Darren Johnson
Darren Warren Johnson has been chosen to relaunch the official “Transformers” comic. Daniel had a love for Optimus Prime since he was a child.
Johnson is a 36-year-old Massachusetts native. He now lives in Albany Park, Chicago with his wife and two kids. He has worked for Marvel and DC but does best in his independent comics. Johnson uses subjects that interest him the most to build stories. For example, heavy metal in “Murder Falcon” and pro-wrestling in “Do a Powerbomb.”
Darren was always interested in comic robots. One of his childhood favorites was “The Iron Giant” which was released in 1999. He compares this with the transformers since they both have important proportions. With inaccurate proportions, the drawings won’t look right.
Darren tried drawing Optimus Prime for years but eventually gave up. This new comic was the motivation for him to continue.
Each page of the comic represents Johnson’s feelings. “I don’t remember what was going on in my life when I look at old pages, but I do remember how I was feeling,” Johnson said.
Johnson was working on “Wonder Woman: Dead Earth” for DC during the pandemic. While working, he channeled his stress and frustration by having Wonder Woman make a whip out of Superman’s skull and spine.
He is also working on two independent projects. One he is writing for someone and the other he is doing the art. Johnson creates this sci-fi comic as a love letter to his wife and daughter.
The center of most of Johnson’s work is “Family.” It is the main grounding force of his “Transformers.” In which there is a grieving dad and son in the middle of the robot war.
‘Transformers #1’ Comic
“Transformers #1” is the comic being launched by Darren. The original story is an ongoing comic series from Skybound Entertainment. In older comics, the Autobots (hero robots) and Decepticons (villain robots) searched the universe for energy to help their war efforts. Both parties crashed on earth and would remain immobile for four million years until awakening and continuing their fight.
This new comic is set to debut on October 4, 2023. The series is the first transformers released by Skybound, after gaining licenses in 2022. The comic will have a system reset. Starting with the Decepticons and Autobots crash-landing on Earth, But are revived by Jetfire who was oblivious of their war. This is when the war resumes.
Preview
A four-page preview of the comic shows two kids finding a massive spaceship containing giant robots. All of them seem to be wrecked from the ancient battle. The previews show a large wreckage, in which you can see many of the Autobots severely damaged.
Looking around the cover you can see there are many known characters and some are missing. In another cover, you can see Starscream (Decepticon) holding an Autobot’s head. It is assumed they could be repaired like in older comics, but Starscream says “He has found his true purpose… spare parts for Megatron’s war machine.”
This introduces a shift in the plot and leaves a cliffhanger for readers.
On October 2, Skybound and Hasbro studios announced that “Transformers #1” had sold out at the distributor level days before it was released to comic book shops. Selling over 153,000 units, this set a record as the top-selling debut for Skybound. The comic will return in November with five different print covers.
By Jamarion Thomas
sources:
Bleeding Cool: There Is Very Little To Spoil About Transformers #1 from Image Comics
Aipt Comics: sky bound’s ‘Transformers’ #1 sells out before first printing even hits comic book shops
Block Club Chicago: Chicago Artist Tapped To Relaunch ‘Transformers’ Comic Book, A Dream Project — But Demanding
Featured Image Courtesy of Nick Normal’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Insert Image Courtesy of mmoroca’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
