IDW Announces Shared Universe For GI Joe, Transformers, MASK

The thing about doing comics based on toy properties is that eventually you're going to want to play with all the toys, and today, it looks like that's exactly what IDW has set out to do. After years of keeping them separated into their own universes --- with exceptions like the senses-shattering, soon-to-be-finished Transformers vs. GI Joe --- IDW is combining almost all of its Hasbro toy properties into a single universe.

The shakeup comes in a biweekly event called Revolution, co-written by Cullen Bunn and John Barber, with art by Fico Ossio, which will combine GI Joe, Transformers, MASK, ROM the Space Knight, Action Man and Micronauts into one permanent shared universe.

In a press release IDW points out that Revolution is "not a reboot," which raises a lot of questions about how it's all going to work. It seems pretty easy to rebuild newer entries like MASK or ROM The Space Knight to fit the new status quo of a combined Hasbro Universe, but with titles like GI Joe and Transformers, which have a much more complicated history with global ramifications, smoothing it out could be a challenge.

As for who's taking that challenge on, here are the creative teams and titles involved in the new initiative, per IDW:

ROM
- Co-written by Chris Ryall (Onyx), Christos Gage (Marvel’s Daredevil)
- Art by David Messina (Star Trek)

G.I. Joe
- Written by Aubrey Sitterson (Street Fighter X G.I. JOE)
- Art by Giannis Milonogiannis (Prophet)

Transformers: Till All Are One
- Written by Mairghread Scott (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, TRANSFORMERS)
- Art by Naoto Tsushima (TRANSFORMERS)

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye
- Written by James Roberts (TRANSFORMERS)
- Art by Alex Milne (TRANSFORMERS)

Transformers
- Written by John Barber (Back to the Future)
- Art by Andrew Griffith (TRANSFORMERS)

M.A.S.K.
- Written by Brandon Easton (Marvel’s Agent Carter, TRANSFORMERS: Deviations)
- Art by Tony Vargas (Rot & Ruin)

Action Man
- Written by John Barber (TRANSFORMERS)
- Art by Paolo Villanelli (G.I. JOE: SNAKE EYES)

Micronauts
- Written by Cullen Bunn (Uncanny X-Men)
- Art by Chris Panda

It should be noted that while it is a Hasbro property, Kelly Thompson and Sophie Campbell's Jem and the Holograms will not be part of the new post-Revolution Hasbro universe, and neither will the various Dungeons & Dragons titles. So if you were waiting to see Kimber and Stormer team up with Snake-Eyes and Optimus Prime to explore the Tomb of Horrors, well... it's not impossible, I suppose, but it probably won't happen this year.