Robert Kirkman Created A Robust Pitch To Become A Part Of GI Joe & Transformers History

What can you say about Daniel Warren Johnson’s “Transformers”? I feel like that’s a perfect match between voice and creator. His stuff is sublime.

It’s the most action-packed “Transformers” comic I’ve ever seen. The things he’s doing with these characters is really new and unique. Daniel has an amazing voice. It’s very unique. You don’t get things from other comics that you get from Daniel Warren Johnson comics. There’s a tremendous … He does such fluid action and such brilliant, thought-provoking action sequences, but he’s great at emotional storytelling. That’s an excellent mix for a “Transformers” story, and you’re going to see a lot of emotion and a lot of action.

Hasbro’s very keen on making sure that these characters are individual characters and that they have personalities. We tell stories where you feel for them, and that’s something that’s really important to me. You can see it in all of my work. These aren’t cold emotionless robots that are doing exciting action things; these have emotions and hopes and dreams and desires, and we’re going to be exploring all of that. Daniel’s doing a great job with it.

Flipping over to the “G.I. Joe” side … What about Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly on “Duke”?

Josh and Tom are brilliant. Josh is as huge a “G.I. Joe” fan as you can find, and you can see how great he is at world-building with “Nailbiter” and “Birthright” and a lot of the original concepts done. He’s great at getting to the core of an established character — as he did with “The Flash” — and finding what’s exciting about them again and putting a fresh coat of paint on them. He’s going to be able to do something great with “G.I. Joe” and its characters.

People argue about who has the best rogues gallery — Is it Batman? Is it Spider-Man? It’s G.I. Joe. The visuals of their villains, the stories behind the villains … They’re the coolest-looking characters. It’s great. When you have a story where there’s 400 G.I. Joe versus 400 Cobra, that can be a little unwieldy, so what Josh is going to be doing is stripping things back down to their core. That’s why we’re launching with “Duke” and “Cobra Commander.”

We’re going to get to the heart of who Duke is as a character. This is the person that ends up leading the G.I. Joe team — what is it about him that makes him capable of being that leader? Cobra Commander — we’re going to be watching him form Cobra from the very beginning. It’s how that organization gets established and how he gets a foothold in the world.

By going back to square one and getting to know these characters, by the time it evolves into the formation of G.I. Joe and you see all of these characters interacting, you’ll have a better understanding of each of them individually. They’ll have value on their own so that when they interact as a team, there’ll be a lot more richness to it, and there’ll be a lot of depth to the pathos that goes into each one of these characters.

What can you say about Daniel Warren Johnson’s “Transformers”? I feel like that’s a perfect match between voice and creator. His stuff is sublime.

It’s the most action-packed “Transformers” comic I’ve ever seen. The things he’s doing with these characters is really new and unique. Daniel has an amazing voice. It’s very unique. You don’t get things from other comics that you get from Daniel Warren Johnson comics. There’s a tremendous … He does such fluid action and such brilliant, thought-provoking action sequences, but he’s great at emotional storytelling. That’s an excellent mix for a “Transformers” story, and you’re going to see a lot of emotion and a lot of action.

Hasbro’s very keen on making sure that these characters are individual characters and that they have personalities. We tell stories where you feel for them, and that’s something that’s really important to me. You can see it in all of my work. These aren’t cold emotionless robots that are doing exciting action things; these have emotions and hopes and dreams and desires, and we’re going to be exploring all of that. Daniel’s doing a great job with it.

Flipping over to the “G.I. Joe” side … What about Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly on “Duke”?

Josh and Tom are brilliant. Josh is as huge a “G.I. Joe” fan as you can find, and you can see how great he is at world-building with “Nailbiter” and “Birthright” and a lot of the original concepts done. He’s great at getting to the core of an established character — as he did with “The Flash” — and finding what’s exciting about them again and putting a fresh coat of paint on them. He’s going to be able to do something great with “G.I. Joe” and its characters.

People argue about who has the best rogues gallery — Is it Batman? Is it Spider-Man? It’s G.I. Joe. The visuals of their villains, the stories behind the villains … They’re the coolest-looking characters. It’s great. When you have a story where there’s 400 G.I. Joe versus 400 Cobra, that can be a little unwieldy, so what Josh is going to be doing is stripping things back down to their core. That’s why we’re launching with “Duke” and “Cobra Commander.”

We’re going to get to the heart of who Duke is as a character. This is the person that ends up leading the G.I. Joe team — what is it about him that makes him capable of being that leader? Cobra Commander — we’re going to be watching him form Cobra from the very beginning. It’s how that organization gets established and how he gets a foothold in the world.

By going back to square one and getting to know these characters, by the time it evolves into the formation of G.I. Joe and you see all of these characters interacting, you’ll have a better understanding of each of them individually. They’ll have value on their own so that when they interact as a team, there’ll be a lot more richness to it, and there’ll be a lot of depth to the pathos that goes into each one of these characters.