The Hasbro Comic Book Universe (HCBU) is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

franchise and

shared universe A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...

created and published by

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...

, based on various properties of the

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

company

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

Publication history

Following the bankruptcy of

Dreamwave Productions Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996. Best known for its comic book adaptations of Transformers, the company shut down on January 4, 2005. History Brothers Pat Lee and Roger Lee founde ...

in 2005, IDW picked up the ''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, ...

'' comic book license and hired veteran writer Simon Furman to craft a rebooted continuity based on the Generation 1 toy line, similar to what

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

did through

Ultimate Marvel Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring re-imagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Those characters ...

. In May 2008, IDW obtained the '' G.I. Joe'' comic book license from Devil's Due Publishing. Over the years, both comics participated in several crossover events, like '' Infestation'' and ''

Infestation 2 ''Infestation 2'' (stylized in some solicitations as ''Infes2ation'') is a crossover event that was published by IDW Publishing from January to April 2012. Serving as the sequel to ''Infestation'', it consisted of two book-end one-shots, and two-i ...

''. In 2016, IDW gained the rights of '' Rom'', ''

Micronauts Micronauts is a North American science fiction toyline manufactured and marketed by Mego from 1976 to 1980. The ''Micronauts'' toyline was based on and licensed from the ''Microman'' toyline created by Japanese-based toy company Takara in 1974. ...

'', ''

Action Man Action Man is an action figure launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "movable fighting man", G.I. Joe. Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of ...

'' and ''

M.A.S.K. M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) is a media franchise created by Kenner. The main premise revolved around the fight between the titular protagonist underground task force and the criminal organization V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of ...

'' from other publishers. That same year, IDW announced the

Hasbro Reconstruction Hasbro Reconstruction was a 2016 comic book launch by IDW Publishing about its line of comic books based on properties of the toy company Hasbro. Since June 2016, this branding converged most of IDW's Hasbro comics into the Hasbro Comic Book Unive ...

campaign, in order to converge those brands in the same continuity, starting with the crossover event ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

''. In 2017, IDW gained the rights of '' Visionaries'', with most of its characters debuting after the crossover event '' First Strike''. In April 2018, IDW announced the HCBU would conclude with the limited series '' Transformers: Unicron'' in November 2018.

In-continuity canon

IDW has never established a shared continuity between its own ''Transformers'' and ''G.I. Joe'' comics, even during the crossover event '' Infestation'', when they both exist in separate universes, with other licensed franchises. While ''The Transformers'' has only participated in ''Infestation'', the miniseries '' The Transformers: Hearts of Steel'', also set in its own alternate timeline, has participated in ''

''. On the other side, ''G.I. Joe'' participated in both events. While other brands exist within the HCBU (e.g. '' Jem'', '' Clue'' and ''

Army Ants The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limit ...

''), they did not appear in ''Revolution'', ''First Strike'' or ''Transformers: Unicron'' for tonal reasons. IDW's versions of ''

My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...

'', ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'', '' Magic: The Gathering'', ''

Stretch Armstrong Stretch Armstrong is a large, gel-filled action figure that was first introduced in 1976 by Kenner. In 2016, at the New York Toy Fair, Hasbro announced the return of the Stretch Armstrong toy in its original 1976 design. Stretch Armstrong is m ...

'' and '' Go-Bots'' exist "outside" of this universe entirely.

List of works

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Tie-in books

* ''The Transformers: Continuum'' (November 11, 2009) — First guidebook of the HCBU-related ''Transformers'' comics. * ''G.I. Joe: Tales from the Cobra Wars'' (April 19, 2011) — Anthology of prose stories based on several HCBU-related ''G.I. Joe'' comics. * ''Transformers: Historia'' (January 9, 2019) — Second guidebook of the HCBU-related ''Transformers'' comics.

Unproduced works

* ''Transformers: Legacy of Rust'' * ''Transformers: Spy Games'' * ''Transformers: Collision Course''

References

{{Navboxes , title = Hasbro Comic Book Universe , list = {{Hasbro Comic Book Universe {{IDW Publishing {{Hasbro {{Action Man {{G.I. Joe {{Rom the Spaceknight {{Transformers comics 2005 comics debuts 2018 comics endings Comics based on Hasbro toys Continuity (fiction) G.I. Joe comics Hasbro Hasbro franchises IDW Publishing Military comics Rom the Space Knight Science fiction comics Superhero comics Transformers comics