Void Rivals #27 Review | Energon War, Cobra-La, And A Risky Power-Up For The Sacred Ring

Void Rivals #27 (Image Comics, 2/25/26): Writer Robert Kirkman and artist Andrei Bressan escalate Darak and Solila’s war story into a high-intensity “energonned-up counterattack” mode, as the Sacred Ring fights back against the Quintesson invasion with weaponized Energon ingestion. The execution is visually strong but structurally uneven, with clear action and sharp staging propping up a script that sometimes feels more like a tactical update than a full dramatic meal; Verdict: Worth reading if you are already invested in the Energon Universe.

• Writer: Robert Kirkman
• Artist: Andrei Bressan
• Colorist: Patricio Delpeche
• Letterer: Rus Wooton
• Cover Artist: Lorenzo De Felici (cover A)
• Publisher: Image Comics
• Release Date: February 25, 2026
• Comic Rating: Teen
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Page Count: 32
• Format: Single Issue

Covers:

Analysis of Void Rivals #27:

First Impressions:

On a first read, Void Rivals #27 feels like the chapter where everyone remembers this war is supposed to cost something, and the book finally starts acting like it. The issue opens on Agorria and Zertonia under active siege, jumps over to smug Quintesson judges counting their victories, and then swings back around to show Darak, Solila, and their parents scrambling for any advantage they can squeeze out of Energon itself, which gives the whole thing a hectic, slightly whiplash rhythm that is exciting in the moment even as it leaves some emotional beats undercooked.​​

Emotionally, the standout material sits with the parents and the war rooms, not the supposed leads, as Darak’s father turns a desperate hunch about Energon into a full battlefield doctrine, and Zalilak’s “restoration” lands with more shock value than introspection. You can feel the creative team pushing toward a tipping point for the Sacred Ring, yet the script repeatedly chooses to race to the next escalation rather than slow down long enough to let the human cost of these choices really sting, which keeps this from being the all-timer middle chapter it clearly wants to be.

Recap:

In the previous issue, the Quintesson War was already raging across the Sacred Ring, with Sharkticon hordes pressing a full assault that left local forces scrambling just to stay alive. Zalilak stepped out from his usual detached leadership role to take the fight directly to the attackers, Solila’s reactivated powers were framed as a dangerous wildcard that might turn the tide, and Darak was locked into damage control while commanders tried to understand just how badly the Ring was being overrun, leaving the Sacred Ring standing by the end but barely, with no clear plan for what came next and Zalilak’s connection to Zerta set up as a potential solution or fresh disaster.

Plot Analysis (SPOILERS):

The issue opens by cutting between Agorria and Zertonia as both worlds come under full-scale attack from massive purple, spherical monsters that swarm cities, knock ships out of the sky, and chew through defenses while civilians run and soldiers die in the streets. Amid this chaos, a helmeted figure reaches out to a familiar ally, and a quick, efficient exchange leads to the two clasping hands before they are swallowed by a column of energy and vanish, a neat little visual cue that they are being repositioned for something important off-page. The story then hard-cuts to a Quintesson ship, where Judge Makmun smugly reports to the other judges that the Sharkticon platoons are crushing primitive resistance on every front, the Allicons are still in reserve, and the arrival of the Tribunal will probably be a formality rather than a necessity, underscoring just how lopsided this war looks from their side right now.​

Inside the Quintesson command chamber, Pythona of Cobra-La listens to Makmun’s report, calmly declares that the invaded people are doomed and that the construct of “she-who-will-not-be-named” will soon fall under Quintesson control, and then dismisses the whole scene as a waste of her time among foul technology. Before she can leave, a subordinate warns of a disturbance on Agorria tied to a familiar energy signature, which triggers Pythona’s temper and a swift, clawed response when a tentacled machine tries to restrain her. Her violent rebuttal forces the judges to reconsider their complacency, as one of them finally admits that maybe they have underestimated their enemies, marking the first real hint that the Sacred Ring might have something in play that the Quintessons did not fully account for.​

Back on Agorria, Darak and Solila arrive to the ruins of the ongoing battle, where Darak’s father is stunned but relieved to see his son alive and immediately gives a grim rundown of how badly the war effort is going. He explains that their forces are being wiped out by these massive creatures, that platoons have stopped reporting in, and that the situation is even worse than current data suggests, which pushes him from despair into a sudden flash of strategy when he realizes Energon can be ingested and applied to the gems in their foreheads as a consumable power source. While Darak tries to figure out how he can possibly help, his father rallies the Agorrians to attack, and the battlefield sequence shifts into a kinetic display of infantry and heavy weapons tearing into the creatures with blades, blasters, and a devastating beam that finally drops one of the monsters for good.​

On Zertonia, Proximus and his father fight their own wave of invaders, with Proximus insisting that he does not tire and will fight to the last while her father worries about her safety and muses about creating an escape route, a suggestion she rejects with a mix of stubborn pride and clipped humor. As the next horde approaches, Darak’s father uses a tenuous connection to transmit his Energon discovery to Zalilak, explaining that the energy heals and empowers their people when applied to their gems and could turn the tide if Zertonia embraces it. Solila then appears in person in Zalilak’s command space, explaining that Zerta has restored her ability to move freely across the Ring and that she can deliver the message directly, which leads into a large-scale battle montage where Zertonians supercharge themselves and charge the enemy while the Quintesson judges panic when a heavily damaged Judge Naven arrives to warn that these creatures are far more dangerous than expected and that they must commit the Allicons, Bailiffs, and Executioners immediately.​

In the final movement, Proximus leads a roaring counterattack empowered by Energon, but the personal cost of this power-up hits fast when he staggers, clutches his head, and undergoes a painful transformation that strips away his imposing helmet and restores his original face and memories. The scene lingers on his new, half-organic, half-mechanical visage as he declares that he is restored and remembers everything, including that Solila is his sister, which lands as the big character twist this arc has been building toward. The issue closes with the Energon Experience text feature spelling out how Energon ingestion has become a battlefield tactic and a short character spotlight reminding readers that Darak is a legendary pilot and heir to Agorria’s leadership, reinforcing that the Sacred Ring finally has a way to push back even as the wider war and the looming Tribunal still hang over everything.

How is the story in Void Rivals #27?

Structurally, this script reads like a war-log chapter, briskly hopping between fronts, factions, and power players in a way that keeps the conflict feeling big but occasionally sacrifices emotional clarity for sheer scope. Kirkman’s pacing is aggressive in the first half, with quick cuts from battlefield carnage to Quintesson smugness to Pythona’s rebellion, and that speed suits the escalating chaos even as it leaves some scenes, like the early teleportation sequence, feeling more like necessary repositioning than fully realized moments. The back half slows down just enough to let the Energon discovery land and to frame Proximus’s restoration as a pivot point, but key character beats, such as Solila’s delivery of the message and her reaction to Zalilak’s rebuff, are handled in such compressed fashion that they barely get a chance to breathe before the next spectacle shot.​

Dialogue-wise, the issue is clean and functional, with Darak’s father and Zalilak speaking in clipped, strategic bursts that match the urgency of their situation, while Pythona’s lines carry a slightly theatrical disdain that fits her Cobra-La origin. There is very little banter or introspection here, and what little humor we get, mostly from Proximus’s dry quips to his father, reads as defensive color rather than deepening her arc, which fits the “everyone is too busy to talk” vibe but dulls the impact of the big family reveal when it finally hits. Thematically, the script pushes an interesting idea about weaponizing what used to be a background resource, turning Energon ingestion into both a literal power-up and a metaphor for how far these societies will go to survive, yet the issue stops short of probing the moral cost of that choice, content instead to treat the new tactic as a clever twist in a war story rather than the start of something more ethically complicated.

How is the art in Void Rivals #27?

Andrei Bressan’s art is the clear anchor of this chapter, delivering readable, high-impact action across multiple fronts without ever losing track of where you are or who is doing what. His page compositions lean on wide panels and big diagonals to sell scale, so when the purple monsters swarm a city or a beam lances through a creature’s body, the eye is guided smoothly from foreground figures to background devastation in a way that feels deliberate rather than chaotic. Character acting is strong, especially in the close-ups of Darak’s father as he shifts from grief to realization, and in Proximus’s transformation sequence, where the mounting strain in his posture sells the physical and psychological violence of having his true self forced back to the surface.​

Patricio Delpeche’s colors do a lot of heavy lifting in separating fronts and establishing mood, with Agorria’s battles wrapped in warmer oranges and reds and Zertonia rendered in colder blues and purples, creating an immediate visual distinction even when panel layouts echo each other. The recurring glow of Energon, whether in the foreheads of the Sacred Ring’s people or in the blasts that cut through monsters and Quintesson forces, serves as a unifying visual motif that ties the scattered skirmishes into a coherent sense of rising power. The mood overall is tense but not oppressive, helped by occasional bursts of bright energy effects that keep the pages from sinking into muddy chaos, and while the designs of the attacking creatures are intentionally grotesque, their silhouettes stay readable, so you are never guessing where the threat is coming from or how the defenders are responding.

Characters

Character work in this issue is a mixed bag, leaning heavily on prior investment in the cast and giving most of the new development to the older generation rather than the supposed leads. Darak spends much of the chapter reacting to his father’s plans and the unfolding war rather than driving events, which is consistent with his long-running “caught between systems” role but does little to advance his personal arc beyond reminding you that he is still here and still worried about the Ring. Solila fares marginally better in the Zertonia scenes, where her refusal to retreat and her clipped back-and-forth with her father reinforce her stubborn pride and renewed sense of agency after Zerta’s interference, yet the script keeps her interiority at arm’s length, especially in the moment where Proximus’s restored memories reframe his entire family history.​

The real shift happens with Proximus, whose Energon-triggered restoration takes him from an imposing, partially dehumanized ruler to a more visibly conflicted figure who suddenly remembers his connection to Solila, which promises richer material down the line even if this issue itself only has time to give him a few key lines and some shocked facial expressions. Pythona also emerges as a more active wildcard, her rejection of Quintesson tech and violent contempt for restraint hinting at a personal agenda that runs parallel to, rather than in full support of, the judges’ plans, though the script keeps her motives mostly in shadow for now. As a result, the chapter feels less like a deep dive into character motivation and more like a set of sharp but brief turns that will need future issues to fully cash out.

Originality & Concept Execution

Conceptually, turning Energon into a literal battlefield stimulant for the Sacred Ring’s gem-bearing populations is a smart escalation that expands the Energon Universe’s mythology in a way that feels both fresh and rooted in earlier hints. The idea that Springer recognized the crystals as Energon ports back in issue 10, now paid off as weaponized ingestion in the Energon Experience text feature, adds a satisfying layer of planning to the larger arc. Framing the war across multiple fronts while layering in Cobra-La’s Pythona and the ever-present Quintesson hierarchy gives this chapter a crossover-adjacent flavor without derailing it into a full guest-star parade, which helps it feel more like a Void Rivals story than an ad for other books, even as the Energon Universe checklist dutifully reminds you what else is on shelves this month.​

That said, the execution sometimes leans on familiar event-comic beats, from overconfident villains dismissing “primitives” to last-minute power unlocks that arrive just in time to keep the protagonists from being wiped out. The issue does not meaningfully interrogate the cost of pushing entire populations into self-administered power boosts in the midst of a war against ancient enemies, which keeps the twist from landing as fully as it could on a thematic level. Still, there is an underlying sense that the creative team is setting up a long-term shift in how Energon functions for this corner of the universe, and on that front, the chapter succeeds at moving the premise forward even if it does not quite break new ground in how that movement is dramatized.

Pros and Cons

What We Loved

• Clear, large-scale battle layouts keep multi-front action readable and tense.
• Energon ingestion twist cleverly pays off earlier setup and expands the mythology.
• Proximus’s restoration and family reveal hint at richer political and emotional fallout.

Room for Improvement

• Character interiority is thin, especially for Darak and Solila in key moments.
• Pacing rushes through emotional beats to reach the next spectacle escalation.
• Ethical and strategic implications of weaponized Energon barely get examined.

Art Samples:

The Scorecard:

Writing Quality (Clarity & Pacing): 3.0/4
Art Quality (Execution & Synergy): 3.5/4
Value (Originality & Entertainment): 1.3/2

Final Thoughts:

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Void Rivals #27 is a solid, visually confident middle war chapter that finally gives the Sacred Ring a concrete way to hit back, even if it does not slow down enough to fully explore what that choice means. If you are already reading the Energon Universe or have been following the Quintesson War from the start, this issue earns its spot in the stack as a necessary and reasonably satisfying escalation, powered by strong art and a smart Energon twist that promises bigger consequences later.

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