In my humble opinion, the best thing happening right now, in a while, in fact, in comics is Skybound’s Energon Universe (EU) and, excitingly, it’s just got potentially much, much bigger.
For those not in the know, the EU is a series of comics from Invincible and Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman that kicked off with a book called Void Rivals but was actually the start of a massive shared universe starring Hasbro’s biggest names, Transformers and GI Joe and the books are a bit more adult that the cartoons/comics of our childhoods but it works so very, very well.
And, Void Rivals, which is the series’ original book, is a heck of a lot of fun – just in case you were wondering.
Egon Meets Energon in Transformers/Ghostbusters Comic Book Series from IDW Publishing
Ok, so Kirkman has previously said that while the books have access to other Hasbro titles, he’s not planning on bringing anyone else into the story, however, sharp-eyed fans on Reddit (here) noticed that in a recent issue of Void Rivals, the planet of Prysmos was mentioned and that is the home planet of the Visionaries, another big Hasbro property in the 80s.
However, an even bigger cameo has blown our minds in the latest Free Comic Book Day EU book.
In the new book, GI Joe’s Clutch goes to visit none other than Matt Trakker and while little is revealed about the character in the book, fans of iconic animated series M.A.S.K (Mobile Strike Kommand) will recognise the suit and the familiar helmet on the desk.
M.A.S.K’s Matt Trakker in the Free Comic Book Day issue:
Fans of the animated series might be a little confused as Trakker was originally a white guy with blonde hair, but for almost a decade now he’s been an African American, so yes, this cameo means that M.A.S.K now officially exists in the EU.
In the original 80s show, “Matt Trakker leads a special team of masked crime fighters with a fleet of hidden function vehicles against Miles Mayhem and his criminal organization known as V.E.N.O.M”. The vehicles in question where a simple stroke of genius… see this race car? It’s actually a jet! see this truck? It’s actually a tank! The M.A.S.K and V.E.N.O.M pilots also have unique helmets that have special abilities such as the ability to lift heavy objects or fire laser beams. The 80s were wild.
UPDATED: Chris Hemsworth set to lead GI Joe / Transformers movie with Micheal Bay producing
Given the transforming vehicles, it’s not a massive leap to see how the world of M.A.S.K could fit into the EU with, perhaps, GI Joe using Transformers tech/secrets to develop vehicles that can transform into war machines when needed.
With Visionaries and M.A.S.K now officially in the mix, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ll be seeing new books in the series appearing soon… perhaps later this summer at SDCC?
Anyway, are you a fan of the EU? Are you excited to see it expand?
Watch the iconic M.A.S.K animated show intro:
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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