Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, IDW | Tagged: Beast Wars, Erik Burnham, idw, transformers, transformers beast wars

IDW Celebrates 25th Transformers: Beast Wars Anniversary with Comic

IDW Publishing has announced a new bit of Transformers nostalgia-bait coming in 2021. Back in 1996, the Transformers: Beast Wars series captured the hearts of fans with computer-generated animation, and IDW intends to pay homage to that landmark series for its 25th anniversary. Erik Burnham, longtime Ghostbusters writer for IDW, will join with mainstay Transformers artist Josh Burcham for a brand new Transformers: Beast Wars comic.

Burnham, who previously wrote Transformers/Ghostbusters, spoke on this upcoming collaboration:

"Beast Wars was a wonderful and weird pivot from the Transformers setup to which I was first introduced. Big personalities, unexpected twists, and actual stakes all popped up regularly on the show, and those are tools that I enjoy using to build new stories. Best of all, the enthusiasm from everyone involved in this project has been so high that I'm feeling constantly inspired!"

Transformers: Beast Wars will tell the tale of Cybertron in the future, a world populated by Maximals, intelligent and "scientific-minded" creatures, and the "action-oriented" Predacons. The story kicks off when a successor to Megatron's lineage steals a macguffin that allows them to travel through time, leaving Optimus Prime and a crew of Maximals left to fix things. The series will introduce a brand new character named Nyx, who takes a name from the Greek Goddess of the night.

Editor David Mariotte spoke on this anniversary series:

"Beast Wars is a beloved part of the Transformers legacy. That's why we couldn't pass up launching a new series in tandem with the 25th anniversary! Erik and Josh are going to take everything that's beloved about Beast Wars — the characterization, the drama, the jokes — and start fresh with a series that will feel at home for fans of 25 years and first-timers alike."

The fan-favorite Transformers: Beast Wars series is some fans' first exposure to Transformers. Artist Josh Burcham, who has a long and storied history with Transformers, even calls it his favorite. He wrote in IDW's press release:

"I was a '90s kid and even though I knew about Generation 1, Beast Wars was really my G1. It's still my favorite iteration, and I consider it such a privilege to be able to bring the characters to life in this brand new series. Let the Beast Wars rage on!"

Transformers: Beast Wars #1 will debut from IDW with 30 pages of story on February 2021 and will include a host of variant covers, as is tradition. Burnham fans will note that Dan Schoening, Burnham's longtime Ghostbusters collaborator, will draw a Retailer Incentive cover.

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