Scott's Take: G.I. Joe Vol 1: The Cobra Strikes by Joshua Williamson and illustrator Tom Reilly

  

G.I. Joe Vol 1: The Cobra Strikes by Joshua Williamson and illustrator Tom Reilly takes place after the Duke Volume 1: Knowing is Half the Battle series I reviewed last July that saw Duke forming the G.I. Joes and trying to create a team to stop Cobra. Duke does not know the group is called Cobra until later in the volume he just knows bad people are doing bad things. Duke ended implying that the Joes would be going after Optimus Prime, but nope, that is completely ignored.  I read this G.I. Joe volume through Hoopla.

 

Instead, this sees the Joes, outmatched in numbers, technology, and resources struggling to stop Cobra from taking over the world. Somehow the U.S. Military’s plan to stop Cobra and M.A.R.S. industries is to use five special forces soldiers to stop a small army. There is an attempt to justify that idea by referencing someone with diplomatic immunity, but that really does not work. Cobra Commander is using the energon and technology he harvested from Megatron and others to arm the troops provided by Destro and his arms/security company/country.

 

Cobra Commander, Destro, Duke, and Baroness are the main characters in this volume. There are attempts to grow the supporting cast, but I don’t think they are fleshed out more than their architypes. Making the Baroness a Joe has been a good addition since it allows her more pragmatic approach to bang against Duke’s more heroic approach.

 

The art is great and this is a mature action story with a classic world domination plot. There is plenty of violence and several character deaths including one supporting character. Cobra Commander does something evil, but also short sighted. That is typical Cobra Commander behavior, but I was hoping we would get a smarter Cobra Commander.  The ending is abrupt and promises to tie this series in with the Transformers main series more. However, considering how Duke ended and was glossed over, I have doubts.

 

I could not find volume 2 for this series listed anywhere on goggle. I hope it stays good. In my opinion, the Transformers book started off strong, but got too bloated cast wise and plot wise.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4kyZ6ro

 

 

My reading copy was a Hoopla digital eBook via the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025