The crossover that never was:
That is a piece of art by Phil Jimenez, used to pitch the concept to DC - it's not something that was ever in production, so don't get your hopes up. Speaking on Twitter recently, Jimenez revealed that any hopes of seeing this become a real book fell apart when it was decided that DC was going to relaunch all their books. A few tidbits he shared:
- You missed out on Wonder Woman's invisible jet becoming a very cool Transformer.
- Giving credit where credit is due: the idea for Optimus Prime as a GL was none other than [IDW editor-in-chief] Chris Ryall's. Smart guy.
- I'm a sucker for those Seacons.
- The transforming invisible jet... which was "female," I think. She would have been sooo cool.
- This would have been epically fun. No other reason to attempt such a thing, really, except for fun!
- [Answering "who's in the second panel from the left?"]: Martian Manhunter... and a Transformers-related surprise character.
- I just wanted to draw the Combiner assault on Earth-1. That's all. Actually, that's not all.
- Interesting, to see what people glean (& don't) from a couple of pieces of concept art. So glad so many saw the right/cool things, tho. There was definitely more than meets the eye.
He also shared this second piece of art:
Sometimes I just don't get DC. A couple years ago it was "we can't do Elseworlds because there's only one universe and that would confuse things," and now it's "we can't do this crossover because it stars the 'old' versions of the characters?" For crying out loud, this looks AWESOME and they're skipping it for the dumbest reason imaginable? Why not just call it "Earth-22" and put it out anyway?
Bats and Supes look ready for war, but Wondy looks like it's just another day on Themyscira.
I'm not sure if I'd like this if it were ever to come out. I mean, a lot of DC heroes are way more powerful than your average Transformer. How do you expect Decepticons to be a threat to, say, the Flash or Green Lantern or Dr Fate, let alone Superman? Plus, you just know Batman will wind up showing everybody up.