Transformers/G.I. Joe: Tyrants Rise, Heroes are Born (Superhero) (Graphic Novel)

by John Ney Reiber (Writer) & Jae Lee (Illustrator) 

Publisher: IDW Publishing (February 2nd, 2016)

Softcover, 162 pages

The history of G.I Joe crossing over with Transformers is as old as the franchises. The first crossover comic was put out by Marvel in 1986 at the height of both of their popularity. It was a natural crossover. Both were toy lines produced by Hasbro, both had cartoons produced by Marvel Entertainment, and both were popular titles put out by Marvel comics but were not part of the extended marvel universe. So why not have them meet?

When I first ran across it in the 7th grade, my mind was blown! Fucking awesome! It was an unprecedented event in the history of my personal reading. This was long before the team-up trend of Predator vs Whomever, or Aliens arrive to do a little damage, so such a thing was a fever dream, a geek masturbation fantasy. I blew all my money to get a copy and stole from my mother’s purse to purchase the rest. I didn’t care. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Or so I thought.

Those who have picked up the franchise rights over the decades have continued the trend of the two groups meeting, resulting in the current book Transformers G.I. Joe: Tyrants Rise, Heroes are Born. Most of the crossover series were non-cannon events and this volume takes that to an excellent extreme. It is set in the 1930s with Cobra Commander and his cohorts as Nazi analogues who stumbled across the three million year old Decepticons, buried in an ancient temple, and use them to enslave the whole of Europe in a weeks’ time.

Not sure what is happening, American forces create the G.I. Joe team to sneak into the Fera Islands where Cobra headquarters is(due to some leaked intel from Starscream and Destro) and reconnoiter as to what’s happening. They run across the Autobots and bing, bang, boom, massive violence ensues. Just the way you like it!

This not a book for people to begin with either series. The narrative assumes the reader is familiar with the major players of both Transformers (Megatron, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee) and G. I. Joe (Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander, Flint, Stormshadow). If you aren’t the you will be lost a certain amount of the time (like most of it). But in reality the story isn’t why you want to read this book. It is straightforward and almost derivative- even if it does have a great ending.

No, the real treat, the real joy, of this book is the immaculate art by Jae Lee- who is an incredibly artist and simply blows me away with every stroke of his brush. He plays with light and shadow to create an omnipresent feeling of dread falling over all the protagonists. When a character first spots a Decepticon, you can feel their awe and fear. As you can tell from the sample included it is an incredible book.

           For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.