The Decepticons attack in a new teaser for Transformers #1

The Decepticon line-up for Transformers #1.
(Image credit: Skybound)

Last week Skybound revealed the lineup of Autobots that will feature in Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer's forthcoming Transformers title. Now, the publisher has revealed which of the villainous Decepticons will be facing off against them, once again teasing them out daily on the publisher's Twitter account

As with the Autobots, the line-up has a distinctly old school - or G1 in Transformers parlance - flavor. Leading the forces of evil will be classic baddie and Decepticon Air Commander, Starscream. He's followed by comms officer Soundwave, infiltrator Laserbeak, demolitions expert Rumble and Skywarp, who was announced today.

Skywarp is an especially notable addition to the comic, with Johnson naming the "loveable dummy" in an interview with ComicPop Returns yesterday as his favorite Decepticon. In case you were wondering, Optimus Prime is his favorite Autobot.

Promo art for Transformers #1.

(Image credit: Skybound)

In the same interview Johnson revealed that he considers 1986's classic Transformers: The Movie as his "visual bible" for the new Skybound series, his general dislike for the Michael Bay movie series, and that the comic will be a fresh start with no connection to the continuity of IDW's previous comics, though it does, of course, tie-in with the recently launched Void Rivals and the upcoming range of G.I. Joe titles.

We're still a little way off the publication of the first issue, but Skybound's preview copy for the first issue reads:

"Optimus Prime was supposed to have led the Autobots to victory. Instead, the fate of Cybertron is unknown, and his allies have crash-landed far from home, alongside their enemies - the Decepticons. As these titanic forces renew their war on Earth, one thing is immediately clear: the planet will never be the same. New alliances are struck. Battle lines are redrawn. And humanity’s only hope for survival is Optimus Prime."

Transformers #1 is published by Skybound on October 4, 2023.


Check out our in-depth interview with Robert Kirkman about Transformers, Void Rivals, G.I. Joe, and the new Energon Universe.

Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.

Read more
Transformers: Worst Bot Ever: Meet Ballpoint
Meet the worst Transformer ever, a Decepticon named Ballpoint who turns into a normal sized ballpoint pen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Michael Bay wanted one of the Transformers to be "bigger and more detailed" so it was turned into a 52,000-part behemoth that literally melted an artist's computer
Image of the combined Transformers: Victory Liokaiser figure next to a measuring tape
This crowdfunding project wants to treat Transformers fans to 12 inches of Breastforce
The SilverHawks line up.
39 years after its final animated episode, cult cartoon SilverHawks is back in a new comic that writer Ed Brisson calls "The Untouchables in space"
Battle Beast strides towards the reader.
Robert Kirkman returns with Invincible Universe: Battle Beast, a new ongoing comic set in the timeline of the original series
Blood and her gun on the cover of Blood & Thunder #1.
Invincible and Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman's new comic Blood & Thunder looks like Blade Runner with a talking gun
Latest in Comics
King Kong wrestling a giant squid monster
The Monsterverse expands with Return to Skull Island, a comic tying into Netflix's King Kong-centric animated series
Close up on Emma Frost's face as she sits on a throne on the cover of Emma Frost: White Queen #1
"Bow down to the White Queen" as Emma Frost gets her own X-Men solo comic that flashes back to her time as a villain
The Biker Mice From Mars.
Oni Press's new Biker Mice From Mars comic will take a "hard-hitting approach to the stories" and "definitely won't pull any punches"
Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #12
Gwen Stacy and Loki team-up for a cosmic adventure in Spider-Gwen: The Ghost Spider #12
An alien attacks.
Xenomorphs have taken the island as Alien: Paradiso nears its endgame
Cover art from Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #1.
13 years after his New 52 series ended, cult DC hero Resurrection Man is back in Quantum Karma
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip