Personal Project (Patreon)

I'm intrigued by Image Comics recent takeover of the Transformers and GI Joe franchises, merging them into a shared universe and also launching original characters in a flagship title 'Void Rivals'. From the looks of it, the 'Energon Universe' is drawing heavily from the animated series of the 1980's. I'm really excited by the possibilities of this new shared universe, and it got me wondering what other characters could be thrown together.

My absolute favourite character to come out of the UK Transformers title was the mecanoid bounty hunter Death's Head. Originally tasked with hunting down Galvatron, the Freelance Peacekeeping Agent (don't call him 'bounty hunter', yes?) Was bounced back in time, collided with Doctor Who, blasted into the far future and from there into the Marvel Universe to fight the Fantastic Four and She-Hulk. Death's Head kicks ass! His solo comic only lasted for ten issues and, despite a brief and lacklustre revival five years ago, he's been pretty much persona non grata in comics for decades. For shame!

As the rights to the character are still owned by Marvel, there's no way he'd ever feature in an Image comic. The same for Circuit Breaker, aka computer programmer Josie Beller whose body was completely paralysed in an accident resulting from a Decepticon attack. Her genius and affinity for circuitry enabled Josie to create an exoskeleton that restored her mobility-- and give her the power to fry Transformers with laser blasts! A rather kinky character, naked save for printed circuits to spare her blushes, Circuit Breaker was driven by a fanatical hatred of robots and a formidable foe to Autobot and Decepticon alike.

Battle Beasts were another Hasbro property of the late eighties. Animals enhanced by cybernetic implants for the purpose of waging war, Battle Beasts were sort of like Care Bears who have been assimilated by the Borg. Insanely collectible, they were a favourite of mine when I was a mini-manic, and there was also a pretty decent comic series too. I read a while back that they were intended to be a spin-off of the Transformers franchise. Not sure if that's true or not, but as a Hasbro property, I think they could work well in the Energon Universe.

Zaranna is the sister of Zartan, leader of the dreadnoks from GI Joe. I don't remember much about her, but she's a cool visual who compliments the team well. If this is the Energon Universes Suicide Squad, she's kind of their Harley Quinn.

Because I can always add another plate to spin, I decided to draw a couple of comic pages of the team in action. Non FMG work obviously, but I like to spread my wings creatively! What do you think?