Release: December 2025 | Writer: Robert Kirkman | Artist: Andrei Bressan | Colorists: Patricio Delpeche
Void Rivals is underrated. There I said it.
In a world of all-time stories and all-time characters, Void Rivals is a tremendous book of pain, love, anger, and frustration. It needs to be in that all-time conversation. As it is the brainchild of Invincible's Robert Kirkman, you can expect a rich history and an in-depth character story. Because it is in issue #25 now, there is a great deal of lore and history to catch up on. While there is not enough time in this article to describe all of that, we are going to highlight some core things to understand the world of Void Rivals.
Darak and Solila are two individuals from warring sides of the Sacred Ring. Darak is from Agorria while Solila is a warrior from Zertonia; people from these two locations do not communicate with one another. In fact, they hate each other. These two factions are visually separated by their colors, with Agorria being yellow while Zertonia is green. While on a mission, Darak and Solila end up together and break their respective locations' rules by interacting after being deserted on a planet.
A power source called Energon is something that is heavily needed by the Transformers. Indeed, the Transformers are a part of this Energon Universe as well as G.I. Joe, which is an awesome crossover. After a peace treaty was made due to the preaching of a legendary being named Zerta to combine their resources and use Energon to better both Agorria and Zertonia, the simple task of them interacting caused an almost cataclysmic event for their people. This left the believers of Zerta feeling lost and forced the two locations to separate once again, leading us to Void Rivals #25.
LOST FAITH
In this issue, we start in Zertonia with the premier, Zalilak. He was a strong believer and preacher of Zerta's teachings before everything went upside down. Zertonia is reeling from the damage caused by the attempted peace treaty. Zalilak is paying for his beliefs, which are seemingly gone now, as his warrior Proximus attacks him at full force.
Proximus is an interesting character. Due to him following the teachings of Zerta that were taught to him by Zalilak, he has not only lost his motivation to believe in her words, but he also wants revenge on Zalilak for even putting her voice in his head, a voice that seemingly will not go away. After battling through Zertonia, Proximus makes a vow to kill Zalilak, whom he deems "The Betrayer." He almost does so successfully by preparing to stab him in the chest.
That is until a giant object begins plummeting down from the sky directly toward them. Zalilak saves Proximus by moving him out of the way. However, the damage has been done; this giant object is there to stay, and they have no clue what it could even be.
THE OTHER SIDE
Over in Agorria, Darak is resting. The world of Void Rivals features gadgets used for assistance in battles called handroids. We have seen since issue #1 that Darak has treated his handroid as more of a companion or partner.
The handroid notices this treatment and tells Darak that protocol requires its memory to be wiped after every mission. To this, Darak asks if the handroid actually wants to have its memory wiped, and the machine does not answer.
The handroid is scared, however. Because it has been active for so long, it feels more alive the longer it remains functional, and that sensation frightens it. It tries to explain to Darak how worrying that is since it is simply a mechanical glove with artificial intelligence. To this, Darak reminds the handroid that it is just as alive as the Transformers Hot Rod and Springer, whom they met previously.
As he puts on his handroid, a siren goes off calling for all pilots immediately, and Darak runs off.
Minister Dulin is the powerful leader of Agorria, while also being Darak's father. While Dulin is sitting in his throne room, a giant brute named Grand General Dukan marches in with anger. However, all that anger is just a facade since this is Dulin's brother. They embrace in a hug before Dulin is warned of a large, unknown object heading to the Sacred Ring, which a fleet of pilots is inspecting at this moment.
Darak and his flight partners, Gamut and Garad, join the mission. The object that has hit Agorria is the same object that was seen on Zertonia. Its quick arrival actually spells the end for Garad, one of the pilots who accidentally flies directly into the object.
In prison for attempting to establish Zerta's peace treaty is Zertonia's Solila, who is trying to communicate with her handroid to escape her handcuffs. As she does that, a voice speaks to her and calls her name. As the issue comes to an end, the voice is requesting Solila's services once again; I think this may be the voice of Zerta trying to speak to her.
CONCLUSION
Void Rivals has always been a favorite of mine to read every month. It is genuinely a deep read with many moving parts, as is evident from this issue. Since this is the kickoff for the Quintesson War, we can only go up from here in terms of the actions of the characters. So far, we know this object has landed, but we have no clue what it entails. Not only that, but it has caused the death of a pilot in Agorria; therefore, I can only guess the government of Agorria is going to be on top of this to see what it is all about.
Zerta is a controversial figure, one who promises peace and happiness between Agorria and Zertonia but has only given them a near-death experience. It is going to be interesting to see where she lands in the grand scheme of things. Is she evil or is she not? We will have to see. This was a good setup for what is to come. While it featured a really fun opening action sequence, all in all, this was a slower issue than what I am used to for this series.
With Connor Hughes no longer being the artist on this book, I think that Andrei Bressan is a perfect option to fill this spot, as his style has a similar feel. I do not feel like the art has a jarring change like many other series put out by other companies when they switch artists.