By Owen Williams | Posted 28 Dec 2017

New Empire day continues with this exclusive still from Transformers spin-off Bumblebee. Hailee Steinfeld is the latest sidekick for the vocally challenged, heroic Autobot. Bumblebee himself, meanwhile, is no longer the other movies' Chevy Camaro, but a VW Beetle, as he was in the original cartoons.

Travis Knight, boss of Laika animation studios (and director of the company's most recent film, Kubo And The Two Strings) is the director for this one: the first of the modern Transformers films not to be directed by Michael Bay.

"I wanted to approach this massive, expansive franchise and really focus in on a tiny corner of the canvas," Knight told us. "Everything I’ve tried to do at Laika, searching for an artful blend of darkness and light, intensity and warmth, humour and heart, I wanted to bring to the Transformers franchise."

Bumblebee is out next December. The new Empire, on the other hand, is out now. Subscribe here or buy the single issue online here.