I have to say they’ve been great so far.” They said yes to some things I thought they would probably say no to.”
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage of NYCC ’25.
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