Duke #1 Review: G.I. Joe Returns to Action in Surprising Style

So this is a tough one to talk about. The best way to read Duke #1 is to go in completely blind, blissfully unaware that it’s part of a much bigger Skybound Entertainment project via Image Comics. The comic book starts off like a standard military conspiracy thriller with G.I. Joe’s Duke in the leading role, then drops the big reveal of what the “Perfect Solider” found on his latest mission that caused him to lose his cool and question his superiors. 

To the unaware, said reveal plays out almost like a punchline. It’s as if the comic goes “Surprise, this is what we’re actually about” via a big splash page. And normally this would be when the comic book undergoes a shift in tone – once you introduce a crossover between G.I. Joe and [Spoilers] it’s easy for things to become more light-hearted and, for lack of a better term, silly. 

But to writer Joshua Williamson’s credit, the comic book never abandons its serious tone even after that big reveal. Duke suddenly goes AWOL in an attempt to uncover the conspiracy, bodies start piling up when he starts asking too many questions and even Cobra’s eventual involvement is played up like an ominous crime organization’s arrival rather than the cavalcade of punching bags they were often depicted as back in the 80s (and, largely, ever since). 

Duke #1 might not pack the same wallop as the early issues of Image’s other recent relaunch, but after enduring the incoherent mess of IDW’s run on G.I. Joe in the late 2010s, I’ll happily take a more streamlined version of the property rather than the endless parade of ridiculously-named characters mowing down enemies with extravagant military equipment. My hope with the rest of this five-issue miniseries is that it further dives into the world of [Spoilers] since you really can only get away with that sort of big reveal once. But as far as opening issues go, Duke #1 is a fun one.

Published by Image Comics

On December 27, 2023

Written by Joshua Williamson

Art by Tom Reilly

Colors by Jordie Bellaire

Letters by Rus Wooton

Cover by Tom Reilly