Duke and Cobra Commander #5 Review

Hey, this is Frank Todaro, otherwise known as

Starscream, and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. You've just jumped inside the

pull bag. Join TFG1 Mike and the rest of the

comic crew here at the GCRN as they make their

great escape into comics. From DC, Marvel, and

Image to IDW, Bloom Studios, and Xenoscope, we

have everything right here. We cover things like

Transformers, He -Man, superheroes, TMNT, and

Radiant Black. Yeah, we have all that and so

much more. It's all inside the pull bag here

on the Geekcast Radio Network. So, without further

ado, it's time to talk about the comics we're

reading right now, here inside. The Pullback.

Hello all, it is I, TF2 and Mike here inside

The Pullback, only on the GeekCast Radio Network,

and from episode 553 to 561, this is the Skybound

section. That's right, all of these episodes

that you're gonna be hearing, including this

clip, in front of every single one of them, is

stuff from another comic review. With Jesse early

and myself. We've already published all these

over on that show for him And now we are syndicating

them here for the pull bag. These are Completely

unaltered unedited episodes. So there you go

Make your greatest game in the comics and enjoy

the show Welcome to another comic review. My

name is Jesse and as always I am joined by TFG1

Mike from dksradio .com Yes, I am here. So yeah,

and then no we are discussing Duke and Cobra

commander number five Duke has been out for a

while now right almost a month. Yeah Much yeah,

but I have yep. So Cobra commander was actually

delayed a little bit. So that's why it's right.

There's is not out at the typical time that this

episode would be out, but hey, Cobra Commander

just came out. Well, and the thing of it is,

is they've got to space these out. Like, you

can't have all three titles, technically four

titles, Duke, Cobra Commander, Void Rivals, and

Transformers come out all in the same damn day.

If you have four comics that you're wanting to

launch or wanting to continue like one a week,

Duke comes out the first week, Cobra Commander

comes out the second week, Transformers the third

week, and Blood Rivals the fourth week. That's

the way it usually is done for the most part.

And sometimes because of continuity and because

they're all different series technically, it

just varies. And just, yeah, Duke has been out

for a while and I haven't, I didn't read it until

like right before the recording because that's

how I roll. I'll forget about stuff, man. Yeah.

And even like with this month, right? So both

Void rivals and Cobra were delayed. So they both

came out the same day, which I actually liked

because I'm like, oh, I get to read more. But

now it's like, oh, now we're in this lull and

I got to wait for the next one. So topic number

one, Duke number five by Joshua Williamson, Tom

Reilly, Jordy Belair and Russ Wooten. Russ, I'm

giving you credit here. You're not on the cover.

Give me credit. Alright, the quick synopsis from

ImageComics .com. Mini -series finale. Codename

G .I. Joe is here. 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 ever

could have imagined. Get ready for the last page

shocker that no one will see coming. We all saw

it coming. Let's be honest, this is Transformers

G .I. Joe. We all saw it coming. In my quick

rundown, so we open with Colonel Hawk in the

pit wanting to know where the hell Duke is, but

Clutch refuses to tell. Stalker hands over something

they found in the wreckage and says it could

lead them to Duke. We cut to Duke being choked

out by the Battle Android Trooper, aka Dr. Claw

from The Last Issue. Destro makes an entrance

and tries to get Duke to join in, but Duke headbutts

him and takes out the Battle Trooper. Destro

and his men make an escape and blow up the warehouse

with Duke still inside. We're presented with

a series of news reports telling us that Duke

has been killed, but the next page reveals that

Duke is very much alive! in a hospital while

chained to his bed. Colonel Hawk and Scarlett

enter the room and Colonel Hawk tries to convince

Duke to trust him once more and, surprise surprise,

he does. They return to the bit where Colonel

Hawk tells Duke that he wants him to put together

a highly trained special mission force, wonder

what they're gonna call it, that can handle threats.

Duke, not wanting to fight anyone else's wars

for them initially refuses, but reconsiders when

Scarlett shows him a surveillance photo from

months ago. It's a photo of Optimus Prime in

battle. We conclude with Duke saying he will

destroy them all, referring to the Transformers.

So your thoughts and review of Duke number five?

Just a quick note. Normally, the colorists are

not credited on the covers of any comics normally

on the front cover. Like you got Joshua Williamson,

Tom Reilly and Jordy Belair at the top above

Duke. I just looked at the void rivals number

nine, which we will talk about way, way later

after this episode. Kirkman. De Felici and Del

Pesce. So it's whatever the first three names

are. That's what's all and that's not just with

this company. That's with all comics. It's usually

like the first three names of whatever the credits

are. So letters. Usually don't get credited on

the front cover, which they should honestly in

my personal opinion. But I mean, our man Russ

here is like doing like everything. Yeah, I like

this. I think this is fun. This is good. This

is interesting. Like I mentioned last time when

we talked about Duke number four, I think number

four really kicked it up a notch with the escape

and all this and all that. And now we just kind

of have this year where it's more. of the action,

which is what you've been waiting for, because

apparently you don't like story. I love story.

My biggest issue with this entire series, and

we can talk more about this when we get to Cobra

Commander 2, is that I realize we've talked about

this and you've kind of explained it and it makes

sense to me. But my biggest issue so far is that

this story is just going way too quick. And it

really isn't going to jam all of it into five

issues. But I think that's my biggest issue with

with a mini series is it can't take its time

to kind of build on, you know, build on things.

It's got to be, you know, super quick. And I

don't know that the the ends justify the means

here. And again, I'll talk more about that as

we get into Cobra Commander. But I mean, all

of this is really just a setup for saying, hey,

let's put together G .I. Joe. Yep, pretty much,

pretty much. I love it still. I love the art.

Love the lettering. I love the colors that the

one thing I will say about Duke overall the five

issues I freaking love the colors all of the

various colors even the tans and beiges and whatever

you whatever other title you somebody out there

has for beige It doesn't really matter to me,

but I just really dig it and I was not expecting

to see even though you already told me about

it i was which is fine spoilers don't affect

me because i'll forget uh but like i was not

really expecting to see optimus prime at the

end of this because i asked you after you first

read it i'm like well i mean is the is the end

of the the series kind of like a kind of like

what it says in the promotion the shocking end

to duke duke's miniseries and you're like it's

really not that shocking okay sure But but no,

I really dug this again. I think this is good.

I think this is what I love about Skybound is

that because they are a company with new license

to do Transformers and G .I. Joe and all that

stuff now, it's going to get people that are

brand new that have never seen anything. That's

what this is for. Somehow, some way in the last

40 or 41 years or however the hell long old all

this stuff is. people that have never read a

Transformers comic or never read a G .I. Joe

comic, this is for those people. And it's for

us, too, because there are plenty of references

and plenty of things and plenty of whatevers.

But, yeah, no, issue five, I really dug it. I

thought it was fun. I thought it was really interesting.

And I really want to see. how the Transformers

and G .I. Joe interact. And maybe we will see

that in G .I. Joe coming whenever whatever the

free conflict issue said. Right. I guess my biggest

issue with this or just kind of the whole story

in general is, again, it was super quick. I don't

think that has justified everything that kind

of came before. Yeah. But what this the ending

to this is sort of alluding to is, right, because

they're showing a picture of Optimus Prime. Yep.

Duke's obviously thinking are. Maybe the rest

of the Joes are kind of thinking the higher ups

that right there kind of all one in the same

Autobots Decepticons doesn't really matter. Yeah,

they're Transformers. They're all bad robots.

Right. So I think this is alluding to the fact

that obviously there's going to be some sort

of confrontation between them. Ultimately, they'll

probably come around and be like, oh, OK, well,

there's an Autobots and there's Decepticons.

Autobots are the good guys. I just feel like

that sort of storyline is like played out where

it's like, Oh yeah, you're onto me. And then,

Oh wait, we're going to come around and you know,

we're, you know, we're actually allies. Yeah.

You're right. I mean, it's a story trope that's

been around for God knows how long, but again,

I think because this is new and fresh and the

last time, uh, I'm probably going to get his

name wrong, but Tom Scioli or Skioli. He did

IDW Publishing's Transformers GI Joe crossover

for IDW and I have not read that because I just

haven't gotten into it at all. I need to probably

go back and check it out. But it's one of the

reasons why I'm bringing that up is because I

am very interested to see how the art style of

both this Duke and Cobra Commander. Go with like

how these characters are going to be drawn with

and colored with the transformers when they eventually

do meet up at whatever point that is. Whenever

and I really really dig it is it's one of those

things where that story point that you're kind

of tired of it's like that's the way all. Great

should say great, but it's the way all great

stories are kind of told when it comes to you

know Bad robots and let's hope JJ Abrams doesn't

get a Transformers movie. Holy crap I swear every

time I say bad robots don't have anything was

JJ Abrams's production company because I had

robots I mean he can't do any worse than the

last night Well, luckily we have bumblebee and

rise of the beasts to wash our mouths out of

the last night But yeah, I mean, I think this

finale does, it does a lot of things. It kind

of closes things off and it kind of pushes Duke

into a new era of what, what's next for him.

And what's next for him is Duke versus Optimus

Prime, because he doesn't know that the big red

truck is a good guy versus the bad guy. It's

the gray, well, the gray tank isn't here. It's

the, it's the idiotic jet. That's the bad guy.

Come on, Duke, get your head out of your ass.

If you do bring up a good point though, because

when you compare the art style within Duke here

with everything we've seen in Transformers even

with the artists switch over Yeah, there's two

completely different styles. Absolutely Ray Dukes

got very in my opinion very much. It looks very

much like a Sunday newspaper comic to some degree

whereas yeah GI Joe whereas Transformers is much

grittier. Yeah So while we do see where we see

Starscream in here, as well as Optimus Starscream

kind of in silhouette form. Yeah. But Optimus,

you know, kind of fully drawn and colored there.

Even that art style of like Optimus here looks

a little bit different than what we see in the

rest of Duke. Yeah. So yeah, once they actually

start combining these two different properties,

I'm very curious to see what that's going to

look like. Yeah, absolutely. But but overall,

yeah, I'm I'm actually happy that the series

is over. I am glad that I stuck with it, but

again, for me, it was a bit too quick. I would

have liked to have seen them kind of slow it

down a little bit. I realize why they couldn't.

They've only got five issues. But I'm curious

to kind of see the kickoff, the formation of

GIGO and the kickoff of that entire series. Yeah,

absolutely. And it's going to be interesting.

for when I eventually do this the second time

over on the pull bag. Cause I will do it. No,

I'm serious. Like, cause I'm, I mean, yeah, I'm

syndicating these episodes, but I'm not syndicating

the transformers ones we're doing. So when, when

we get this in trade and we have to eventually

double dip on buying the thing, that's why I

love trade so much trade paperbacks is because

it's the whole story right there. You may have

had to wait. six to eight months, but at least

you get the whole story and looking at it as

a whole versus the last five weeks or however

the Mount Helm, I know there's only five issues

here, but you know what I mean? Like it's usually

been five months, whatever kind of thing, and

looking at it in the collected edition stuff

is going to be interesting to see if it changes

at all, because one of the things I love about

reading a single story in a trade paperback It's

the, like I said already, it's the whole story.

I don't have to wait a month. I can just turn

the page and just be sucked right into the next

issue or the next part of the story. And most

of trade paperbacks will do things like, do I

have an example? Most trade paperbacks will have

just obviously the one title page. So it's just

like that, that, that first front page here with

all the things. And then it's sometimes they

do. Sometimes trades do the variant covers as

split up between so they'll do at the end of

Duke number one They'll have a variant cover

from Duke number one and then the next page will

be the cover to Duke number two We'll go through

that whole story without any Confidential Duke,

you know credit page and it will just go through

more more fluidly but At the end of the day,

I liked this. I think this is fun. I think this

is interesting. I like the way they've introduced

all of the various G .I. Joe characters that

some of us or most of us will know, but it's

in a different way. It's not just the same thing

I said when we do the Transformers ones. Daniel

Warren Johnson writing Transformers is not just

rewriting the Generation 1, you know, more than

meets the eye parts 1, 2, 3. Transport to Oblivion,

et cetera. He's not just rewriting those in comic

form. He's taking those characters from that

franchise and putting them into completely different

things. That's why I love Duke and to some sort

of similar extent Cobra Commander, but we'll

get into that later. Okay. Anything else on Duke?

No. I think overall, overall I enjoyed it. Overall,

I'm very interested to see how the blonde army

guy is going to go up against the big red truck.

Yeah. So as you were talking about the trades,

I was going to ask you a question about it. Then

you sort of answer my question before I actually

had a chance to ask it. It was like I've only

ever I only own a single trade. And that is for

the death of Superman. And that included between

stories that included like a cover page. Yes.

And when you said it was kind of like, you know,

kind of all the stories combined into one, you

just read it all in one fell swoop. I wasn't

sure like if it just like if it was still split

up into like five issues or, you know, five different

sections representing, you know, each issue or

if it was literally you just kept turning the

page and it was like the full story. It depends

on the company and depends on what they want

to do. that's what i'll say it really does depend

on which publisher it is and all of that i am

actually scrolling through my my kindle comics

thing to find joy specific um yeah it it just

depends it sometimes uh i know with dc trades

they will do sometimes like when they do the

Back in 2011, when they launched the new 52,

the second, the first rebirth or read, read whatever

the first renumbering for DC. What they did was

they had the main cover. So you have the main

cover of let's say Duke here as it's color version,

as you see it. And then if you go to the next

page, it would have a white, basically just the

drawing style of it. Just the lines of that cover.

And then it'll go into the title page and then

it might go into a second cover or something

and then the story will start. And it would do

that various, and that's just for DC from what

I remember from old Batman Beyond trades and

Nightwing trades and things like that. So it

just does depend on what, that's why I'm very

interested to see how Skybound is going to collect

these because I'm interested to see what the

layout is going to be for the Skybound books.

So I'm very, I'm. Very excited for this. It's

exciting times for 80s kids and Joe Joe kids

and Transformers kids and everybody else Well,

I don't know about picking up the Cobra commander

and Duke Trade, but I am very interested in the

Transformers one. So I just wish it was hardcover

as opposed to Now they will do that event. So,

okay They will do that eventually Right now I

think yeah, yeah I'm going to reference another

80s property that has nothing to do with any

of this, but it has to do with the hardcover.

Is it GoBots? No. Hell no. Hell no. We won't

GoBots. No. Turtles, TMNT, they have hardcover

editions. What's great about IDW publishing with

Turtles, hardcover editions and they're done

in story order. What that means essentially is

my buddy Joe and I have been covering Turtles

since 2014 and launched in 2011. from IDW but

when they do the trade paperbacks and when they

do the hard covers they put every so like you

have turtles one two three and four but then

there's a a micro series or a macro series, which

is just IDW's version of spotlight issues like

this Cobra Commander and Duke and all that, because

that takes place in the midst of issues, between

issues four and five, and I'm using that as an

example. I don't know if that's exactly what

it is, but I'm saying the in -story order, how

they do that, and I love how they do that with

hard covers over at IDW. So I'm sure that Cobra

Commander, Duke, and GI Joe. Transformers and

what rivals will all get hardcover stuff because

number one they want us to triple dip for those

who've already bought it number two they wanted

to bring it bring it to market to people who

have never read it before and who are not us

who are not at the comic shop are not waiting

for Amazon to release it week to week to week

to week to week or whatever so I am fairly certain

that skybound will be doing hard covers at some

point in the future I just gotta wait yeah That's

what it is, man. I know, but it's worth it. Trust

me. I hope so. All right. Anything else on Duke?

Nope. All right. So moving on to topic to Cobra

Commander number five by Joshua Williamson, Andrea

Milana, Annalisa Leone, and our buddy Russ. Quick

synopsis from ImageComics .com. Miniseries 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's started,

can the Cobra threat ever be stopped, question

mark? Guess we'll find out in the G .I. Joe series,

huh? Yeah, I guess so. All right, my quick rundown.

So we open with a view of different destroyed

Mars locations around the United States. Destro

is talking to Mercer as the two are trying to

figure out who is causing these attacks. Destro's

men carrying one of the captured dreadnoughts,

I suppose one that's still actually alive because

I think the rest are dead. Yeah. Most of them.

And he delivers an invitation to Destro upon

which he and his men head out via helicopter.

When they arrive at the invitation coordinates,

a location in suburban America, lasers rise up

from the ground and take out the chopper and

some of the men. Cobra Commander makes his entrance

and tells Destro that he has an opportunity for

him. Cobra Commander leads them all to his lab

where he shows off the power of energon. He speaks

of different groups around the world, all seeking

money, power, and control, and how they lack

common leadership. Cobra Commander Destro, a

striking alliance, Cobra Commander supplying

the energy, and Destro providing the army and

weapons of Mars. They enter the local town hall,

which is filled with men and women with all sorts

of weapons. Cobra Commander takes the stage.

He gives a speech to rally the people, telling

them that they came here to find a purpose, and

that he has more power than anyone could imagine,

and that he wants to share it with all of them.

Together, he announces they are Cobra. The issue

concludes back at Cobra Law, where Globulus learns

that Cobra Commander knew more about the Transformers

than he let off. and Globulus orders his men

to find and bring back Cobra Commander, while

Pythona agrees to explore the source of the robot

invaders as she leaves Earth and her ship. Thoughts

in review? That's what that was. I thought Cybertron

hawked a loogie at Earth or something. That's

what that looks like. It looks like a booger.

Yeah, I mean if you were right if you if you

think of like what the Autobots had in Transformers

the movie and then what the junkie ons had in

Transformers the movie This is nothing like that

No, this thing literally like I'm zoomed in on

the last page of this comic and it literally

looks like a flaming booger I was gonna say brain

but and just tomato tomato Honestly, I'm kind

of Like what I just the the brain or the entire

the whole issue like okay Alright, so we like

you said we start where we start and then we

get all this and we get all that and I Get it

that their ultimate goal was for Cobra to be

formed by the end of this issue. That's fine.

But I don't know it just kind of I mean, I really

like to know like how much time has passed because

in the last issue, right, he only just then found

this or was introduced to the scientist guy who

had harnessed energon and was, you know, changing

its form and everything. And here it's like he's

got this completely brand new lab built and they

apparently have been experimenting with it even

further. And like Cobra is all all in the know

now and Yeah, I know by the end of this issue

is like, oh, yeah, now we're Cobra and I've struck

this deal with Destro and here we are. Yeah,

honestly, I think and I know this is wrong and

I'm sorry to say this, but. Honestly, I think

the best part of the story is the the scientist

begging to be killed Because honestly you could

have okay, okay I get it you wanted to and Joshua

Williamson great writer He's written plenty of

other things in comics over over his career and

span I get you wanted to form Cobra, but it could

have be like you could have cut out the I don't

know there's like between the handshake and where

we see the, the flag drop, like as they're walking

in, like that page where you finally see him

take his trench coat off. And you see the full

garb of Cobra. Like you could have cut that entire

page out, I think, or found a different way to

like, and this doesn't have like the fact that

the booger flies off into space or whatever.

I dare say that Optimus Prime on an iPad or Android

tablet is more compelling for me to continue

or want to continue reading the Further Adventures

of Duke versus, you know, they launched a booger

into outer space. I don't know, man. I just,

after I read, and I told you this off air, I

said, you know, I'm ready for Duke. And we're

not doing void rivals tonight, but I said I'm

ready for Duke. I'm ready for global commander.

I'm ready for void rivals. I read them each twice.

So I read Duke twice. I read this twice and I

read void rivals twice in order to prepare to

make sure I had everything. But as I'm looking

through this, I'm like, yeah, this is not a finale

issue that left me with any. interest of going

forward with this, whereas Duke did. Yeah, I

mean, this is really nothing more than we need

an antagonist to our other series. I think if

this would have played out completely differently,

right? At the end of this, we don't have Cobra.

I think if we go into the Destro series, we go

into the Scarlet series and we see different

panels of Cobra Commander and behind the scenes,

he's putting together Cobra. I think that would

have been far, far better storytelling. Yeah.

Like, and, and, and again, if you take out the

booger going into space, you could have ended

this on, on that page. If you're on Amazon Kindle

folks, Kindle comics, whatever location, 18 of

31, 57 % complete. You could end, you could have

ended on, you didn't need the, the meanwhile

at Cobra law bullshit. You didn't need that at

all. Hell, you could have ended it on on the

damn handshake. And that would have made me want

to come back for whatever is after this kind

of thing. That's what I was going to say. I think

that would be like the perfect ending. Here's

him shaking hands with Destro. And the other

thing is neither one of these issues. And I'm

just stating this as a fact. I'm not complaining

about it, but neither one of them say anything

about to be continued in like that. That usually

gets me. Like, okay, you, you launched a booger

from earth into outer space because you need

to go find the giant gray red tank, whatever

the hell. Uh, they're in the search for the Kleenex.

Yeah, exactly. The Kleenex of Quintessa. That's

what it is. The Kleenex of Quintessa. It's Quintesson

snot, folks. That's what it is. Uh, but like,

uh, to be continued or Cobra will return or something.

That bottom page of the last page needed something.

I mean, the Duke issue is kind of self -evident.

It's, it's kind of self -explanatory. It's going

to be Duke versus Coke versus, uh, Optimus Prime.

Okay, fine. But like the little blurb here just

says, and take this war to the stars. Like, okay,

what, what, what are you doing, Cobra law? You

going to go to Cybertron? I don't think so. I

don't know, but I don't know. I just felt really

let down by this whole damn thing because initially

I didn't want to read this. Not this issue, but

seriously, this series, when I read interviews

with Joshua Williamson, the writer, he said basically

is that this is a is Cobra Commander, you know,

the GI Joe villain, whatever, but it's a horror

story. And the first four issues, I believe.

are a horror story. I think that's cool, and

I'm not into horror, but I think that's cool,

and this issue basically just, it's a lame duck.

It does nothing. Okay, it forms Cobra. Okay,

great. That's awesome. Do that. It only forms

Cobra in the sense that he called them Cobra.

Yeah. Just random people Cobra. Yeah. I mean,

you're right, but yeah. And obviously we will

read Destro and we will read Scarlet. I think

Duke had the Scarlet preview and this has the

Destro preview. I didn't really look too far

at it because again, I'm going to forget by the

time we get to it all if we reread it anyway.

So what the hell's the point of me reading the

preview that's in Co -Worker Commander number

five? I hate to say it, if I was rating this

on the GCR Universal rating scale, I'd probably

give this a 1 .5 or a zero, honestly. The only

good thing about this entire issue is the art.

That's the only good thing to me. Yeah. No, I'm

actually a big fan of the art. I'm here much

more so than Duke. But yeah, again, going back

to what I said during the Duke discussion, I

don't think the ends justify the means here.

No. What we've seen in issue one through four

does not justify him Creating Cobra here by the

end of this issue. It's just again. I know only

five issues miniseries, but it's way too rushed

Yeah, I mean I feel like between issue four and

five we would have needed like I don't know many

many many months if not years in between Yeah,

and I obviously that's not what we're getting

here. It's based on what I'm understanding of

the timelines. So yeah, no A question for you.

I tried to do a little bit of research on this

before we started recording. I could not find

an answer. So we're Cobras hanging out. I called

it the suburbs. Does that place have a name?

I don't know. The reason I ask is because in

the Larry Hama series, same exact location. And

I don't know what the hell the place is. I couldn't

tell you. Cause I don't, again, I didn't watch

the cartoon growing up. I've seen, I mean, not,

not, you know, from start to finish, I've seen

some episodes, but I don't recall there ever

being like this, uh, suburban area that Cobra

called home. No, I think this is a purely unique

thing to the comic as far as I can tell. Now

Cobra Law's headquarters, maybe that is, cause

again, I, it's been years since I've seen the

GI Joe cartoon. Uh, so I, no clue. Okay, because

like I said, it's this location exists in the

Larry Hama series. If it's not named the same

thing, like it looks exactly the same in terms

of being a suburban area. There's houses there

are people are actually living there. And they're

actually part of Cobra. So I don't know. But

yeah, again, I did some research couldn't find

anything. But yeah, again, I love the art. I

think the colors look great. Not a fan of the

story. Don't like how it ended. And I think like

you, I think it was a big let down compared to

the other four issues. Yeah, absolutely. It was.

Honestly, this could have ended it. You could

have found a way to stick that that flag panel

where they were. This is now Cobra or whatever

the hell you could have put that somewhere at

the end of issue four and just called us a day.

Yeah, yeah. So I'm I'm glad it's over because

I don't want to read anymore after this issue.

But I have read and like you, I have read the

previews for both Destro as well as Scarlett.

I guess I don't know who the artist or the writer

is in this to see superstar writer Dan Waters

of Universal Monsters Creature from the Black

Lagoon and acclaimed artist Andre Bresson. That's

for Destro. Yeah. And then going back to Scarlet.

Scarlet is, nope, Destro is in Duke number five

as well. Okay, maybe I saw it online. But yeah,

is it in is it in Cobra Commander four because

I've read I've read both of them. Maybe it could

be. I don't remember. Red Hot Ride. Oh, OK. I'm

going to probably like Scarlett. I've got the

back page here. Red Hot Rider Kelly Thompson,

DC's Birds of Prey and IDW Publishing's Gem in

the Holograms. I'm crediting that myself because

they don't do it. And artist Margo Ferrari. Frontiersman.

Introduce some of the most anticipated characters

to the energon universe. I just based off of

I've interviewed Kelly Thompson two different

times in the pull bags history over on the Geek

Caster Network. So just on the fact that she's

running a scroll that I know I'm going to like

that book. So yeah, like I said, I've read both

curious to see kind of where that goes. Although

I'm still I still find it hard to believe that

why do these other two mini series if we know

we're getting a GI Joe? Series at some point

because you want like okay, so I'm sure there's

gonna be other characters, but Scarlett and Destro

like we've only seen when did we see Scarlett

last and Duke number one two or three? I forget

which issue we saw her in but we've already kind

of seen her and this is on Duke five Okay, there

you go You know, so I think that's cool, and

I think that's why. Is that because they're going

to then after these next two, I would assume,

and I hate to assume because it makes an ass

out of you and me, but I'm assuming after Scarlet

and Destro's five issue minis, that's when they're

going to launch G .I. Joe, most likely. OK, so

I'm looking here, avoid rivals. That's where

the most recent issue had Scarlet. OK, there

you go. So yeah, this is Kelly Thompson and Marco

Ferrari. Yep. So that goes on sale June 5th and

Destro was what? Destro, let me check here. June

19th, I want to say. According to Geopedia, Destro

one to five starting June 19th, 2024. OK, so

they both launch in June. So yeah, June 5th for

Scarlett. So read Scarlett first and then June

19th for Destro. So assuming they come out on

time, yes, right once a month, we'll see the

presumably GI Joe launch shortly after that.

I would assume. Yeah, because here's the thing.

If they're starting June 5th and June 19th, is

that what I said? Yeah. So November. OK, really?

Yeah. But my thing is maybe what they'll do is

because sometimes they've done this, they'll

start the miniseries. And then they'll start

the ongoing. So my thinking is, and again, I'm

just thinking off the top of my head here, what's

in July, San Diego Comic -Con. So they're probably

going to, Skybound is probably going to have

a big presence hopefully at San Diego Comic -Con

this year. And maybe they'll announce when the

GIGO title for the Energon universe is actually

going to be then. So. Yeah. So it does say that

in not the actual. It doesn't confirm that there's

a G .I. Joe series, but is it in the letters

section? If there were a color that was legible,

I could tell you. Okay, I found what I was looking

for. So this is in Cobra Commander Number 5 in

the letters section. It says, also, we have some

big Energon universe news hitting soon, and most

of the crew will be at San Diego Comic -Con to

discuss in person. Yeah, that's what I thought.

So yeah, I would expect some sort of debut announcement

to happen then. Yep. And that's July 25th through

the 28th. So, you know, just about two months

from now. Yes, of this recording as of this recording.

OK, anything else on Cobra Commander? I was trying

to figure out if I was trying to find that the

place with the place, but that's why I'm on Jopedia.

I figured some of these Wikipedia websites would

list more details and I don't know. So that that

village or whatever could be. Uh, I don't know.

And as of this, according to Jopedia, they say

previous Cover Commander number four, next Destro

number one. So you're supposed to supposedly

read Destro first and then Scarlet maybe? I don't

know. But, uh, either way, it's going to be fun.

It's going to be interesting. It'll certainly

be something. Yeah. So, um, all right. I did

wonder before we close things out. because you

were not in on the quick hits. I want to get

your thoughts on the free comic book day issue

as it relates to the G .I. Joe slash Duke storyline.

Oh, boy. We're not prepared for that. Oh, me

prepared. No. Why would I be prepared? I actually

think I still have the book downloaded. Wait

a minute. By the way, while you're looking at

that, I'm looking at issue 305 of the Larry Hama,

G .I. Joe, Real American Heroes series. And on

the front cover, they have Cobra marching through

this town. And it says, the sign says, Welcome

to Springfield. Oh, so it's the Simpsons. Got

it. It could be Springfield, Missouri. It could

be Springfield, Massachusetts. If there's any

other Springfields in the U .S., I don't know.

Off the top of my head, but those are the two

main ones I can think of. Outside of looking

at my buddy Hot Rod here. I'm on Geopedia, by

the way. It says, unbeknownst to the world at

large, Cobra has already established a foothold

in the United States, specifically the seemingly

innocuous town of Springfield. At first glance,

it has all the appearances of a nice little town

with nice middle American values. Stick around

though, and the people might just convince you

to stay and believe, believe in the Cobra philosophy.

So there you go. Right. Right. Sure. Uh, yeah,

I liked the, I liked the free comic book day

issue overall. I think it was fun. I think, as

I said, we said this to each other off air. This

is to all these free comic book day issues with

including all three of these, these titles in

one book is to get everybody in it. Here here's

a taste of what you need to be reading now, and

that's really what these are and I really dug

it I dug the art I dug all of it. I thought the

stories were cool I thought there were nice little

things nice character things because we've gotten

a little bit of character stuff with the Baroness

But I don't think we're I again. I don't think

because it hasn't been announced yet I don't

think we're gonna bear Baroness miniseries I

don't think we really need one because when she

shows up in various places. Oh the Baroness.

Absolutely. That's right And, you know, but overall,

yeah, I dug the Free Comic Day issue. I thought

it was great. What are your thoughts, I guess,

as it relates to Duke and the Baroness? Like

the Baroness joining? Yeah, joining G .I. Joe.

Yeah, she's probably going to double -cross him.

You think? I mean, I mean, we don't know if she

was blonde in a former life before they turned

her into the Baroness, like the original G .I.

Joe Rise of Cobra movie, but... I'm sure she's

just doing that for some, you know, SMGs, stuff

and giggles. What about this second team? What

do you think that is? Oh, I couldn't even begin

to suspect on that. I am not that... I was trying

to think about it and I'm like, second team?

The only... If they're put it, so Duke is the

main GI Joe team, the GI Joe team. We already

know Duke, Flint, Lady J, maybe not Lady J, but

Scarlett, you know, all those people that we

know as the GI Joe team. Maybe the, this is,

this is going to be a out there thought. Maybe

the second team is either the Deke series, which

is not the Sunbow series or It's G .I. Joe extreme.

Maybe it's those people. I don't know. No, I'm

serious. Like they could take some various form

of all the cartoon teams and put them as a second

team. I have I was like, oh, they're setting

up a second. I wonder where that's going to go.

I have no idea, but I'll read it anyway. You

think that means a whole second comic or that

is that too much G .I. Joe? Don't think it's

too much, but I don't think it's going. I think

what again, I'm just assuming here I don't know

but I think what they may do is and some publishers

do this and they're really good at doing it is

they will have one title and You'll see different

stories like Duke and his team are over here

and the Jojo extreme team is over here and it

somehow they will meet in the middle at some

like culminating point. So Jajo ongoing with

two teams. Maybe issue one is the two teams splitting

off from each other and then issue two is the

Duke team and issue three is the other team and

they kind of go back and forth. It's kind of

like how people explained IDW 2 .0 transformers

to me. You can go and you start with the Death

of Optimus Prime one shot. You can then go in

one or two directions or both you can go and

read more than meets the eye and read all Of

that by itself and be fine or you can stay on

Cybertron and watch, you know Starscream turn

to Donald Trump or whatever because Robots in

disguise is the more political Cybertron one.

So two different story points. It's kind of like

the road not taken folks. Go read poetry do something.

I don't know Gotcha. Okay Uh, yeah, I don't know

where I was going to go with that. I had a question

and then it left my head. Um, so you think maybe,

uh, this would probably be too much. So not,

not having completely separate, uh, ongoing series.

Maybe just one, you know, just one, but they

switched back and forth. Yeah, that's what I,

that's what I'm thinking. I don't, cause I don't

know. Like, okay, so let's say. Destro and Scarlet

are the final two miniseries for now. They launch

into G .I. Joe. G .I. Joe goes for 10, 11, 12

issues at first, and then maybe they'll do another

miniseries thing, but G .I. Joe 13 will still

happen. Who knows? I don't know. If you got G

.I. Joe, Void Rivals, and Transformers, those

are your three main titles. Maybe, who knows?

Maybe we'll get a new mass comic at some point.

I don't know. You never know what these people

are going to do. So you don't think it's something

like Superman, Man of Steel? I don't think it

first, because that would be... I mean, these

people are juggling a lot and they're doing very

well in their juggling act, but that might be

a little... Okay. All right. I thought maybe

there's like G .I. Joe Red, G .I. Joe Blue. Alright,

I think that's it unless you get anything else

regarding cover commander. Alright plugs Geekcast

radio .com check us out over there. We've got

over 4 ,000 episodes something like 3 ,000 4

,000 15 years of content as of this recording

actually This Saturday, June 1st is our 15th

anniversary. So, yay, we've been around for 15

years. Shoot me now. Don't wait till you get

home. Just shoot me now. You're doing that 24

-hour livestream, right? No. No? No. I still

think you should do that. A curse on your house,

sir. A pox on your house. See, right? You could

hop on YouTube Live, and you could just have

people join you whenever. No, no. All right.

Well, it seems like it'd be cool. But all right.

Anything else? No, that's it. All right. This

podcast, you can find us on another comic review

dot com. If you were you subscribe, be sure to

like us and leave a review if you can. You can

find me on YouTube at youtube .com slash matrix

underscore prime. Oh, you can also find the podcast

on Instagram. You can find that at another comic

review. You can also find me at Blue Sky. I'm

at Jesse Early. Search for me on there. You'll

find me. It's open. You can send DMs now. They've

got animated GIFs. Oh my God. I don't understand

social media these days. It's pretty much what

Twitter was before it was. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh,

all right. So coming up next, we have, I believe

void rivals. So we'll be doing that in the very

near future. Absolutely. And, uh, yeah. All right.

So until then Jesse signing off. Thank you for

listening to The Pullback here on the GeekCast

Radio Network, which is featuring syndicated

versions of another comic review. Catch you next

time. Make your greatest game into comics. You've

just heard the latest episode of The Pullback,

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 The Pull Bag and at GeekCastRadio.

So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you.