The Enemy Mine-esque story – of two pilots from opposite sides of an interstellar conflict, forced to work together to survive after both of their ships crash – continues in this second issue.

It flashes back to fill us in on what led to the crash that kicked off the story, as well as giving us insight as to what the two enemy pilots were doing out in space to start with.

Though the (spoiler alert) Transformers tie-in twist is absent for much of the issue, the fact that Void Rivals is part of a new shared continuity (the ‘Energon Universe’) does factor into the cliffhanger.

The shock value of the surprise Autobot appearance wears off here though, leaving us with a well written, nicely paced tale of two enemies trying to survive despite their differences (and hitherto unknown similarities).

In fact, right up until the end, the shared universe sequence from issue 1 starts to feel unnecessarily shoehorned in. However, it definitely looks like it’s going to increase in importance in the next issue.

An enjoyable read, but shorn of the surprise that got everyone talking about Void Rivals #1, it can’t help but feel less special as the story continues here.