This year IDW Publishing will conclude its Transformers, Beast Wars and G.I. Joe comic series after losing the publishing license to the properties to an undisclosed competitor. IDW has held the rights to Hasbro's Robots in Disguise franchise for 17 years and the license for G.I. Joe for 14 years. The publisher will keep printing Hasbro-based My Little Pony and Dungeons & Dragons comics.
Rumors are that Robert Kirkman's Skybound imprint purchased these licenses from Hasbro after The Walking Dead creator entered talks with the toy and media corporation. But this has yet to be confirmed by either IDW, Hasbro or Skybound. In addition to Transformers and Beast Wars continuing until sometime in the summer, IDW will release two new miniseries events and special one-shot projects. The publisher will also release G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #300 with writer Larry Hama, who originally launched the Joe brand with Marvel. A four-issue special based on the 1980s G.I. Joe cartoon is also expected along with other projects in honor of the toy brand's 40th anniversary.
The news, which was confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, is undoubtedly a much more stunning blow for fans of IDW's Beast Wars comic as the story has stayed true to the original 1990s cartoon but in unexpectedly innovative ways. While the basic premise remains the same, writer Erik Burnham has been masterfully introducing new characters like Skold, who is a combination of some of the best characteristics of other key Transformers, eliciting theories from fans who are familiar with the original mythos. Meanwhile, the writer is retconning how certain villains first died in the original series through stunning twists that not only more effectively fit their characters but play off of completely separate events from the TV show. More importantly, Burnham has innovated key relationships between major robots like the dynamic between Megatron and Starscream.
Conversely, fans might welcome the main Transformers continuity that began in 2019 finding a new home outside of IDW. Of course, the series has introduced some compelling new twists to the overall mythos like the War of the Threefold Spark led by the corrupted Exarchon. The major event was first presented as an intriguing backstory to explain how Cybertron reached its extremist mentality under the Autobots before the series unexpectedly brought the madman into the present day, a storyline that's still unfolding. IDW has also complicated the rise of the Decepticons by introducing an additional more extremist faction known as the Ascenticons that Megatron was secretly controlling from the shadows. While these basic structures are sound, the story is tainted by an over-saturation of seemingly every Transformer in existence, which only serves to convolute every event and detract from overall reader enjoyment. Bumblebee's tragic story with his forging student Rumble and Cyclonus' descent into madness are also other well-written retcons that are just lost within the endless stream of other Transformers.
All that aside, almost every Transformers spin-off series has been a goldmine since the 2019 relaunch, such as King Grimlock, which flips a key storyline from the original 1980s TV show in the best possible way. The alternate universe explored in Shattered Glass goes much farther than just Optimus Prime and Megatron switching places. While fans are lucky to see more miniseries events like them in the coming months, it's hard to imagine that another publisher can top what they have achieved.
Regardless, IDW Publishing has undoubtedly been dealt a crushing blow by this latest development. Could this possibly be a foreshadowing of what could happen to IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog? Time will tell, but fans who have been following and enjoying IDW Publishing's comics set in the G.I. Joe, Beast Wars and Transformers universes will undoubtedly grieve this news.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter