Always one of the most entertaining characters from the first generation (or G1) of Transformers, Starscream was forever known for his open desire to usurp Decepticon leader, Megatron, as well as having a snivelling cowardice that set him back from attaining his ultimate goal.

Yet what led Starscream down the path that ended with him being such a weaselly, duplicitous Decepticon? The answers lie in Transformers #13, which contains a flashback to Starscream’s youth on Cybertron, and more than an origin, it can perhaps best be described as the birth of Starscream, as the character we all love to hate.

It’s another superb piece of writing from Daniel Warren Johnson, who defies all odds and gets the reader to not only care about Starscream, but to actively want him to succeed and survive against the Autobots (and his fellow Decepticons, for that matter). Given the fact that so much ground is covered in so few pages, it’s amazing how quickly the reader is turned around from being completely against, then completely on the side of, Starscream. That’s also a testament to just how good Johnson is on this series; it’s phenomenal stuff.

So far, the creators turning Johnson’s scripts into art have done a fine job of aping the writer’s own, dynamic art style, while bringing their own flair to the illustrations. This issue, with Jason Howard handling the art, is no different in that regard. Mike Spicer turns in his usual, excellent work on colours too.

There’s been a lot of hype around Skybound’s Energon Universe comics, and on the strength of Transformers alone, it’s not hard to see why. Despite the franchise celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and having gone through countless reboots and reinventions over the decades, the G1 Transformers have almost never been this well handled or involving. This series continues to absolutely blow me away, issue after issue.

The only weakness is its monthly release schedule, which is far too slow for my liking. I need issue 14 now, dammit.