Transformers #36 Review: The Energon Universe Goes to War

Man, Robert Kirkman apparently woke up and decided the Transformers have not suffered enough. Transformers #36 comes flying into the end of this sixth arc with Autobots getting swarmed, Cobra-La being absolute nightmare fuel, humans trying to survive between walking weapons of mass destruction, and enough moving pieces that this thing should collapse under its own weight. Somehow it doesn’t. Instead, Kirkman and Jason Howard deliver a finale that feels HUGE without forgetting that the reason this Energon Universe run keeps hitting is not simply because giant robots beat the mechanical oil out of each other. It hits because somebody always has something to lose.

The opening Cobra-La assault sets that tone immediately. Howard throws Superion and the Autobots into this hostile, almost biological chaos where the enemy does not fight like Decepticons, look like Decepticons or give a damn about the familiar rules. That distinction matters. Cobra-La could have easily become goofy retro baggage dropped into a Transformers comic because somebody remembered the toys existed. Nah, fam. Here they feel genuinely alien, disgusting and dangerous. When Superion arrives, you get that wonderful OH SHIT comic-book moment, but even a Combiner does not instantly turn the battlefield into easy mode. The book establishes early that these creatures can hurt Cybertronians, and suddenly size alone is not enough to make anybody safe.

Howard’s action is nasty in the best possible way. There is a sequence early in the book where Superion is tearing through the swarm, and the page construction gives every hit direction and momentum. You can actually follow the damn fight. That sounds like the bare minimum until you have read enough giant-robot comics where seventeen metallic bodies become a pile of knees, wings and shoulder pads and you have no clue who punched whom. Howard understands silhouettes, distance and scale. His Transformers feel HEAVY. When one lands, crashes, transforms or gets blasted, there is mass behind it. Then he flips gears into the human and quieter Autobot scenes without making the book feel like somebody hit the brakes.

Mike Spicer is doing a ton of work keeping all this insanity readable. The icy battlefield has these cold blues and whites that make the red Autobots and orange weapon effects jump off the page, while Cobra-La gets these sick greens, pinks and organic tones that immediately separate them from the machinery. Later, Shadow Watch Base, Cybertron, the Ark and the desert sequences each have their own visual temperature. That’s smart coloring. You’re bouncing between locations and factions constantly, but your eyes know where you are before your brain has to process another caption box. Rus Wooton’s lettering deserves the same respect because this book has explosions, alien noises, transformation effects, military chatter and giant robots yelling at each other, yet the page never becomes a ransom note.

What surprised me most, though, is how much humanity Kirkman keeps squeezing between the spectacle. Optimus is carrying leadership like somebody strapped another trailer to his back. The humans around the Autobots are not decorative little meat people waiting for robots to save them either. There are conversations about trust, rebuilding and what happens after all this destruction, and Kirkman lets those moments breathe just long enough before throwing another missile through the room. Even the Autobot City material works because it reminds us that victory means jack if nobody builds anything after the war. Wheeljack’s technology and the rebuilding effort are not filler. They represent what Optimus is actually fighting FOR.

And then Kirkman starts tightening the screws again. Cybertron, Starscream, Nemesis, the Decepticons, Megatron’s situation, all these threads start reminding you that Cobra-La is only one problem in a universe absolutely LOADED with bad decisions waiting to explode. That is probably my biggest criticism too. There is a LOT here. Readers already locked into this run are going to eat it up because every location means something, but somebody grabbing #36 because they saw Superion looking sexy on the cover is getting thrown into the deep end wearing Timberlands. This is absolutely not a jumping-on issue. It’s an arc finale and acts like one. I respect that, but there are moments where the rapid location changes slightly dilute the emotional impact because another storyline is already knocking on the door.

Then we get that ending. I am not spoiling that shit. What I will say is Kirkman knows exactly what question readers are going to ask when they hit those final beats. That is how you finish an arc while making the next issue feel mandatory instead of optional. Yeah. They know what they’re doing to us.

Transformers #36 is controlled chaos, and I mean that as a compliment. Kirkman keeps widening the Energon Universe without losing the emotional center, Howard draws Cybertronians like several tons of metal actually occupy the page, Spicer gives every battlefield its own pulse, and Wooton keeps the noise organized. It is not perfect, and the sheer number of active story threads occasionally makes the book feel like three missiles being launched at you simultaneously, but this is exactly how an arc finale should operate. Pay off what came before, hurt somebody, move the board, then leave me staring at the final page saying, “Oh, you motherfuckers.” Mission accomplished.

CRUSADERS SCORE:
4/ 5

Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Jason Howard
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: Image Comics / Skybound
On Sale: September 9, 2026
Reviewed by: Al Mega