IDW Joins Hasbro’s Shared Universe with ‘Revolution’ – G.I. Joe/Transformers/ROM/M.A.S.K.

IDW Publishing is releasing a series called “Revolution” which has got people talking. If you haven’t heard, IDW is making their Hasbro-related comic book titles merge into a shared comic book universe like Hasbro.

a2Revolution will be a five-issue biweekly event series beginning this September. IDW’s event will unite all of the company’s Hasbro properties: G.I. Joe, Transformers, Micronauts, ROM, Action Man, and M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand). After Revolution drops, each property will receive an all-new number one issue comic series. But take note, IDW editor-in-chief Chris Ryall couldn’t stress enough that this isn’t a reboot.

We didn’t want this to be what fans have seen from so many others, which is a reboot or a relaunch where you’re asked to forget about all these characters and stories you’ve been following for years,” Ryall says. “It’s just now everybody will be acknowledging each other in a much greater way than ever before.”

When creator John Barber, Senior Editor for IDW Publishing, was asked by CBR, “…what kind of threat or event is it that’s big enough to bring all these different groups together?” The comic book writer gave us a lot of insight into how this shared universe will kick off.

a5“The background is Optimus Prime has publicly declared Earth to be under his protection and part of Cybertron’s Council of Worlds. This isn’t Dark Optimus; he’s doing good things — at least from his point of view — but the people of Earth are naturally going to be concerned about this turn of events.

“Now, one of the reasons Earth has been important to the Transformers is this substance called Ore-13. This has a long history in the Transformers comics, but the short version is it can be converted to Energon, which is the Transformers‘ fuel source. That means the Earth is one of the few places in the galaxy where Transformers can live — it has a food source, basically. But Ore-13 has always had other properties — an ability to supercharge Cybertronians, for one.

“Something starts happening to Ore-13 around the world, making it unstable, and all signs point to Optimus Prime, who has no idea why this is happening. That sets the stage for “Revolution.””

Upon hearing that film projects are in the works for such properties as G.I. Joe and ROM, and that Hasbro intended to create a shared universe for their characters, IDW incorporated Hasbro’s plan and joins them in what could be a whole lot of crossovers!

The Hasbro Universe will first be seen in IDW’s comics and then the big screen.

*** image src: cbr.com