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

Scott's Take: Duke Volume 1: Knowing is Half the Battle by Joshua Williamson

Duke Volume 1: Knowing is Half the Battle by Joshua Williamson with Tom Reilly (illustrator) and Jordie Bellaire (colorist) is a miniseries despite being titled Volume 1. There is no Volume 2 and there will not be. This is a miniseries set in the Energon Universe. A recently started line of books based on the idea--- what if the Transformers and the G.I. Joe lived in the same universe? This miniseries is designed to start setting up the G.I. Joe part of the Energon Universe. 

 

Duke barely survived an encounter with the Decepticon known as Starscream, but his friend was not so lucky. The United States military is covering it up and telling the highly decorated soldier that he is just wrong. So, Duke goes rogue and finds out that the rot in the institutions he has served his whole life in is deeper that he knows.

 

The art is pretty good even if the colors are a little dull. I don’t know if this was a deliberate choice, but Duke spends a good portion of this tale looking like Captain America from Infinity War. This is a mature and well thought out tale that raises a number of questions about what does a man who believes in the system do when the system fails him? We don’t get to explore this version of Duke too in much depth as this is more of a thriller than a character development read.

 

I really liked this read until the ending. Major spoilers, but a lot of the questions raised in this tale are brushed aside in order to have Duke help form the G.I. Joes.

 

The newly formed G.I. Joe group is assigned to kill Optimus Prime. They don’t know he is a good guy or, I guess, a good robot. Started here, this mission will be followed up in one of the new books in the universe. At the time of this review, I do not know which one.

 

The next announced book in the series, Cobra Commander, focuses on the Cobra Commander forming his group to take over the world.

 

Additionally, a full G.I. Joe series will start sometime this fall. That series will have Duke and other members of the G. I. Joe group.

 

Overall, while they are building up the G.I. Joe part of the universe with miniseries, they are currently giving the Transformers universe an actual series.

 

There is also something called Void Rivals set in space. I read it, and quite frankly, I still have no idea how it’s supposed to tie in yet. Which is why I have not reviewed it. I did not much care for it either.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3zEWshf

 

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

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2024