Duke and Cobra Commander Issues #2 and #3 Review

Hey, hey, hey, it's Chaos Queen here, and you're

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hey,

it's Jesse Rass, and do you love comic books?

Do you have opinions about comic books? Do you

like hearing opinions on said comic books? Then

you need to make the great escape. And it's a

small leap into another world we call the pull

bag. And you'll only find it here on the GCRN,

otherwise known as the Geekcast Radio Network.

Do you have to on Mike here and before we get

into this supersized episode of the pull bag

I want to say I screwed up and apparently I didn't

post mine and Jesse early aka matrix primes Duke

and Cobra commander number to review here inside

the pull bag You can find the original file over

on his website another comic review calm But

here it is here as well for all of you, the pullbag

listeners. Nothing has been changed, nothing

has been edited, whatever. Jesse edited the way

he edited it is how it is. The only thing that's

changed is I've added the TPB stuff around the

actual episodes, and there'll be an ad break

in between issues two and three, so there's that.

This is episode 547 of The Pull Bag, Skybound

Entertainment's Duke and G .I. Joe. Uh, Duke

and... God, awk. Duke and Cobra Commander issues

numbers 2 and 3. Enjoy, and as always, make your

greatest game of the comics and jump inside the

pullbag today! And welcome to another comic review.

My name is Jesse. I am joined as always by TFG1Mike

from GeekCastRadio .com. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

Do you know where your comics are? By the way,

I haven't recorded this late in the day since

doing an old TF1 episode. Every Sunday at this

time, we would report. So in this episode of

another comic review, we'll be talking about

Duke number two and Cobra Commander number two.

To kick things off, let's go with Duke number

two first. So this is by Joshua Williamson, Tom

Riley, and Jordy Belair. I think that's how you

say her name. Yep. His name? Her name? Jordy?

I don't know, but yes, that is correct. OK. So

as always, quick synopsis from ImageComics .com.

Codename G .I. Joe continues. Konrad Hauser,

aka Duke, is on the run from the very government

he trusted, investigating secrets that may be

more than meets the eye. Now he's about to meet

the last person any G .I. Joe fan ever expected.

Are they friend, foe, or in it for themselves?

So my quick rundown. So we open with a character

named Clutch. By the way, as someone who didn't

grow up with G .I. Joe, I have no idea who Clutch

is. He's apparently a character. There's a toy

of him. So apparently he is a thing. So he's

living in a camper in the middle of a junkyard.

He's looking at news on his phone of Duke who

was wanted for murder. Clutch goes on about his

day but is startled by Duke who flings open the

camper door and proceeds to bro out with Clutch

as they give each other the manliest hand grip

ever. Seeing that Duke is in rough shape, Clutch

helps remove bullets from Duke after the last

shootout and patches him up. Clutch starts messing

around with an electronic device that Duke was

carrying from Dr. Burkhardt when it suddenly

turns on and shows a globe projection with a

red mark somewhere in the American West. As Duke

is ready to leave, a rock and roll has tracked

him down and begins firing upon Duke and Clutch

who try to escape in a vehicle but are stopped

by Stalker who takes out the tires using a long

-range rifle. The two are taken into custody

and held as prisoners at the pit where they encounter

a glasses -wearing woman dressed in black. Uh

-huh. First of all, just so we're clear and just

so the audience doesn't come after us. Clutch,

also sometimes known as double clutch, so he's

kind of like punch -counterpunch. He is originally

from Real American Hero, the old animated series.

At first glance, Clutch may not seem to take

the part as one of the Jo Team's best drivers.

He likes to keep his hair slick and shiny. He

regularly keeps an unshaven appearance and even

fancies himself as a ladies man. This is from

the old cartoon thing, but I don't know how he'd

be here. I said that definitely carried over

into the comic here. It's not a bad thing, I

guess. It is what it is. But like you said, he's

had multiple action figures over the years, et

cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And I really digged

him in here. And this, I got to say, as bad as

Skybound is on the coloring for the letters and

the... creative pages. They do amazing on the

G .I. Joe stuff except when it maybe is like

red in the background. But like I can read everything

on this confidential Duke page where it has all

the creative listing and I can read it all. It's

fine. It's great. Do this with Transformers,

Skybound. Yeah, whoever's in charge are responsible

for the very beginning of this comic and the

very end of the comic where they've got the letters.

You're doing a fantastic job. Yeah, absolutely.

So, Andres Juarez, logo and publication design?

Let's see here. I assume the letter, Russ Wooten

would, he's the letterer, so I assume maybe he's

in charge of this. I don't know who makes the

decisions over there. No, I enjoyed this. I wasn't

sure, like honestly, I don't even, folks, we

didn't even, we weren't even sure if we covered

this. We discussed this off air and I'm going

to bring it up on air because really seriously,

you didn't like the first issue pretty much.

And honestly, I don't, I had to reread it. I

read them both again. Cause I did not remember

that. Like I remember certain parts of the first

issue, but like nothing going into this. Other

than the like you mentioned earlier the basic

plot of it like I didn't remember anything and

in this issue we have so much going on between

Duke and clutch and all these all the quote -unquote

new characters, and by new characters, folks,

I mean the characters that are getting introduced

into this comic, not necessarily that they're

new in the GIGO franchise. And then that ending,

man. Oh, damn. Yeah, so I guess let me throw

out my quick synopsis or thoughts here, and then

I got a question as to whether or not you thought

this was better than issue number one. So yeah,

I think I'm in a similar boat here. I think this

issue was more fun, in my opinion, than the first

one. Again, I'm still not a huge fan of this

artwork. But I will say, I don't know if it's

just the artwork. I feel like the artwork in

this issue is slightly different than it is in

the first. When you look at the other characters

in this, I think that my biggest issue as we're

seeing other characters is really just how they've

drawn or how Duke has been drawn. When I look

at that character, it's like I'm not seeing I'm

just not seeing Duke. Yeah. Right. So like, if

you look at the inside cover, right, where it

says confidential, it's in blue and black, like

the character there, that looks like Duke. But

when I'm looking at the right, the long haired,

I've got a disheveled looking character here.

I'm like, it's a trope at all. Yeah. So it's

it's it's the trope. So the trope is and I have

family, my uncle. For the longest time was a

Navy CB. He went through desert shield storm,

all that stuff back in the nineties. So. I've

had people in my family who were military members

and I've talked to a bunch of military members

in the past. And the thing is, when you tell

a story like this, usually what happens is they

will start out as the clean cut normal look that

you're supposed to know them as. And then as

they. quote -unquote and i say quote -unquote

go rogue i want to make sure i'm saying this

clearly so people that don't think i'm like making

i'm not making fun of the military or shit that

happens there at all so the point is is that

we are at a point in duke's whatever career whatever

you want to call it where he's not thrilled with

his government his government betrayed it this

that the other thing happened whatever happened

so Think of it this way. We're two years away

from the 30th anniversary of Tom Cruise's Mission

Impossible from 1996. You look at the first Mission

Impossible movie, he's got the clean cut hair,

he's following almost all the rules except he

goes against the grain whatever. Four years later

in 2000... Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt has long

ass hair and he's doing all this and all that

and everything. So think of it that way. It's

like a, it's a middle chapter of him not actually

like he's going against the grain. He's trying

to figure out what's going on with his military

and why people are betraying him. And so it's

the best thing I can say. I think, I think my

biggest issue with just how he's drawing is that

it seems to be inconsistent from panel to panel.

Like if you look at, so like I said, the inside

cover there with confidential, but even like

the actual first page where it's right. He's

a collection is looking at his phone and it says

American hero, why for murder? Like if you look

at Duke's face, like it's very angular, right?

It's sharp edges. But as you, as you go throughout

this issue, it's like he's got his face goes

from round to occasionally being angular. It's

just not consistent. So when it's it's more rounded.

It just doesn't look like Duke in my opinion

Yeah, and I think that could be also the the

artist choice. Maybe I don't know So again, I

think as I go through this my biggest my biggest

issue just happens to be I think the way that

Duke is drawn The other characters, I think they

look good Yeah, I still just there's just something

with the style. It's a little little too simplistic

Coming off from Transformers is a little too

simplistic for me. I wish I had just a grittier

type feel to it. And see, I'm almost the, like,

okay, this is not, this is not gritty. This is

not as gritty as Transformers and as void rivals

and other things they're doing. But because this

is not your standard, like, again, using examples,

using air quotes, Vietnam mission or something

like that, or, you know, This isn't your normal

military mission. I see this as, I see all the

colors in this and colors in this are amazing.

They're warm colors. They're desert type colors.

They're in an area where it's not all bright

and they're not in the jungle. They're, you know,

and I mean, you got this full on so Again, you

talk about Duke's face where, do you hear that?

This is on page 10 of 28. He's like, do you hear

that? And we get this full on big splash page

of the character here blasting the gun. And I

look at this and I'm like, oh, okay. So everybody

is tan. All of the backgrounds when everybody

is tan are going to be light blue or light gray

or like white with, and look at the lettering

on that page, the boom. The boom is red outline

as far as like the letter part of the outline,

because it blends into the rest of the sky area

thing. So I think they're going with a more desert

type of palette so far. at least in these first

outdoor scenes up till about page 17 or 18. Yeah.

Cause 18 is page 18 is where it kind of switches

to the dark blues of the, of the jail cell and

stuff. So I think it's, I think it's interesting.

I still, I still like to refer back to issue

one in those opening, I think opening first two

pages were sort of, it gives you like Duke's

backstory. And then it's like, Oh, right. Then

there's a One shot of like man of action and

that the way that's drawn is a lot grittier grittier

than like the rest of the that issue I wish and

it's obviously the same person right that's this

dryness. I wish they would have just stuck with

that That initial artwork like throughout the

series, but that's not what we get. Yeah, it's

the only job So anyways, that's my biggest issue

as it relates to how things are drawn and in

this particular issue I think my main issue really

just comes down to the way that Duke is drawn.

I could be okay, after going through the second

issue, I could be okay with how the art is. I

just wish that Duke's face was consistent. Even

with the disheveled look, the long hair, if his

face was more angular, like I said, as we go

from page to page, panel to panel, it's just

not consistent. Whereas that's really the only

character I get that from. Yeah, and the funny

thing is now that I'm going through this again,

I went back to page six. So where the girl comes

in. Yep. And the next panel is Clutch and Duke.

Clutch is on the left. Duke is on the right.

You look at that panel. Dude, Clutch could be

my Uncle Robert. Seriously on my mom's not kidding

clutch could be my uncle Rob because clutch basically

has the black hair the black beard Whatever else

got the chest hair all that and whatever and

Duke looks like he's got porcupines in his face

Like I don't know what it is with people who

are blonde Because I don't know with guys who

are blonde because I'm not blonde. I anybody

looks at any of my pictures you can see whatever.

But yeah, you're right. It looks like he's either

got a porcupine on his face or somebody stabbed

him or something. Like it just does not look

right in the light. This is basically a standard

shot of his character. You go to the page where

the phone is, page eight. I don't mind seeing

him like where he says, That's part of why it

came to you. Any idea what it is where he's showing

him his wound or his whatever? I don't mind that

coloring because it basically shades out most

of the peach fuzz on his face. Right. Yeah, coloring

is fine. But I mean, even in what you just called

out there, he's got a very round face. Yeah,

true. That particular one. Can't really help

that one. Right, right. Yeah, so I guess the

introduction of rock and roll and what's the

other guy's name? It's a rock and roll and Give

me one second. What is the other guy's name?

Stalker. Stalker. That's what it is. Yeah Yeah,

I thought that was I thought that was pretty

good. Yeah, sorry I was just gonna say that I

think my biggest issue with this particular Well,

at least with this issue, but maybe the story

in general so far again artwork aside It feels

like there's a lot of assumption going on. We

get the pit, but as a non -G .I. Joe fan, or

someone who has no background in G .I. Joe, where

this is supposed to be an introduction to these

characters. Where the hell's the explanation

of what the pit is? That's probably coming in

issue three. It's like all the characters in

here like already know what it is and we're there,

we're in it. And it's like, it just references

it as the pit. It's like, okay, I guess I got

to do some research on my end to figure out what

the pit is. I think it's more of it's a reference

to the place that was in the old cartoon or the

comics or whatever. Right. Now I've been reading,

like I said, I've been reading the Real American

Hero series as well. And the pit is also featured

in that. And I only know what that is because

again, it's featured in this series. And I kind

of, I mean, I kind of knew what it was coming

into it because you and I have discussed it a

little bit. But again, I never watched the original

GI Joe, at least not a whole bunch of episodes.

So yeah, it's essentially their headquarters.

That's all it is. It's just a code name. Right.

I would like more of an explanation for like,

oh, who are these characters? Like, stalker and

rock and roll. Like, okay, they're here, but

why should I know them? Well, and again, as much

as I will always say, and I've said for the last

11 years that I've been doing my own comic book

podcast over on GetCashRated .com called The

Pull Bag. It's one of those things where you

either have a lot of time. to explore things

that you're asking about, things that you want.

Like if you have a series that goes on for 50,

60 issues, you can fit so much story in those

50 or 60 issues. However, when you do something

like what Skybound is doing here with Duke and

with Cobra Commander, this is a five issue mini

series. Joshua Williamson has so much time and

so many areas to fit. Things into the writing

and tell the story that he wants to tell it's

limited space think of this as think of These

both of these miniseries I'll say this now because

I'm sure it'll come up when we talk about Cobra

commander think of these as a two -hour movie

two -hour movies Most of the time good writing

you can get a really damn good story Unless you're

planning on having you know a 15 or 16 year cinematic

universe and you know but like normally a regular

movie beginning middle and end for again like

I said two hours you know you can usually fit

everything in there that you need and who knows

maybe we will find out more and like I said issue

three four or five we don't know and that's the

cool thing about comics is because you're asking

these questions what if your questions get answered

in the next three issues at some point. I hope

so. Again, Duke number three is out. We're not

covering it here in this particular episode.

Not yet. We will. Yes, we will. Right. So I know

a little bit more of the story, but I'm still

just wondering, that's a three -fifths of the

way through, and I'm like, I don't know where

this is going or why I should even care. Right?

Because if we're assuming, that's what we've

been doing is assuming, and we know what that

means. But we're assuming that after these two

miniseries are done, Duke and Cobra Commander,

that there's potentially going to be some ongoing

G .I. Joe that is within the Energon universe.

Probably. And so far in reading both of these

series, it's just like, I don't know where any

of this is going or how it's going to relate

to anything in the grander scheme of things.

And that's the thing. This is the setup. There

is no to my knowledge and again, I don't work

for image. I don't work for Skybound I have yet

to I would love to interview the creators and

the and the the the the big wigs behind Skybound

and all that and everything else about Specifically

this GI Joe stuff more. So I would love to interview

any of them, but Transformers what rivals all

that but specifically to GI Joe Because they

are starting off slow and it's a slow burn, and

we can feel that it's a slow burn, I was not

uninterested in anything in this issue of this

comic at all. I think this issue specifically

moved well. It started off, okay, here's Clutch.

All right. Let's go. Where's Duke? Duke's over

here. Duke meets up with Clutch. Clutch has to

patch him up, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

We move through. We go through. We have the whole

thing with Hawk and everybody else. And by the

end, we get the reveal of the character that

we get the end of the reel of that we'll talk

about in a little bit when we get to the end

of this. But I think this is a solid issue, a

solid second issue that, especially after that

last page, is going to make any reader want to

come back for issue number three, especially

that last page. If you're a GI Joe fan at all,

you know that last page. So again, it's a slow

burn. And if they do end up doing a GI Joe ongoing,

great. Honestly, what I would love to see Skybound

do is stuff like this. So you got Cobra commander,

five issues. You got Duke five issues. Give us

a lady J and Baroness to issue five, two series,

five issues each. Do something like that to get

us to know a lot of people that never what like

you, you didn't watch much GI Joe. You were more

of a Transformers guy. I didn't even watch much

GI Joe as a kid. You know, so that's why I'm

loving this is because. I get to learn from a

whole new perspective, even though I have the

DVDs in my DVD thing. Right. So I don't know.

I feel like at this point, right. So again, we're

we're up to three, but we're only covering up

to two at this point. I feel like any character,

literally any character that's been featured

in these first two issues. is would be better

to follow than the Duke character that we are.

Everybody else seems far more interesting. I

want to learn more about Clutch. He seems like

a more interesting character to me. I mean, Duke

has always been that major military, yes sir,

no sir, yes ma 'am, no ma 'am. And he has stepped

up and done his job the way he's supposed to

do his job. I just wish, like you said, I wish

it... And like I said, it's kind of... a slow

burn between these first two issues i wish it

would speed up and i think probably because i

have not read issue three yet because like you

said we're waiting until we get to co -worker

would waiting look folks the way i've been doing

comics for years now is if you're doing a double

shot like this you do it issue two issue three

issue whatever and you you do the same you don't

Multiple number of up anyway. Well, I'll put

it to you this way. I have read it I'm not gonna

spoil anything right in my opinion. It doesn't

speed the story up. Oh, no And the problem with

that is right world. There's only two issues

left. So it doesn't speed up Like there's action

in it, but I feel like it doesn't really add

much to the story in my opinion Well, so yeah

Well with that said let's move on to a topic

number two, which is Cobra commander number two

by Joshua Williamson, Andrea Molana, and Elisa

Leone, and Russ Wooten. Yay, Russ! All right,

quick synopsis from ImageComics .com. After last

issue, shocking reveals, Cobra Commander searches

for a power greater than any the Earth has ever

seen. When this mission brings him face to face

with a fan favorite G .I. Joe faction, will they

be friend, foe, or something else entirely? And

again, my quick rundown. We open with two men

tied to chairs in a wooden building, blood covering

surgical tools laying on a tray. After refusing

to talk, one of the captors, aka the Dreadnox,

picks up a chainsaw and goes to town on one of

the captives. The Dreadnox untie the other and

take him outside where they wrap him in chain

and pull him behind their vehicle till he dies.

We cut the Cobra commander walking through the

Florida Everglades to find the energon signal

that he detected. With him is a human -looking

man that we learn is also from Cobra Law. The

two begin to fight amongst themselves, which

draws attention from a guard in the area. The

protector begins to approach the guard, who,

feeling threatened, begins to open fire. The

bullets appear to bounce off the protector, who

grabs the guard's hands and proceeds to headbutt

the guard while simultaneously ripping off his

arms, leaving the guard a bloody mess. Cobra

Commander, who was able to escape on his own

during the commotion, encounters a run -down

house in the swamp while looking for the energon

source. The Dreadnaughts return to find Cobra

Commander, and when threatened, Cobra Commander

opens fire on them, destroying their prized Thunder

Machine vehicle. As Cobra Commander escapes,

Zorana arrives on her motorcycle, proclaiming

they are late for a family meeting, and then

not to worry about Cobra Commander, as you will

never leave the swamp. The issue ends with Cobra

Commander finding the energon source but falls

into the water which is full of mutated gators

with glowing eyes. So what are your thoughts

on this issue? This, as we know from the first

issue, this is horrific. This is GI Joe meets

horror and it's really cool and the whole time

that... the whole time that... We see Cobra Commander

and we hear, I hear Chris Lada in my head. I

can't not hear Chris Lada in my head. At the

beginning, man, ooh boy, this is not your...

Do you think this is more violent than Transformers?

No. I mean, this is like human on human violence

as opposed to no violence. Yeah, violence is

still violence though. I mean... I mean Starscream

never used a chainsaw on somebody. Give him time.

But yeah, I would say it's about even right now,

just based off of this issue alone. I enjoyed

this. I thought it was fun. Yeah, I guess I don't

know about this. Like it was, I mean, fun, I

would say yes. I'm still unsure, like the whole

The whole Cobra Law thing, I'm still unsure of

what this is, where that falls into. It's part

of Earth, I guess, somewhere. It's like a different

realm, different dimension. What is it? I don't

know. Where is it? I don't know. But it's obviously

because he didn't leave the planet. He was still

on Earth. So Cobra Law is here somewhere. But

now he's just Cobra Commander walking amongst

people. He's in the Florida Everglades. And there's

there's some protector guy with him who is obviously

also from Cobra Law. And we get the was an entire

page where he's he's meeting. I forget what her

name was from the first issue. Oh, yes. The woman

from from Cobra Law, whatever her name is. And

she's obviously talking to the protector here,

whoever that guy happens to be. And there she's

like holding some monsters. The protector is.

I think no because she's saying that globulous

is sending Cobra commander out into the world.

That's right Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so this

protector guy. She's I don't again We don't know

who this protector is but she's putting this

mutated monster starfish on his face And somehow

that turns him into this human looking character

with superhuman strength That's able to rip off

this guy's arms and like smash his face into

nothing Yeah Like who is this guy now? Now we

have a completely different character and we

know even less about this guy who wasn't even

the main character in the series But clearly

we should we should care about him because they

introduced him. He just took out a human being

He's supposed to be there protecting Cobra commander.

It's like who is he? Oh Yeah, yeah that scene

just I don't know. It was weird. So you have

the two of them in the florida everglades and

they're doing what they're doing and then you

have that one page with that scene you just mentioned

and i'm like that's weird as far as what cobra

law is again going back to the old animated series

ancient civilization that once ruled the earth

but retreated to the height to a hideaway to

a hideaway in caves in the himalayas so it's

Cobra law is supposed to be located in the Himalayas

at least in the old cartoon I don't know where

it's gonna be located here, but okay. Yeah I

don't know but the guys like in addition to superhuman

strength like bullets also bounce off him. It's

like what is this thing? Yes, so then we cut

to Cobra commander who again is is found the

dreadlocks House or shanty or shack or whatever

you want to call it And then with inside there,

it's like another fucking house of horrors, right?

There's like a half a body hanging. There's like

an arm hanging and you see like ribs hanging

out there. There's just hanging there. It's like,

what the hell is going on here in the Everglades?

It's Florida, man. Don't ask questions. Just

go with it. Like, I mean, crazier shit has happened

in Florida than this. That's true, that's true.

You said you also did not watch much of G .I.

Joe growing up. You've got the series. You've

probably watched it, I imagine. No, that's the

thing. I haven't watched it yet. I bought it

on sale at Walmart a couple of years ago, and

it's been sitting in my DVD thing forever. So

in what you have seen or what you know about

G .I. Joe, in either just research or whatever,

do you know who the dreadlocks are? Yeah, they're

because I know we talked about it in the last

episode where we talked about Cobra Commander

number one because they were going to be featured

in this episode. I just know like if you had

any background about who these were or who the

woman is here at the end that rides in the motorcycle,

says her name is Zirana. And I don't know who

that is. Like I did look her up. and obviously

part of this group, but it's like, okay, now

we're introducing yet another character. It's

like, I don't know, like, who should I be paying

attention to in this series? At least with Transformers,

I will say this, right? So we know there's factions.

It introduces us to all of the characters. And

I feel like of the characters we've seen, whether

it be human or Transformers, I feel like, and

we did talk about this, I guess, in the last

episode where we're talking about the latest

issue of Transformers. I feel like we do get,

for the most part, a good sense of like who the,

what, I want to say here, a good sense of the

characterization of like each character that

is introduced to us in the issue. Whereas here,

it's just like, you're throwing characters at

us, and I feel like the same thing with Duke

a little bit. He keeps throwing characters at

us, and I don't really have any background or

knowledge on who any of them are. And maybe that's

the difference with Transformers because I do.

And I kind of bring, in addition to what's presented

in the comic, I'm kind of bringing with me, right,

the knowledge of kind of who they were in the,

in the Transformers cartoon. And maybe I'm just

bringing my own bias in with that. Well, yeah,

that's the thing. Like, again, we didn't really

talk, we didn't really, we kind of danced over

it. We kind of mentioned it. I think you mentioned

her name once at the end of issue two of Duke.

we see the Baroness is in the pit, and the pit

is the G .I. Joe headquarters. As far as the

Dregnox go, they're essentially a reprehensible

group of mercenaries, vandals, and thieves who

worked for both Zartan and Cobra over the years.

So they're essentially just a mercenary group

that isn't exactly tied to Cobra, but they've

worked with and for them before. Gotcha. Kind

of like, yeah. But yeah, I mean, that's the thing.

That's why I'm loving learning about this, because

the way I'm looking at Duke and Cobra Commander,

even though I know the Baroness's name, I know

Cobra Commander's name, we know all the names,

but whatever story that Joshua Williamson is

crafting between these two series, that's what

has me like, oh, I'm paying attention. What is

going on here? Because I don't have, nor do I

really think I should have to have the 40 years

of knowledge of GI Joe. Whereas transformers,

yeah, sure. Fine. Whatever. Like we know we love

it. Whatever. But this, this for me is a learning

experience and I love that. It's a learning experience.

Could I go in the other room and get my. giant

-ass DVD holder and bring out the cartoon and

watch a bunch of episodes between now and the

next time we record for issue three? Yeah, I

could. Am I going to? Probably not, because I've

got too much other stuff I gotta do. And number

two, I'm kind of enjoying going in fresh and

not knowing and learning and figuring out how

this comic specific... This is why I don't really

try to compare like other comics to like... You

take Mark Transformers Marvel US and IDW publishing

to very different continuities. You can make

some comparisons for characters, but the stories

are completely different kind of thing. So I

don't know. And that scene on the top of page

17, the bang, bang, bang where Cobra Commander's

firing his gun, that is an awesome image. I love

that. That is so cool. Pretty cool, yeah. Okay,

got two questions for you. So this ends with

Cobra Commander falling into the water. There's

obviously some sort of energy source down below,

because that's where we see a glow. But we also

see these mutated gator things with glowing eyes.

What do you think is going on there? Okay, I'm

gonna sound stupid when I say this, but... I

think they're Alicons, or they're going to be

Alicons, or somehow we're going to get Alicons

from Quintessa out of this. I don't really think

that's going to happen, but looking at this Gator

close up with the, like you said, with the glowing

eye, I'm like, ooh, an Alicon. That would be

really cool. Or it could be a Sharkticon reference.

Who knows? I don't know. But again, it's cool.

It's fun. So here's my second question. So Cobra

Commander number one, it ended with Megatron

being alive, right? So he was in Cobra Commander's

lab, in Cobra Law, presumably in the Himalayas,

right? At the end of Transformers number four,

we see Megatron encased in ice, missing his right

arm. We know the right arm holds the fusion cannon.

We know that presently in Transformers, whenever

that takes place, Optimus currently has Megatron's

arm attached to his own body. Within issue four,

where we see Megatron frozen in the ice, he has

his left arm intact, but it is also frozen in

ice. At the end of Cobra Commander number one,

we see Megatron fully functional, but no arms

whatsoever. I don't know. So I don't know which

I don't know which arm is gonna be which if he's

not gonna have any arms if he's gonna be our

I've no idea about so so we know Duke and Transformers

are occurring at the same time, right? When do

we think Cobra commander is occurring? That's

a good question because yeah, hmm, I would own

so if they are going to somehow and I don't know

how cuz It's there. I'm not attached to it, folks.

I'm just assuming. I'm making an ass out of myself

over here. Duke and Cobra Commander ended issue

five. Yep. Whatever. I'm not even looking up

any solicits right now or anything like that,

but I can if you want. It's one of those things

where since these are miniseries, they have to

have an end or they have to have Duke will return

in void rivals, and not that that would make

any damn sense, but our Duke will return in blah

blah blah. They have to make some sort of connection

somewhere. G .I. Joe has to go, G .I. Joe and

Cobra, have to go somewhere within this energon

universe, and we don't know where that is yet.

And again, that's why I'm loving this, because

I don't know, and I'm learning about it, and

yeah. I dunno. So I'm I'm wondering if if Transformers

and Duke are taking place at some point in the

past Mm -hmm and Cobra commander is taking place

at some point either, you know present day or

some point in the future Where he's already great.

He's already been able to he found Megatron in

the Himalayas. He's extracted Megatron He's got

him in his lab obviously got him functional.

He didn't seem to be functional at the end of

Transformers number four, frozen in the ice.

But we know in the first end of Cobra Commander

number one, he is functional, just minus his

other arm wherever that went. Maybe that got

stuck in the ice, couldn't get it out. Yeah,

so I'm wondering if this may converge at some

point in the near future. Maybe we reach the

end of the first story arc of Transformers, we

reach the end of Duke, we reach the end of Cobra

Commander and they all kind of line up. Maybe

I mean that without having a right now without

having a dedicated GI Joe title for the energon

universe that's problem unless they are creating

one again You the way and I say this not for

the listeners I say this more for you the way

comics work dude is They would this is why solicitations

are here like you get the May solicitations you

usually get them like back in December of the

previous like It's because they have to build

up this anticipation. They have to show you,

they have to tease you. And it's one of those

things where if they were going to create a GI

Joe title, we would have heard about it by now,

especially. on instagram because skybound is

all over which is great i love it i'm not complaining

skybound does stories on instagram all the time

talking about this stuff and i watch those every

single time because i may not remember what the

hell they said at this very moment as we're recording

this podcast but at the time i was like oh so

that's what they're doing that's cool it is what

it is I mean, we'll soon be back down to just

two series though, because Void Rivals starts

up again in just a few days, March 6th. Yep.

Transformers obviously is ongoing. Yep. But we've

only got two issues left to do, three issues

left to Cobra Commander, and then we're just

back down to two series again. And that's fine

for me, because as Skybound is... has this license

has these licenses now from Hasbro and they are

creating content and they are creating comics

and they're doing all this stuff. I want them

to take their time. I don't want them to rush.

This is why I said I would love to have more

GI Joe character mini series like this. This

is You will find out if you decide to go further

beyond the more than meets the eye and robots

in disguise in IDW. IDW did a bunch of character

spotlights where it's just single issues, a snapshot

of like Hot Rod, Megatron, blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah, insert whatever character here. I

think that's cool. I don't think we currently

need. full -on G .I. Joe comic I think we need

snapshots to get people in to get people to notice

it and people are noticing it obviously but that's

where I think they're gonna go is they're gonna

maybe potentially do more character spotlights

like this like these five issue miniseries with

Duke and Cobra commander and they're taking their

time you never want to rush these things well

I say they're certainly taking their time I hope

I would like to see an ongoing G .I. Joe series

that ties into the Centergen universe. I'm hoping

it doesn't just end... Yeah, no. Yeah, no, absolutely.

Do I want to see it? Yes, I agree with you. I

just don't want them to rush it. I don't want

them to get to the end of Duke and Cobra Commander

and say, oh my God, immediately we need a G .I.

Joe ongoing. Maybe we do. Maybe we don't. Maybe

what the, and again, the way comics work, maybe

by almost a free comic book day, which is in

May. So maybe by May of 2024, we will get an

announcement saying, Hey, GI Joe ongoing series

coming September, 2024. Cause again, that's how

comics usually work. It's usually months in advance

of when now actually is kind of thing when things

happen. So if we get a G yeah. That's what I

was going to ask you. Because these series are

going to end in May. That's when the free comic

book day is. I was going to ask if that made

sense to you. Like, OK, maybe the series is right.

Both the series end, and we're done for a bit.

And maybe in the fall, they'll look to relaunch

or launch a new series. Yeah. And that wouldn't.

surprise me if they did do that that's normally

most of the time what will happen in the good

thing is is as i said before on the previous

judge of so we did you can cater to two different

fan bases that draw the judge of fan base but

two different actions with inside the judge of

fan base you can care to the long time fans who

read the previous three hundred one or two or

three or four issues of larry hama you can't

do that Or you can cater to people like us who

are the new people who are coming into this fresh

energon universe stuff. And yes, I, we will eventually

at some point on your lovely podcast here do

the Larry Hama stuff. But again, I want to make

sure everyone remembers that is separate. So

if they had a new GI Joe ongoing starting in

let's say September, August, September, something

like that, that would be more than fine. Cause

you start that at the, you know, like you said,

the middle of the year, the end, not really the

end of the year, but like you said, fall, you

start that then, and then you have going into

the next year of whatever it's going to be. That's

if they do an ongoing, we don't know what, like

I haven't seen anything as far as like what their

actual plans are. Right. I mean, I got to imagine

there's going to be a third, cause I said they

would be running three at a time, right? Or no

more than three. I think so, yeah, something

like that. Something like that, yeah. Just as

a small teaser, I have been reading the Real

American Hero series. Artwork is phenomenal,

but the writing? Not so much, so. Oh, no. Yeah.

Well, again, we can talk about that in the future,

so. All right. So I think that wraps up Duke

and Cobra Commander. Again, as you're listening

to this, Void Rivals will be starting up, or

sorry, as we're recording this, Void Rivals will

be starting up in just three days three days.

So there's been a long break on that. So I'm

really looking forward to kind of jumping back

into that universe. Yeah, absolutely. By the

way, if you're if you want to know a letter section,

it is like, absolutely easy to read the American

hero series. It's like, it's like black text

on is like a, I don't know, like a light, a light

red, but the way books, it just like pops off

the page. No issues reading that at all. Yeah.

Same thing with the... That's what I love about

the G .I. Joe books is you can actually read

the letters page if you wanted to. Yeah. I'm

looking at Void Rivals and it's been a while

since I've looked at these books, but yeah. Well,

I guess the issue with Void Rivals is... So they

have sort of at least the issue, the last issue,

sort of the same color background. But the letters

themselves, they need to be black. They're just

like a darker version of whatever the background

is. Okay. So yeah, and looking at like the actual

letter itself, hard to read. The response is

bolded, easier to read. But yeah, the color combination

is not so great there. But a real American hero,

you can read that shit, man. There you go. All

right, so plugs. What do you got for plugs? I

honestly don't know what I'm plugging right now.

Is there no plugs? Hi. GeekCastRadio .com, we've

got 15 years, 16 years of content, over 3 ,000

episodes, probably over 4 ,000 at this point.

You need to go back and count them one by one,

man. What? One by one, just go back and count

them. Are you crazy? Hell no. Oh, what? You number

them. Oh, okay. Yeah, see, that's the thing.

That's why you number them, so you can... The

poll bag has five... Well, as of this recording...

As of this recording, it has 543 episodes. I

still have to edit episode 544 and 545. But yeah,

and most likely, this episode that we're talking

about here will be cross -broadened over there.

It's either going to be 546 or 547. So yeah,

and the pull bag is on the road to 600, so we're

an extra number of episodes away from that. I

did do a couple of new interviews over the last

couple of months. I talked with Lolita Ramonis,

Michael McQuishon, and Christopher Carter. They

are the dynamic music partners. They've done

a lot of the DC animated universe score stuff.

Christopher Carter did the Batman Beyond theme.

They've also worked on Teen Titans and other

musical things for both DC Marvel and other projects.

But I talked to them about the 25th anniversary

of Batman Beyond because they released the season

one score digitally last year. And then I talked

to a voice actor guy I've been trying to get

a hold of for the last four years, BZ Cullins.

Amazing dude. Really, really fun interviews.

So that's pretty much what I've been doing over

on geekcastradio .com. Well, while you're doing

all of that and more, you need to, and I know

you just mentioned this just a few minutes ago,

but you should try to secure an interview with

Daniel Warren Johnson. That'd be fantastic. Yes,

it would be. You're just watching his YouTube

stuff where he does either the commentary or

you actually get to watch him draw. Draw. He's

going to stop drawing after this next issue.

But he seems like a very, he'd be like a very

approachable type person. Just seems very easy

going. It seems like it'd be a really great interview.

Yeah, sure. Well, all right, my plugs. We have

a website, AnotherComicReview .com. So I don't

know how you're listening to this, probably through

some podcasting software, but check out AnotherComicReview

.com. You can check me out on YouTube. I'm at

YouTube .com slash Matrix underscore prime. And

you can find me on Blue Sky. You didn't promote

your Blue Sky, man. You can find me on Blue Sky

at Jesse, J -E -S -S -E. Early E -A -R -L -E

-Y dot B -S -K -Y dot social See, I don't see

like this is why I'm still on Twitter Because

at least I can say hey go to Twitter and look

up TFG1 Mike. That's all I gotta say I don't

need dot BlueSky dot blah blah blah blah blah

You can do that at BlueSky though. Just search

for TFG1 Mike. He's there There's not much content

there folks. It's probably the least content

on so like literally I just posted the other

day and this is funny because it's gonna tie

into into Transformers, my 800th Instagram, but

I've been on Instagram since 2019, and I just

did my eight, I'm up to 808 posts on Instagram.

My 800th post was I finally got the Funko Pop

Optimus Prime grail, which basically is just

a gold Optimus Prime with the matrix in his hands.

And I made that my 800th post on Instagram. All

right, then let's get out of here. It's after

eight o 'clock now. We've been recording for

over an hour. He's more of an old man than I

am, folks. Holy crap. Until next time. This is

Jesse signing off. This is Mike. See you later.

Hello Geeks and Geekettes, looking for a podcast

that covers a vast array of topics? Then check

out Altered Geek Unleashed, where we discuss

our thoughts on this week's geeky news, tech,

gaming, television shows, movies, cartoons, comics,

and more. So, get altered, get geeky with the

Altered Geeks, every Friday on the Geekcast Radio

Network. Cheers cast the podcast where everybody

knows your name Slide up to the bar alongside

Ryan Daly and a rotating cast of guest hosts

as they celebrate the long -running award -winning

television series one hilarious episode at a

time New episodes of Cheers cast drop every Thursday

part of the fire and water podcast network Because

the world needs another movie podcast. The GeekCast

Radio Network presents for your listening pleasure,

The Cinematic. Kevin, Matt, and Dan. Each week

we dive head first in the landscape of movies

as we discuss movie news, play movie games, go

in depth on reviews, and even have a top 10 countdown

or two. Also, don't miss our director retrospective

series where we review noted director's movies

film by film. Bottom line is, if you love movies

and love podcasts, you need to experience the

Cinema Geeks. You can find us on iTunes, Blog

.Radio, or GeekCastRadio .com. Hey Jared, I have

this idea for a new show for the network. Yeah,

what is it? You know how I liked the 1990s comic

book series, The New Warriors? Yes, yes, mm -hmm,

yep. And you know how at the Long Boss Crusade

we're trying to get the YouTube channel going?

Yes, yes, also correct. Well thanks, so... How

about you and me do a livestream show about the

new warriors? You've never read the books before

and I have them, so that's a great setup. We

could give it a catchy name like, Come Out to

Play. Don't you think that's the greatest idea?

Sure, sure, sure, Delvin, that's a great idea.

Just one question. Yeah? Why do you have me dangling

off this ledge holding me by only one arm? Oh,

yeah. Well, you'll get it soon. I hope Come out

to play a new warriors podcast comes to you live

on YouTube every second Tuesday of the month

at 8 p .m Eastern on the long box crusade channel

If you can't watch it there we replay them on

the long box crusade network podcast feed available

anywhere podcast can be found We invite you to

come along for the ride or in other words new

warriors Come out to play Hi everyone. I'm here

to tell you about the DC Comics News podcast.

Here every week to talk everything DC. Movies,

TV, comics, and everything in between. But don't

just take my word for it. Here are a couple of

our sponsors. Listen to the DC Comics News podcast.

It's audio justice. No, no, no. It's audio chaos.

These wackos are crazier than I am. Or maybe

you're both right. Regardless, you can catch

us on every kind of podcast platform. Apple podcasts,

Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, and everywhere

you find great podcasts. So, um, can I go now?

Let him go. He did everything you asked. No.

The Last Comic Shop Podcast. A comic book podcast

that actually talks about comics. Yep. Each week

we open the shop up and read and discuss a comic.

Sometimes we pair that up with comic book movies

or TV shows. We're not. Lots of times it's just

comic books and sound effects. Oh yes. Definitely

lots of sound effects. So check out all the major

podcasts and platforms. The Last Comic Shop Podcast

or check out our library of evergreen shows at

www .lastcomicshoppodcast .com. Like science

fiction? Of course you do, or you wouldn't be

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. Well,

the Markhu42's universe podcast is an award -winning

sci -fi radio show that's been around for over

10 years. We cover everything from Doctor Who

to the MCU to pop culture and everything in between.

A new show drops on Tuesday mornings on the GCRN

website and all of the major podcast platforms.

So listen to the Marku42's universe podcast from

the universe and beyond. On the simplistic reviews

podcast, we talk movies. We talk TV. We talk.

Hello, Julie, what the heck are you doing? Trying

to make our spot sound more exciting by adding

explosions. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could have

got the point across with sound effects, not

the real thing. I'm sure your insurance company

will cover that. No they won't. No they probably

won't. Hello and welcome to another comic review.

My name is Jesse, and as always, I am joined

by TFG1 Mike from GeekCastRadio .com. Hello,

hello, hello. Today is a double shot. We are

talking about Duke and Cobra Commander number

three. We're going to kick things off with Duke

number three by Joshua Williamson, Tom Riley,

and Jordy Belair, I believe is how you say it

today. Yep. Quick synopsis from ImageComics .com.

Duke's search for answers has led him to a classified

holding site for America's most dangerous prisoners.

Now he's the most wanted man in the world. Unfortunately,

everyone seems to prefer him dead over alive.

And by the way, Google Docs does not like that

grammar. And then my quick rundown, we open at

Mars Industries where Destro indicates to someone

named Major Bud that Duke is still alive and

because of the device given to him by Dr. Burkhart,

they are able to track him. Back at the pit,

Stalker and Rock and Roll will contact Colonel

Hawk to give an update on Duke who is now being

held in a prison cell on site. Down in the prison,

Duke and Clutch meet the Baroness who is also

being held prisoner. Major Bud and his men lead

an attack on the pit looking to take out Duke.

Needing additional help, Rock and Roll arrives

at the prison to release Clutch and Duke, but

takes the brunt of a massive explosion. Okay,

I'm sorry. The whole time you're reading your

synopsis, I'm like it's major blood not bud Are

you sure that's what this is? Yes, I'm absolutely

I know I'm not that far into the GI Joe world,

but I've known it's been major blood B -L -U

-U -D for 40 plus years I'm telling you it's

major blood Major bud sounds like something from

married with children or something. All right,

let me check it Oh, you're right. I completely

I told you. I'm like Major Bud. Who's Major Bud?

I'll tell you why I thought it was Bud. Because

when I'm reading this, so I think I mentioned

this in one of the previous episodes and that

or at least you and I were like, I need to wear

glasses, but I don't and I have stigma and one

eye. So when I look at this, to me, it just looks

like it says Major Bud until I zoom in. Alright,

so major blood. Well, before anyone comes after

you, you know, I figure I go after you first.

This is how little I know about G .I. Joe, by

the way. And the sad thing is, I don't know,

again, like we've said in the previous episodes

that we've done with this, this is kind of my

first foray, really. I mean, yes, I've known

about the Sunbow series and I didn't watch the

Deek series all too much. I watched Resolute

in 2010. So I know the characters. I've seen

the first live action movie. I didn't watch the

second. one. So I know the characters and I know

the characters names and all that stuff. I just

don't know the story that Mr. Williamson and

everybody's going to be telling in here. But

yeah, Duke number three. I like this. This was

fun. I suppose Major Bud is going to lead the

attack on the pit on 420. Probably. Yeah. So

you thought it was fun. I guess what do you think

about it was fun? Well, so what I thought was

fun was like we so we on the on the previous

issue, we get the the surprise of the fact that

the Baroness is in the pit. And then we get this

amazing cover for issue three with her on the

front. And it's just one of those like, is she

good? Is she evil? Is she whatever? What is she

doing? And it's more of Duke's plan, not really

his plan, but it's more of his adventure of trying

to figure out what's going on. Why does the government

have these alien things or why are they working

with these alien things even though we don't

know what the alien things are yet? And then

it turns into an escape plan. It basically turns

into Duke not wanting to escape. He's not a criminal.

He's not trying to go against America. He's not,

he's trying to find out what is going on and

why people are lying to him. But yet it nabs

him in jail. And then we have like, like we said,

major blood and bareness and everything else.

And she keeps trying to convince him to break

out, break out. And he's like, no. And then somebody

comes in, major blood comes in and does all the

stuff that he does. Um, I thought it was a fun

middle part of the story of the five issue story.

Uh, and that's something else we'll talk about.

When we live in the middle and we get to go commander,

okay. Yeah I guess I guess my thoughts here.

So Again, I have not been shy about the fact

that I'm not a big fan of this Duke series But

I guess of the three issues. I think maybe I

find this one the most interesting or intriguing

yeah, and I think that's only because Only because

the Baroness is there and it's like, oh, you

know, she obviously wants help from Duke to get

out of the cell. There's probably just a play

to get out of the cell. And then here at the

end, right, it's almost like, yeah, I'm going

to help you. But oh, wait, no, there's a double

cross, right? You got a bounty on your head.

I could use this money. And then it says right

in the last page here, next issue is escape the

pit. So it's like, OK. Obviously, and then we're

looking at the preview of issue number four here.

It looks like they're all escaping together,

so maybe it's not a double cross after all. Maybe

the cover is just to kind of throw us off the

track. I don't know, but. Yeah, I guess now that

I know this his name is major blood Major bud

the introduction to this character though just

sort of seemed like a waste right because he's

introduced the beginning we get really no backstory

at all He attacks the pit and then he's gone

Yeah, but okay. All right, we're gonna get into

this now. So all right We'll get into this and

cover commander tube. So what you just said this

is a This is not an ongoing series. This is not

something that starts at issue one and goes to

issue 1 ,000 like Marvel has or like DC has or

whatever. This is a self -contained story that

has characters in it that introduces you to them,

that basically teases you with them. There is

no way that the best of the best of the best

comic book writer could throw in every backstory

of every character in every one of these five

issues. What they are playing upon, what Skybound

in general, I think, is playing upon with these

single issue series or these five -part mini

-series type things. Number one, G .I. Joe started

out as a five -part mini -series in the 80s,

the original cartoon did. So that's kind of homaging

the five issue mini -series with the characters.

That's kind of homaging that. Number two, like

I said, it's Duke's story or it's Duke's comic

and it has all these other characters in it.

So you're trying to figure out what the thing

with Duke is. And of course they're going to

dangle in front of us. Will he die? Won't he

die? Do you want him to die? Do you not want

him to die? Call this 900 num - Oh wait, that

was Jason Todd. But anyway, the point is, is

that - You're not going to be able to get all

this character development into a single issue,

let alone a five issue mini series. You're just

not, not for every single character. They are

playing on the fact of the fact that it's been

41 years. Yeah. 83, 40, 41, 42 years for GI Joe.

And that people know something just even me,

I know a little tiny bit about it. Like, so that's

yeah. So they're not going to give you. Major

bloods backstory in they may in a future miniseries

that called major blood who knows Major buds

backstory. He found weed one day. He started

smoking next thing, you know, he's dead Yeah,

special special single -issue release on 420.

Yep. Yep I mean even still right the the backstory

of The Transformers and Cybertron within the

Transformers series. It was like a page Like

we couldn't get this, the one page with Major

Blood sitting there holding the wine, wine glass

with the gun, his leg crossed. Like we couldn't

get like that page broken up into a couple of

panels and maybe a little bit of backstory on

who he is. No, not really. It's like, why do

I care about this character at all? OK, you may

care about him in the future, but that's not

the point. He's dead. Okay. Well, he's dead.

Yes. Fine. If he had stayed alive, you might

care about him in the future. But the point is,

is that this is not, we're at the third part

of a five -part story. This is the middle. This

is the, here, let's give you a little bit of

something before we go all big and get to the

finale of what, cause issues four and five of

both of these series. Duke and Cobra Commander,

they are going to be explosive. They are going

to throw out all the stops. I guarantee you they

will. But it has to be a slow build up to get

to that climax. What? Excuse me, I hope you I

hope you're correct. Because my biggest complaint

with this issue is like nothing much change from

the beginning to the end, which as we get to

cover commander, I'll have the same complaint.

It's like right where we started in the pit,

we're ending in the pit and Other than this major

blood being dead and them out of the prison cell.

I don't know how we advanced the story at all.

Okay. So how you advanced the story is basically

that cliffhanger. And like we said, where we

saw, you know, where we see the covered issue

four of Duke, where it's everybody's escaping

that you don't know. Again, we don't know what

Baroness, like you said, she Oh, by the way,

there's a price on your head and I need that

money blah blah blah, but she's not actually

shooting him in this final panel She's just pulling

the gun on him while everybody else in the background

is fighting each other and Duke is just kind

of either standing there on the ground or I don't

know where like I think he's just standing yeah,

he's Somehow some way whatever but yeah major

blood is dead Duke is not yet anyway because

that's always the thing with GI Joe will Duke

die or not die, like I said before. So it again,

it leaves you on a cliffhanger and it leaves

you on, oh, come back next month to see what

happens. Yeah, I'm just not sure that I'm not

sure that the cliffhanger is enough to word,

hey, I need to come back to see what happens.

It's just like, I feel like we went through however

many pages this is 20 some pages, I'm going to

assume. And it's like I Do not feel like it's

advanced the Duke story, right? We're three issues

into the comic and it's like I don't know where

it's going We only have two left. Yeah, and by

the time we get to that it's I feel like all

we're gonna learn is oh The government's now

recognizing that we've got transformers. I feel

like that's the that's what the ultimate conclusion

is gonna be right he's fighting he's essentially

fighting with the government here because He

believes these things exist. He knows what he

saw governments denying that and I think by the

end, they're gonna have to come, I guess, come

through and say, hey, yeah, they do exist, or

they're not, and Duke's gonna be on his own.

I just feel like the miniseries isn't really

going much of anywhere. We're not really learning

much of anything. And if we're not getting an

ongoing G .I. Joe series once this is over, which

we know we're moving on to other miniseries,

I guess I don't know what... what we ultimately

get out of the Duke character by the time we're

done with the miniseries. Well, we won't know

until the end, but I think what we are getting

is we are getting his characterization of he

wants to do the right thing. He wants to serve

the military. He wants to be the American hero

that he is, except the government is doing shady

things like... real government kind of does sometimes,

you know, and all that and everything else. So,

you know, and I mean, but like, when I think

of Duke in GI Joe, again, I know very little

about GI Joe, obviously, right, major bud. Right.

Look, I don't think of him as anything else.

Like, I think I would always see him as that

character of, I guess, is like the what a GI

Joe character should be. He seems like the leader.

I wouldn't expect him to go against the government,

go against the other Joes. He just seems like

the stand -up type of G .I. Joe character I would

assume he would be. That's what he's supposed

to be, but yet what he's doing in trying to find

out what is going on with this transformative

conspiracy is that, oh my God, they're assuming

he's going rogue, which he isn't. And the other

Joe's that are with him. Oh God, who's with him

in this? I forget. What's the guy's name? Stalker,

rock and roll. Yeah. Oh yeah. Clutch. All of

those guys, they're with him. They're absolutely

with him. They're on his side. They, you know,

they're just, it's, I'm trying to think of how

to word this. It's GI Joe, but without the government

version of like, it's, it, I don't know. It's

really weird, but it's a thing of. He wants to

do the best he can for his country and he's doing

that and there isn't a lot of time like again

We have seen in these three issues. We've had

so many things go on Where it's again, like I

said a slow buildup. There is no real Character

building for Duke because again falling under

the assumption that these comics are these comics

are for us or for our kid peep adults of our

age who grew up with GI Joe. These are not for

kids today. These are not for kids to learn about

this stuff or anything like that. These are for

those of us who have been in the in the geekdom

for four decades. And not everyone has this like

you and I, I have a little bit more experience

with it than you do. And you have a little less

than I do, whatever. It's not for everybody.

I'm sure I could get one of the what's on Joe

mine podcast guys on here and they'll tell me

things that I don't even know kind of thing.

But the way that this is going is that they're

giving us a story. They're introducing other

characters that we kind of know sort of, and

It's going from there. What I will say though,

on the art, Starscream looks great in the flashback.

Not flashback, but in Duke's mind, that's amazing.

I love that Starscream image on page 11. That's

cool. But yeah, no. And like I said, next issue

is going to be the full on real escape of the

pit and then issue five, who knows. Again, we're

three issues in. I feel like this story is going

as fast as molasses here, so I'm hoping it's

going to pick up here. If it doesn't by issue

four, by the next issue, which I guess is coming

out here, I think next week. Yeah, it's March

27th. I don't know that I could recommend this

because if you got to wait till the fifth issue

to see. Kind of any story pick up. I don't know

that it's a series I would recommend so Before

we move on though. I do have to I do have to

give one complaint about Duke number three The

lettuce column is great works fine. I can read

it I can see it whatever the the the black and

gray on the white background is fine except in

my digital issue on page 22 I see the Duke logo

from cover four or issue, whatever number that's

supposed to be. And then on page 23, right before

the ads, I see the Duke logo with Joshua Williamson's

name and the artist, Tom Riley. I'm like, it's

like covering up. I'll send you a screenshot

of this. I don't know if you see this. I got

it. Yeah. Okay. You got, okay. I'm like, how

the hell did you guys screw that up? I was just

gonna say that seems like a potential layers

issue. I don't know if the actual physical comic

has this as well, but to me, just looking at

it, it looks like a potential layers issue. Obviously,

I don't think it should be there. Yeah, right.

No, it shouldn't be there. I think it's a mistake,

and I'm not trying to fully call them out, but

it seems like so far in Skybound's history with

these comics, we have an issue with the letters

column almost every time. And look, I'm the biggest

fan in the world of comic... Writers artists

letters editors everybody and I'm not trying

to throw Russ Wooten under the bus at all Like

you said you think it's more of a layering issue

Maybe it was a a print thing and like you said,

we don't know I don't know if it's in the physical

comic, but I just Because I almost kind of wanted

to like for the first time I was like, Oh, I

kind of want to read the letter section to see

what people are saying. And then I see this,

this first thing with the little left hand thing

and I say, I can't read that. Okay. Next book,

please. Yeah. Was odd is, um, I mean, more I

look at it, it might be more than just the layers

issue. I don't know what happened because like

you said, the, so like the, the sky bound logo,

then it's got Duke on top of the EU. Set the

image down below, and then it's got the price

down below there. On that first page where that

starts, and then if you go to the next page,

the color of that changes. This obviously looks

like it's from two different issues they were

working on. Then that second one, like you said,

we've got that Duke title in the background,

which is green, and then it's got the credits

at the top. So I think what they were trying

to do was, and I think they did do this if I'm

sure, I actually already moved on to only look

here. Do they have the, yeah, see? So, okay.

So it's page 23 of 30 is the, is where the Duke

and the, and the full logo is. And then you go

to page 26, that is the cover image for issue

four. That so basically it bled over into the

letters somehow. I don't know how though I again,

I know nothing about publishing I know nothing

about putting digital PDFs together or anything

like that I have no idea but it just like it

It's like it fast -forwarded itself before I

could get to the it's like we want you to see

part of the cover now It's like no that's more

of a mistake than anything else and again I'm

not trying to throw full shade on these people,

but how do you make that mistake? How does that

happen and you don't fix it or you don't offer

a way to fix it? Like you said, that first page

there that doesn't have the Duke logo, it looks

like, as you said, it's from issue four. It's

from issue four. And then the next one is actually

also from issue four, but it's from the variant

covers. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know either.

It's weird. But yes, we can actually read the

letters section, which is nice. Minus that that

that issue. But yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I don't

know. All right. So Cobra Commander number three.

All right. All right. So moving on to Cobra Commander

number three by Joshua Williamson, Andrea Molina

and Andrea. And again, Russ Wooten, our favorite.

Quick synopsis from ImageComics .com. What is

the secret of Energon? Cobra Commander isn't

the only one looking to harness the alien energy

source known as Energon. That means he has to

either take control of the new organization he's

encountered or destroy them. My quick rundown.

I can sum it up really quickly. Nothing happens.

So we begin in the Florida Everglades with the

Protector looking for Cobra Commander who is

now deep in the water fighting off mutated alligators

after falling into the end of last issue. One

of the Dreadnocks seemingly finds him and takes

him prisoner, not sure how that worked. The Dreadnocks

arrive at a local bar and Zorana gives a speech

about the energon cube they are in possession

of and the Cobra Commander has been seeking.

Wanting to sell it to the highest bidder, she

tells the rest of the gang that someone has been

snooping around trying to find it as Xandar busts

in with Cobra Commander wrapped in chains. The

Dreadnocks attempt to remove Cobra Commander's

mask, but are electrocuted by self -defense systems.

Pissing them off further, the Dreadnocks begin

to torture Cobra Commander, but fail to break

him. Between torture sessions, Cobra Commander

tries to play the Dreadnocks against each other,

which results in infighting between the group.

The Protector tracks down Cobra Commander and

the Dreadnoughts attempt to kill him, but the

Protector rips off his skin and clothing to reveal

his true form, a giant -winged humanoid creature.

We close with the creature seemingly taking out

the Dreadnoughts while Cobra Commander stands

and watches with eyes and a smile painted on

his mask with his own blood. Thoughts in review?

Who is that croak? See, this is where my G .I.

Joe incompetence comes in. That was a question

I was going to have. Does that character actually

have a name? Like is that a known character?

That's what I don't know and I'm gonna have to

find out. So I listened to your quick hits of

this and again I will say it's the middle of

the thing. It's the middle part of the story.

It's the thing of not fully slowed down but We

need to see how Cobra Commander reacts or acts

in a situation where he is captured. He doesn't

say a damn thing to them. They electrocute him.

They do this to him. They do that to him. They

try to do something stupid and goofy from the

dark night where they paint the Joker face on

it. Like, Oh God, don't do that. Torture him.

Fine. Go ahead. Whatever. Don't paint his own

blood on his helmet. That's just dumb. But what

that serves to do is to show you that he's not

going to break and then we see How he will break

them and how he breaks them is he put he like

you said he pits them against each other so it

shows one of a gene what kind of a genius he

is and Apparently the dreadlocks are all dumb.

Well, apparently they're all dead by the end

of this issues Apparently, yeah, I would assume

so. Yes, I got into a I won't say a fight because

it wasn't a fight, but I'll issue a bit of a

discussion with someone online about Cobra Commander

himself in this particular issue in that I said

that essentially, again, kind of like what I'm

going to say here, in my opinion, nothing really

happened in this issue, in my opinion. The person

I was talking with said that, oh, no, this is

showing how strong Cobra Commander is. right,

essentially like right why he becomes the leader

for Cobra and I'm like Does it show strength

in here? Sure. He didn't break but again, he's

got a protector essentially like a bodyguard

He apparently has I don't think he's generating

this like this electrocution That's electrocuting

the people trying to torture him. It seems to

be like something that's like Auto initiated

self -defense that or he got the power of electric

eels. I don't know Um, but yeah, he doesn't,

in my opinion, it doesn't show him being strong.

It's just, okay, I can take the torture, but

in the end, he's not really doing anything. Sure.

He's true. He's playing mind games and trying

to manipulate, manipulate, manipulate the dread

knocks. Yeah. But, uh, does that show strength?

It's just cunning. It shows, like I said, it

shows what kind of a genius he is. I don't think

he has to show us again. Third issue. middle

of the road here, not middle of the road as in

bad, but middle of the road as in you don't want

to see everything he can do just yet. And plus

he still has the Joker face, like wipe the blood

off your helmet, dude. Uh, as far as the character,

as far as his body guard, I don't know if, I

don't remember if it says it in the comic and

I'm not zooming in. I'm over on League of League

of Comic geeks or whatever as I was looking to

see what the name of the character was the bat

guy because at first I thought it was a bat trooper,

but it isn't it's not it's a nemesis enforcer

is The guy that turns into the giant bat And

basically kills everybody. So Yes, he has a bodyguard,

but he doesn't need a bodyguard. No, that's the

that's the point is that Cobra law gave him a

bodyguard because Cobra law doesn't trust Cobra

commander To do what they want him to do. Whereas

he might go do his own thing And then so that's

the thing with the fact that he has a bodyguard

isn't that he needs one He doesn't need one.

Like if he needed a bodyguard, then he wouldn't

have survived that torture if he needed somebody

to save him He would not have survived that torture

I guess but we agree. He's not even he's not

even human. We don't even know what he is at

this point. So Maybe yeah, he would have survived

the torture. Anyways, I don't know I Don't know.

I'm just trying to explain Hopefully to wise

to why the nemesis enforcer is there. That's

all I'm trying to do In my opinion really the

only the only thing this issue accomplished was

just taking out the dreadlocks, which we've been

following I guess they were first talked about

at the end of issue one, we saw them in issue

two, we see them again here in issue three. So

they're taken out after two issues. Now it's

just like, okay, well, they're gone now. I thought

they were like an important part of GI Joe and

that they kind of helped out with Cobra when

needed. But apparently, they're just wiped out

now. Don't need them. Just like major bud. So

I don't know, we don't find anything else out

about the alligators other than There's obviously

Energon involved there, Dreadnox are gone, and

Cobra Commander is now free just like he was

at the beginning of this issue. Yeah. Pretty

much. So to answer your question from a couple

days ago, I'm trying to recall what it was. What

was my favorite between the two, or what was

my least favorite between the two? No, what I

was trying to ask you was which was your... Because

I wanted to see which one we wanted to... My

thought was the way that we were going to do

this was... Since you didn't like Cobra Commander,

like so much two days ago, as of this recording,

I was like, ooh, we start with the bad stuff

and then we go to the good stuff. Cause I liked,

I like, I like them both, but I liked Duke more

this time. Like Cobra Commander, again, like

I said, it's the middle of the story. Okay. That's

cool. I'm not the biggest fan of torture scenes.

I can, like you said in your, in your quick hits,

you can handle them fine. Whatever. It's not

my biggest fan thing, but I think Duke is the

more interesting of these two issues. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I specifically called out the fact that

I think it's torture porn and it's like, I don't

know that we needed that again. I, it doesn't

bother me. I just don't know that we needed it

here within the story. And yeah, I don't, I don't

like the fact that we trying to make him into

the joker here. What's with the face? on his

mask. We didn't need that. It looks stupid here

at the end where we see the enforcer guy, I guess

his name is, taking out the dreadlocks. Yeah,

the nemesis enforcer. Yeah. Honestly, the best

shot in the Cobra Commander comic this week,

this time around for me, is in the bar. when

I can zoom in and see a nice square glowing energon

cube, because that's cool as hell. Yeah, yeah.

So it's like, where did that come from? Right.

It's like, I've the energon right energon just

isn't in energon cubes it has to be put within

the cube based on what i know for energon so

it's like okay well where did that come from

who created that why do these people have it

how did they find it like i'm more interested

in that than knowing anything about cobra commander

at this point yeah so yeah again i don't of the

two this was my least favorite and i think it's

uh i think Prior to this issue, I was going to

say Cobra Commander was probably my favorite

of these two miniseries. That's probably putting

it lightly, but it's probably my favorite of

the two. But I think after this issue, I've got

to go with Duke at this point. I don't know that

I like this Cobra Commander series at all. I

think issue three ruined it for me. Oh, no. Well.

uh we gotta finish this we can't start this and

not finish it so i'm gonna finish it but i'm

just wondering like i don't know how this bodes

for the upcoming mini series of like scarlet

industrial right it's like if i'm having an issue

getting through these two like what am i going

to do when i get to those two yeah so you had

already done a quick hits on this i sadly missed

out on that one but i will mention they're doing

scarlet and destro What I think they are doing

with these mini -series, and I know Image Comics

and Skybound Entertainment, they are not IDW

publishing. That's fine. They're two very different

companies. But what I think they're doing, like

I said earlier in the episode, number one, they're

homaging the fact that G .I. Joe, the animated

series, initially started out as a five -episode

mini -series, like all most 80s cartoons did.

But what I think they're doing is they're trying

to give us character -based stories. around characters

that might be in a future G .I. Joe ongoing.

Because if Skybound has the license for however

long they're going to have it, Hasbro wants to

see them not only prove themselves, but wants

to see them do something more than just these

miniseries with G .I. Joe specifically. Transformers

is already an ongoing. It's already been whatever.

There's already been multiple printings. There's

always whatever. We know Transformers is going

to be around for a while, but with this GI Joe

stuff with the comics with Skybound, they are

testing the waters and giving us little glimpses.

And as someone who has been doing comics reading

for the last 11 and a half years, I love that.

I don't need to get I don't need my comics to

wham bam thank me ma 'am. I just don't need that

most of the time. Sometimes it's good, sometimes

it's bad. But these five issue miniseries, you

have to plot, you have to pace the story. And

that's why sometimes you have these. That's what

I said to you in one of our very first episodes

that we did, was that the balance of the action

and the story. Sometimes there's an action issue,

sometimes there's a story issue. And then these

two series here between Duke and Cobra Commander,

issue three was the story issue, even though

not much really happened. Some stuff did. The

introduction of Major Blood, the fact that Baroness,

we don't know what she's doing. We don't know

what her motives are whatsoever, other than the

fact of it looks like she's going to double -cross

Duke at the end of this, but who knows? She could

dye her hair blonde and they could get married.

Oh wait, that was the old movie. My counterpoint

to that though would be if we look at the first

Transformers story arc, right? So that was six

issues. I think technically based on our last

recording that probably could have been done

in five issues, right? Probably could have crammed

that together if we removed the constructicons,

right? I don't think there's one issue there

where it's like, oh my God, why is this so slow?

It just seems like it picks up and it just keeps

going. If we looked at that series as like, okay,

it's just like a six issue miniseries, or like

I said, if we remove one and just say it's a

five issue, I don't think anything there is comparable

to what we've got here where it's like, okay,

this is like slowly dragging on to the end. It

just picks up and it just keeps going. It kind

of kicks off and there's just like going super

slow. And the story ends after five issues, whereas

transformers just keeps going. That's like, I

don't, I guess I don't get the thought process.

I don't, I don't, I don't think, I mean, I don't

know. Cause I don't have issue five yet. Cause

it doesn't come out until whenever it's going

to come out. Uh, issue five of Duke is next week,

March issue, issue four, I should say. Uh, and

then, uh, Cobra commander's April 17th. Uh, So

issue five is probably going to be May, both

in May, maybe, maybe they'll do that. I don't

know. Uh, but the thing about the five issue

mini series is who knows, maybe instead of putting

the end at each of these, maybe they'll put to

be continued in GI Joe number one or whatever.

We don't know yet what's going to happen. And

I kind of like that. We don't know what's going

like. I like being on this G .I. Joe journey

and learning about these characters individually

and really quickly before we move too far away

from it, I will say I'm interested in Scarlet

and Destro to see what happens with them. I am

most interested to see what the Scarlet is, what

the Scarlet mini -series is going to do because

as it says here in Skybound's little press release,

Red Hot Rider. writer, Kelly Thompson from Black

Widow, Birds of Prey, Gem of the Holograms, et

cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And artists Marco

Ferrari from Frontiersman introduced some of

the most anticipated characters to the Energon

universe in ways you'll never expect in Scarlet

Number One, launching June 5th, 2024. I've interviewed

Kelly a couple of times. I've had her on several

podcasts over the years. She's an amazing person.

She is a great writer. So I am. I'm all on board

for that. As far as Destro, I have no clue, but

I'm excited to find out because I've never heard

of Dan Waters. I'll have to look him up. Oh,

low key universal monsters. No wonder I've never

read any of his stuff because he writes stuff

that I don't really pay attention to. No offense,

Dan. But but yeah, no, I'm I'm just kind of excited

for the slow ride here just to just having fun

with it. Well, so looking ahead here to Duke

and Cobra Commander four and five. Yes. So yeah,

so the the little synopsis here for Duke number

four, Duke is close to discovering the truth

about the alien robots that have landed on Earth.

But who or what is Mars? And then looking at

Duke number five, it says Duke has been betrayed

by his allies and hunted by new enemies. The

time has come for Duke to start fighting for

something bigger than his country. bigger than

he could have ever, bigger than he could have

ever imagined to get ready for the last page

shocker that no one will see coming. The last

page shocker that no one will see coming. Hint,

Duke is going to die. If we look at Cobra Commander,

so number four says Cobra Commander has found

a new ally, willing or not, that may just make

him unstoppable, unless of course someone is

one step ahead of him. then closing it out it

says mini -series finale the rise of Cobra commander

to build an army Cobra commander makes a deal

with a powerful ally that can't be trusted now

that it started can the Cobra threat ever be

stopped so Translation folks get ready for the

translation here. It's Megatron It has to be

Megatron because if you look at some of the variant,

if you look at one of the variant covers for

issue four, I didn't look at the variants for

issue five, but on image comics, his website,

it's Cobra commander holding energon cubes. Like

he's pulling them off. No, it's not. It's straight

energon. It's an energon crystal. So I don't

know where he is in this. I don't think that's

the Florida Everglades. I'm pretty sure it's

not, but. But yeah, and then my favorite cover

alternate cover for Duke number four is the one

where he's hanging upside down and Baroness is

in front of him and her reflection is in the

knife. That's amazing. Yeah, that's that's pretty

good. Pretty good over there. So yeah, but looking

at Cobra Commander number five, the the cover

art here shows him standing in front of a Cobra

army. Yep. So and that's the only cover we get

so far. Like, if that's where this series ends,

I feel like everything leading up to that does

not warrant him controlling an army by the end

of this. Like, that's just the leaps taken there

to say, hey, I'm this, I'm this whatever creature,

right? Because obviously it's humanoid, but they're

not humans based on what I can tell. Like living

up in the Himalayas, I got a snake on my face.

I go from that. Now I'm leading this army that

or this terrorist organization with this giant

army that could potentially take over the world.

Yeah, I don't know that I buy that. Well, we

don't know what's going to happen yet. So let's

just. But there's only two issues left. That's

fine. Dude, it's fine. There have been other

in the 100 years of comic books, there have been

other miniseries that have wrapped up or done

it again, like I said. Even though that says

mini -series finale, just because it's the mini

-series finale doesn't mean at the end of that

it's going to say either the end or to be continued

in GI Joe number one or Cobra number one or whatever

they're going to do. So we don't know and we

won't know until they come out. Well, I mean,

regardless, getting to that point after five

issues, they could wrap up the story, but getting

to that point after five issues, I don't think

it justifies it. All right, so closing this out,

final thoughts. Are you looking forward to the

end of these series then? Yeah, I don't know

if it's just because it's Baroness in there now,

but I'm looking forward to Duke more than I was.

Cobra Commander, I'm really looking forward to

see what happens if Megatron comes back alive,

if whatever kind of thing. But yeah, no, I'm

kind of on board now. By the end of issue two

of Duke, I was like... Other than the other than

the cliffhanger, that whole second issue of Duke,

I was like, OK, I'm kind of done with this. I'll

continue on because I want to finish this stuff.

But after issue three, I was like, oh, cool.

That's good. Nice. Yeah. I mean, it at least

had action, whereas with Cobra Commander, sure,

there was torture. I suppose you can classify

that as action. But I feel like the story just

didn't go anywhere. So yeah, I'm. Again, I'm

sticking with it because we started this. I want

to see where it goes. If we're covering the Energon

universe here, I'm just I'm not having high hopes

for for Cobra. But if Megatron pops up, hey,

I'll be interested in kind of seeing where that

goes. Yeah, absolutely. Alright, Plugs, what

do you got? Plugs, oh boy, let's see, what do

we have over at GeekCastRadio .com? We're continuing

on with these 12 months of Star Wars series where

we're going through all the movies and all the

other stuff with Star Wars with my buddy Dave

Draper and I. We've got the video game Origins

up and running now, so that's 30 questions all

about playing video games. If anyone wants to

stop on by with that, just let me know. I'm on

Twitter at TF2 and Mike. Uh, we released an episode

reviewing Ford versus Ferrari. Obviously we've

got, I finally put up the void rivals episode

from us, uh, and all that. And then we've got,

uh, for altered geek, we've got Hollywood go

home. Nobody's watching the new stuff and the

state of video games in 2024. Uh, all of that

over on geekcastrio .com. We are the Geekcastrio

network. You can check us out on any of the podcasting

clients you choose to use, but I prefer Spotify.

That's just me. uh so yeah that's uh that's everything

i got sweet uh void rivals number eight by the

way coming out april 3rd Yeah, not too far away

my plugs another comic review comm I got a website

so if you're Depending on how you're listening

to this you can check that out another comic

review comm You can find me on YouTube at youtube

.com slash matrix underscore prime and I'm on

blue sky some people Obviously been listening

to this because they found me on there you find

me on blue sky at Jesse early You can just search

for me on there now. You don't have to put in

the dot BSKY dot social it'll come up Alright,

so I think that's it till next time. This is

Jesse signing off You've just heard the latest

episode of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's first comic

review and discussion podcast. There are several

ways to get in touch with us and leave feedback

for the show. You can visit the website geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate and

leave a review for the show on iTunes. Be sure

to leave us feedback. Become a fan of us on Facebook,

facebook .com slash The Pull Bag. Send us an

email, feedback at GeekCastRadio .com, follow

us on Twitter at ThePullBag and at GeekCastRadio.

So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you!