“Transformers: Beast Wars” to Mark the Series’ 25th Anniversary

IDW Publishing have announced “Transformers: Beast Wars,” a new comics series to mark the 25th anniversary of the toy line and cartoon in early 2021. Written by Erik Burnham (“Transformers/Ghostbusters“) with art by longtime “Transformers” colorist Josh Burcham, the comic will hew closely to the premise of the cartoon, when Cybertron is populated by the Autobots and Decepticons’ descendants, the Maximals and the Predacons. When a new, Predacon, Megatron steals the Golden Disk, and a ship capable of time travel, Optimus Primal and a team of Maximals — Rattrap, Rhinox, Cheetor, and the new character Nyx — must stop him.

“Beast Wars was a wonderful and weird pivot from the Transformers setup to which I was first introduced,” Erik Burnham said. “Big personalities, unexpected twists, and actual stakes all popped up regularly on the show, and those are tools that I enjoy using to build new stories. Best of all, the enthusiasm from everyone involved in this project has been so high that I’m feeling constantly inspired!” Josh Burcham added, “I’m so thrilled to be a part of this team. I was a ‘90s kid and even though I knew about Generation 1, Beast Wars was really my G1. It’s still my favorite iteration, and I consider it such a privilege to be able to bring the characters to life in this brand new series. Let the Beast Wars rage on!”

Launched in 1996, the ‘Beast Wars’ franchise revitalized Transformers with realistic animal alternate modes, and cutting edge, Daytime Emmy Award-winning CG animation. IDW previously published two miniseries, “Beast Wars: The Gathering” and “The Ascending,” in 2006 and 2007, which was in-continuity with the cartoon, and also colored by Burcham: they subsequently incorporated new versions of the characters into their G1 continuity before last year’s reboot. Hasbro will also mark the 25th anniversary with the new toy line War for Cybertron: Kingdom.

“Transformers: Beast Wars” #1 will release in February 2021 with 30 pages of story and bonus content, and covers by Burcham, Fico Ossio (“Transformers vs. Visionaries”), Dan Schoening (“Transformers/Ghostbusters”), and Nick Brokenshire (“Star Wars Adventures”). Head to The Hollywood Reporter for a closer look at Burcham and Brokenshire’s covers, as well as Winston Chan’s one for the second issue.