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Transformers vs. GI Joe (Scioli) #1
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Vol. 1
Earth makes contact with an alien race—and G.I. JOE is on the front lines! But when the TRANSFORMERS arrive—well, let’s just say you’ve never seen TRANSFORMERS or G.I. JOE like this! Visionary comic book maker Tom Scioli (with TRANSFORMERS fan-favorite John Barber in tow) combine two of the biggest names in entertainment into the surprise breakout hit of 2014!
Collects issues #0–4.
Collects issues #0–4.
152 pages, Paperback
First published December 16, 2014
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92 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
July 6, 2019
If Jack Kirby grew up in the 80's and drew a comic, it might look something like this. Scioli is without a doubt mimicking Kirby's art but coloring the book with an 80's garish comic book look to it. He's obviously an obsessive fan of G.I. Joe. He's pulled out every obscure nook and cranny of the toys everyone else has long forgotten. That's one of the things I really appreciate about the book. Not only do the main characters show up, but so does the stuff people didn't like, like the original 80's G.I. Joe lineup with the boring characters like Zap and Breaker all the way to the dumb later stuff like Ninja Force. My problem with the book is the nonsensical story. It reminds me of something a child would create while playing in the backyard with their toys. It's very Axe Cop like in that regard. That's fine for one issue, but for 5 issues it's more than a bit much.
One thing that drove me absolutely bonkers is how he always drew this general with his hat on crooked.
One thing that drove me absolutely bonkers is how he always drew this general with his hat on crooked.
October 11, 2017
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe in the hands of Tom Scioli is all kinds of crazy goodness. I didn't think his Jack Kirby-inspired art would mesh with the clean cut technology of Cybertronian mechanics and military hardware but he made it work. One thing that is truly amazing is that he juggles a sizable cast drawing on as much characters as he can from the mythos of both franchises and by sheer will manages to an alchemy that would be acceptable to fans of both.
One thing that I would recommend is that to read this amazing series as it was intended, in individual issues as each installment is a story to itself and it doesn't really work as a collected graphic novel unless one would collect all issues as an omnibus and Scioli is still ways before even reaching his stride. he has not even began to touch on Optimus Prime in his first five issues. This series would only get better as it goes on.
One thing that I would recommend is that to read this amazing series as it was intended, in individual issues as each installment is a story to itself and it doesn't really work as a collected graphic novel unless one would collect all issues as an omnibus and Scioli is still ways before even reaching his stride. he has not even began to touch on Optimus Prime in his first five issues. This series would only get better as it goes on.
January 19, 2016
Transformers vs. G.I. Joe in the hands of Tom Scioli is all kinds of crazy goodness. I didn't think his Jack Kirby-inspired art would mesh with the clean cut technology of Cybertronian mechanics and military hardware but he made it work. One thing that is truly amazing is that he juggles a sizable cast drawing on as much characters as he can from the mythos of both franchises and by sheer will manages to an alchemy that would be acceptable to fans of both.
One thing that I would recommend is that to read this amazing series as it was intended, in individual issues as each installment is a story to itself and it doesn't really work as a collected graphic novel unless one would collect all issues as an omnibus and Scioli is still ways before even reaching his stride. he has not even began to touch on Optimus Prime in his first five issues. This series would only get better as it goes on.
One thing that I would recommend is that to read this amazing series as it was intended, in individual issues as each installment is a story to itself and it doesn't really work as a collected graphic novel unless one would collect all issues as an omnibus and Scioli is still ways before even reaching his stride. he has not even began to touch on Optimus Prime in his first five issues. This series would only get better as it goes on.
October 5, 2015
I like Tom Scioli, but I think this series is just not for me, since I'm not interested in trying to recapture my sessions of playing with toys as a kid. It's fun, but really, one issue is pretty much enough, and it gets stretched thin by the end of this collection. I don't need any more than that, thanks.
February 24, 2015
This is ridiculous. This is also the most fun I've had reading comics in the past year. I previously knew next to nothing about Transformers or G.I. Joe, I'm no fan of the comics or film adaptations. I've seen maybe a couple episodes of the cartoons in my life, and I believe that's where Scioli and the team get their inspiration from. Saturday morning cartoons, and popular comic art from the late 70s/early 80s (like Ed Piskor's "Hip Hop Family Tree," but more vibrant). The plot is bizarrely imaginative, clever but over-the-top (essentially, what you want from a Saturday morning cartoon). The art is the comic's true selling point though. It's like a crazy kid's notebook full of the most creative, colorful throwback doodles ever. Everything about this book feels retro, but nothing feels tired. This book's got so much energy to it, you might get a contact buzz. I suppose It's not for everyone, but Google Tom Scioli's art, and if that doesn't get you interested, you must be crazy.
September 1, 2016
Wanted to love this, but the plot was too wacky for me. Perhaps if this wasn't a licensed property the story would not have been an issue, but you can tell this was done in the old "Marvel Method" where Tom Scioli was able to run wild with his amazing Kirby-esque art and dialog was added later. Perhaps it's because I really liked the Larry Hama comics of the 80's and 90's where stuff was serious, a step backwards into the silliness of the cartoon was not what I wanted.
June 27, 2017
The standard one-liner about this extraordinary comic is the observation that it feels like a kid playing with action figures. This is absolutely true. But just leaving it at that occludes the particular choices that Tom Scioli makes to get that intense, lost-in-play vibe. Transformers v GI Joe breaks with comics convention by removing almost all traditional panel-to-panel storytelling, preferring epic splash-page tableaux of ultra-condensed action. This is compression taken to its limit, with almost every page feeling like the title page of a new issue, and every single bit of extraneous matter glossed over in the search for the next thrill.
The comic is so intense and formally bizarre that you wonder if it might all be a put-on. It's easy to imagine someone recoiling from this as hipster affectation: the aesthetic it reminds me most of is pop formalists PC Music, with their compression of decades of hits into dwarf-star miniatures of popcraft, where 'catchiness' becomes a kind of abstract quality the way 'plot' does here. Just as PC Music's tracks are not relatable to as actual pop, so you can't imagine a real kid sitting down with Transformers vs GI Joe and a glass of lemonade and losing themselves in it: it's a comic about the peculiar ego death of play, not one designed to induce it. Certainly, reading more than a couple of issues on the trot gives a sickly tartrazine rush: it's just TOO MUCH.
But that's not to downplay what Scioli and Barber have done here: there's very little like this comic. The fact that it's so odd in structure means that a reader can get the intensity even if - like me - they don't give a shit about either toy franchise involved. For those still baffled - and everyone will be at some point - thorough and enjoyably immodest notes by the authors round out the volume.
The comic is so intense and formally bizarre that you wonder if it might all be a put-on. It's easy to imagine someone recoiling from this as hipster affectation: the aesthetic it reminds me most of is pop formalists PC Music, with their compression of decades of hits into dwarf-star miniatures of popcraft, where 'catchiness' becomes a kind of abstract quality the way 'plot' does here. Just as PC Music's tracks are not relatable to as actual pop, so you can't imagine a real kid sitting down with Transformers vs GI Joe and a glass of lemonade and losing themselves in it: it's a comic about the peculiar ego death of play, not one designed to induce it. Certainly, reading more than a couple of issues on the trot gives a sickly tartrazine rush: it's just TOO MUCH.
But that's not to downplay what Scioli and Barber have done here: there's very little like this comic. The fact that it's so odd in structure means that a reader can get the intensity even if - like me - they don't give a shit about either toy franchise involved. For those still baffled - and everyone will be at some point - thorough and enjoyably immodest notes by the authors round out the volume.
February 7, 2017
Between a story that's largely nonsensical and artwork that looks like it was drawn by a 13-year-old in 1987, this was a complete waste of time. Makes me glad I didn't pay for it.
April 8, 2015
More 2.5
Easily the best thing about this comic is the retro, 80's-style art. As far as story, the meeting of Hasbro's biggest franchises is handled well, but it mostly feels like reading a group of boys throwing action figures at each other. Makes sense considering both ARE toys, but I don't think I was a big enough fan of either franchise to enjoy this a whole lot. All the Transformers and Joes look the same. Hard to keep most of them straight.
Easily the best thing about this comic is the retro, 80's-style art. As far as story, the meeting of Hasbro's biggest franchises is handled well, but it mostly feels like reading a group of boys throwing action figures at each other. Makes sense considering both ARE toys, but I don't think I was a big enough fan of either franchise to enjoy this a whole lot. All the Transformers and Joes look the same. Hard to keep most of them straight.
September 10, 2015
The retro, Jack Kirby style art was fantastic, and the reason I bought it in the first place. But the story was just alright. I appreciated the idea that it played out like something from a young hyperactive boy's imagination, but it wore off after a while, and once you get past that (for me anyway)...there's not much substance to the story at all. Worth a read though. Really, I'd say a 3.5 if I could.
December 16, 2021
Nice team-up between these two teams. fun read. Recommended
Read
October 25, 2016A bonkers, kinetic exercise in proving that just because you're engineering synergy between two advertisements for toys, there's no reason you can't also treat it as modern mythology. Which is not to say it's po-faced, because proper mythologies always have room for funny stuff too (remember Thor and the squirrel, or some of Bacchus' antics?), so of course you can have giant robots quipping and cyborg parrots teaming up with war-pigs because why the Hell wouldn't you? But there are also city-sized robots explicitly and sincerely played as godlike entities, and the fear of the other as carefully double-edged sword, because just as the giant robots are invading Earth, so weird fleshy life-forms are invading Cybertron...
I've previously encountered Scioli's work on Gødland, where he wowed me by homaging Kirby yet also demonstrating a grasp of the representational basics which I could never find under Kirby's monomaniacal focus on sheer oomph. And there's plenty of Kirby here, but also huge chunks of Steranko (when you're dealing with high-tech covert organisations, he's the obvious place to look) and an awful lot of Grant Morrison. Indeed, I picked this up in the first place because of a Bleeding Cool interview where Scioli talked about taking inspiration from Final Crisis - exactly the sort of bold, flawed project which subsequent creators should be mining for tips and tricks. So this shares some of the same 'what the Hell just happened between those two pages?' confusion as that - not least because I don't know either mythos here anything like so well as the DC universe, at least not anymore. But it helps that the backmatter includes a conversation between the creators where they go into stuff like that, not to mention abandoned drafts of scenes and which their first toys were. Essentially, the whole thing is a love letter both to cool childhood toys, and to the amazing possibilities of comics as an art form. And it marries that love to enough mad, brilliant ideas that I'm happy to overlook it occasionally tripping over its own enthusiasm in the rush to show the reader the next cool thing.
I've previously encountered Scioli's work on Gødland, where he wowed me by homaging Kirby yet also demonstrating a grasp of the representational basics which I could never find under Kirby's monomaniacal focus on sheer oomph. And there's plenty of Kirby here, but also huge chunks of Steranko (when you're dealing with high-tech covert organisations, he's the obvious place to look) and an awful lot of Grant Morrison. Indeed, I picked this up in the first place because of a Bleeding Cool interview where Scioli talked about taking inspiration from Final Crisis - exactly the sort of bold, flawed project which subsequent creators should be mining for tips and tricks. So this shares some of the same 'what the Hell just happened between those two pages?' confusion as that - not least because I don't know either mythos here anything like so well as the DC universe, at least not anymore. But it helps that the backmatter includes a conversation between the creators where they go into stuff like that, not to mention abandoned drafts of scenes and which their first toys were. Essentially, the whole thing is a love letter both to cool childhood toys, and to the amazing possibilities of comics as an art form. And it marries that love to enough mad, brilliant ideas that I'm happy to overlook it occasionally tripping over its own enthusiasm in the rush to show the reader the next cool thing.
July 11, 2015
A lot of passion, hard work and inventiveness are crammed into the first volume of Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, largely due to artist Tom Scioli, who treats the scenario like a toy-filled sandbox, complete with toy weapons, robots and flying contraptions.
Being unfamiliar with the characters in both series (I had graduated from watching TV network cartoons by the '80s and '90s), the series reminds me most of Lee and Kirby's early Sgt. Fury
series: a plethora of scrambling, fighting characters bellowing, screaming, taunting, arguing, little figures and word balloons cramming the birds-eye-view pages, every inch of the page vying
for attention. The art style used here could be described as "half Kirby". I'd prefer the art either look more Kirbyesque or not Kirbyesque at all.
Frankly, I eventually had trouble telling the good guys and bad guys apart; after a while, it all
blurs into a hectic, hot mess. If you're steeped in the mythology of these characters, you probably won't have that problem. Where the book excels, though, is in its stylistic experimentation: unusual uses of color, hilarious overlapping dialogue, and a willful rejection of mainstream considerations. If you're looking for formal experimentation with Bronze-age art styles as its basis, this is the book for you.
Recommended for Scioli fans and Transformers/G.I. Joe completists.
Being unfamiliar with the characters in both series (I had graduated from watching TV network cartoons by the '80s and '90s), the series reminds me most of Lee and Kirby's early Sgt. Fury
series: a plethora of scrambling, fighting characters bellowing, screaming, taunting, arguing, little figures and word balloons cramming the birds-eye-view pages, every inch of the page vying
for attention. The art style used here could be described as "half Kirby". I'd prefer the art either look more Kirbyesque or not Kirbyesque at all.
Frankly, I eventually had trouble telling the good guys and bad guys apart; after a while, it all
blurs into a hectic, hot mess. If you're steeped in the mythology of these characters, you probably won't have that problem. Where the book excels, though, is in its stylistic experimentation: unusual uses of color, hilarious overlapping dialogue, and a willful rejection of mainstream considerations. If you're looking for formal experimentation with Bronze-age art styles as its basis, this is the book for you.
Recommended for Scioli fans and Transformers/G.I. Joe completists.
July 1, 2015
Content-wise it's like Axe Cop minus the humor and imagination. It's all about Tom Sciola's fantastic Kirby-esque art, which I loved in Godland, but it doesn't compensate for writing that's so poor. Since Sciola is credited as co-writer, it seems obvious that it was written using the Marvel Method, but unfortunately Sciola and John Barber are no Kirby and Stan Lee.
Seems to use hundreds of one-dimensional characters, and I had trouble remembering who they were despite being endlessly reminded of their names in either the dialogue or name info boxes. It's unfortunate that the story didn't have a smaller cast. If so, perhaps it would have been able to fit in some characterization. Another thing is that people may enjoy reading this a lot more if they already have a familiarity with who all the characters are (perhaps an encyclopedic knowledge). I watched the two cartoons as a kid, but my memory stinks. And I found it more difficult to remember most of the Transformers.
Seems to use hundreds of one-dimensional characters, and I had trouble remembering who they were despite being endlessly reminded of their names in either the dialogue or name info boxes. It's unfortunate that the story didn't have a smaller cast. If so, perhaps it would have been able to fit in some characterization. Another thing is that people may enjoy reading this a lot more if they already have a familiarity with who all the characters are (perhaps an encyclopedic knowledge). I watched the two cartoons as a kid, but my memory stinks. And I found it more difficult to remember most of the Transformers.
May 3, 2019
This is one of those cases where the precise weirdo was given the perfect commercial property. Scioli is known to be a sort of Jack Kirby impersonator, in the way that we think of people being Elvis impersonators: he does a "take" on the master that becomes an intensely mannered interpretation from a very particular angle. Scioli loves the tension that Kirby created between developed, complex mythology, and sudden flashes of improvisational weirdness. And so he is the perfect person to entrust with the complicated entanglement of two multicanonic properties (that also have multiple crossovers). He seems to delight in the depth of weird minutia that decades of storytelling about these toy lines have produced, but he also foregrounds the kind of brilliant narrative genius that comes from a child playing with toys. Highly recommend these books.
May 10, 2016
This is a nostalgia milking mess. I picked it up because i loved the toys, cartoons and comics as a kid. Every single page tries to harness by introducing new characters with the Joes all having little bio cards like on the back of toy packaging. It looks to be drawn and colored with crayolas with a focus on colors that hurt the eyes to look at. For 19.99 you get four issues that only cover part of a story arc, some thoughts from the writers / artists and a requisite variant covers concept art that is industry standard in filling in light trade paperbacks. While this is currently on my shelf it will be the first I pull to make room for something else.
February 13, 2015
Public library copy.
While I'm aware of the artist's work and his style being close to Kirby this overhyped book was a mixed bag for me because I didn't enjoy it as much as others seem to. Sure, it's a nutty, fun book, but it's intentionally done as if an indie, young cartoonist was at the helm and only took parts of what was liked on the cartoon and Larry Hama comics and passed it around the classroom. The problem for me was: clear storytelling communication. Often times, the reader is told someone was shot or killed in action, but we never see it.
While I'm aware of the artist's work and his style being close to Kirby this overhyped book was a mixed bag for me because I didn't enjoy it as much as others seem to. Sure, it's a nutty, fun book, but it's intentionally done as if an indie, young cartoonist was at the helm and only took parts of what was liked on the cartoon and Larry Hama comics and passed it around the classroom. The problem for me was: clear storytelling communication. Often times, the reader is told someone was shot or killed in action, but we never see it.
February 21, 2021
You can tell the guys who wrote this had a blast. Imagine being given 12 issues with all these characters and a total free pass. Anything that happens in this mini series gets erased afterwards.
It was fun to read. I especially enjoyed the Easter eggs hidden throughout. You have to look carefully but for longtime fans of the series there are many. And the humor was great. The “pets” of the GI joe team all band together to form a mascot force, the Oktober Guard shows up in a hilarious way. Many other jokes likes these.
It was fun to read. I especially enjoyed the Easter eggs hidden throughout. You have to look carefully but for longtime fans of the series there are many. And the humor was great. The “pets” of the GI joe team all band together to form a mascot force, the Oktober Guard shows up in a hilarious way. Many other jokes likes these.
November 28, 2016
Where to even begin with this insanity? Two soulless 80's toy properties filtered through the lens of Kirby. Certainly not for all tastes (I can't imagine anyone not already familiar with both properties to even remotely follow what's happening or the ocean of characters introduced), but it's pretty inspiring in its batshit impressionism.
July 25, 2022
It is Transformers vs. G.I. Joe so what's not to like right?! Well, unfortunately, nope! I thought this was old, but it was published in 2014, I suppose the art was supposed to emulate the 80's when these two shows were popular. But the plot fell flat and it felt like an extended commercial. A role call for every character in both titles.
November 23, 2017
This book is just insane. The story makes zero sense.
September 18, 2018
A series that is way better than it should feasibly be. I was never a fan of Transformers or GI Joe growing up, so it was a stretch that it would interest me (although I vaguely remember sincerely enjoying the Snake Eyes vs. Transformers from Marvel Comics).
I am however, a big fan of Tom Scioli--who has a home-brewed style similar to Ed Piskor and Benjamin Marra--in the sense that it's approachable and very accessible and not intimidating. It's very well done, but in a way that makes me recall Catholic grade school and filling notebooks full of superheroes. If I'd only stuck with it, I'd perhaps be this good!
Even without being nostalgic for the characters, I still certainly get lost in this comic that has a bunch of zaniness one would find if lost in play (i.e. transcribing the stories you told your action figures as a kid) while still seeding in concepts like the Hero's Journey and Monomyth. It's so joyful in it's exuberance. It's got Prisoner references and riffs.
It's also allows a bit of finality, as characters actually die here--who would never have been allowed to do so in the TV Show (and the comics--which I've never read other than Joe Casey's and Warren Ellis). It's all canon yet fuck continuity. The comics are super dense--with an attention to detail that's not seen in many comics. This is the kind of stuff that could require annotations (but the creators kindly provide them themselves). A masterpiece of the absurd.
I am however, a big fan of Tom Scioli--who has a home-brewed style similar to Ed Piskor and Benjamin Marra--in the sense that it's approachable and very accessible and not intimidating. It's very well done, but in a way that makes me recall Catholic grade school and filling notebooks full of superheroes. If I'd only stuck with it, I'd perhaps be this good!
Even without being nostalgic for the characters, I still certainly get lost in this comic that has a bunch of zaniness one would find if lost in play (i.e. transcribing the stories you told your action figures as a kid) while still seeding in concepts like the Hero's Journey and Monomyth. It's so joyful in it's exuberance. It's got Prisoner references and riffs.
It's also allows a bit of finality, as characters actually die here--who would never have been allowed to do so in the TV Show (and the comics--which I've never read other than Joe Casey's and Warren Ellis). It's all canon yet fuck continuity. The comics are super dense--with an attention to detail that's not seen in many comics. This is the kind of stuff that could require annotations (but the creators kindly provide them themselves). A masterpiece of the absurd.
August 6, 2017
I bought this on the recommendation of a comic book store owner and because IDW just does all sorts of crazy stories with TV (and comic) properties. I was not sure what to think of it at first -- without spoiling, I couldn't believe actual characters died. It took me awhile to get over it (and perhaps I'm still not over it -- I know, silly when it's just cartoon characters, but perhaps that is why). That said, I'm not super familiar with actual G.I. Joe stories (just passing familiarity of seeing a handful of episodes when I was young), and a bit more familiar with Transformers (but only what I can remember from my 80s childhood) -- so I was going into the story with just Gen X nostalgia.
The "traditional" artwork was cool, though I admit that it can be confusing at times. But I'm fine with "graphic art" being a bit challenging -- gives you a reason to pay extra attention. I do like the Earth storyline then eventually leading to a Cybertron storyline, and inasmuch as anything makes sense in this created world, it does make sense. I like the labeling (literally) of characters, just because I don't pretend to remember all the characters from almost 30 years ago.
All in all, it's enjoyable, and I'm interested in seeing how the next volume goes. For anyone who has memories of these 80s cartoon and who likes comics, this is a good recommend!
The "traditional" artwork was cool, though I admit that it can be confusing at times. But I'm fine with "graphic art" being a bit challenging -- gives you a reason to pay extra attention. I do like the Earth storyline then eventually leading to a Cybertron storyline, and inasmuch as anything makes sense in this created world, it does make sense. I like the labeling (literally) of characters, just because I don't pretend to remember all the characters from almost 30 years ago.
All in all, it's enjoyable, and I'm interested in seeing how the next volume goes. For anyone who has memories of these 80s cartoon and who likes comics, this is a good recommend!
July 19, 2024
The writing team taps into childlike creativity while keeping the narrative just barely on the wobbly tracks. Tom's art is in the style of Jack Kirby on back of an elementary school notebook, really gels with the storytelling and makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but if you ever had either franchise's toys battling it out on the edge of a dresser, flinging each other into the "pit" below, then this will spark nostalgia and remind you of the vast power your imagination had 30 short years ago.
I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but if you ever had either franchise's toys battling it out on the edge of a dresser, flinging each other into the "pit" below, then this will spark nostalgia and remind you of the vast power your imagination had 30 short years ago.
January 25, 2025
Tom Scioli presents GI Joe and Transformers as a 1960s fever dream. There’s a lot of Easter eggs for the fans of the early Marvel series of both titles, but it’s is a vibrant chaos with nary a pause to cats the readers breath. The sensory overload is a little too much and the reader can easily lose track of all the plot lines. There are three volumes in this series, but I’ll take a pause before diving into the next one.
February 22, 2018
What the heck did I just read? I picked this up on the Half-Priced Books clearance table, thinking it was a collection of some of the various GI Joe vs. Transformers comics over the years. Instead, I got a re-imagining that seemed to involve a lot of drugs. That doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining, but it was not what I expected at all.
August 28, 2018
It's like the cartoons on acid in the best way possible. It's an incredibly weird reimagining of the two properties, adding layers and detail to the world of both without losing the charm of the originals. My only complaint is that there are parts that fall into the trap of anything that deals heavily with nostalgic material where parts seem to be there so the reader goes "Hey I remember that!"
Read
July 25, 2020Gosh, I wanted to get into this for some fun hijinks and sincere good times. But there’s nothing enjoyable here beyond nostalgia for those endeared to these properties. Reminded me of ready player one in the worst way, intended to induce feel good vibes in those with a particular encyclopedic knowledge. Regret wasting my last library loan on this.
May 17, 2021
Franchise-transcending, visually radical, Tom Scioli's work is all-cylinders innovating and arresting as Benjamin Marra's OMWOT or how Jack Kirby's work must have stuck out in the 60s. The inspiration of it affects writer John Barber to turn in his A-game making this Will Eisner Proud. Ignore your prejudices, get on this train.
July 23, 2017
Pretty weird and disorienting but I think that's the point.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews