Creators: Joshua Williamson (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer)
Plot: Duke and Cobra Commander fight it out, both physically and with words as Cobra Commander is ready to detonate the Brain Bomb. Cobra Commander also reveals he is aware of the robots (Transformers), surprising Duke. Meanwhile, the rest of the Joes are trying to escape in a helicopter while Destro is chasing them down in a F.A.N.G. [Fully Armed Negator Gyrocopter]. Clutch convinces the Baroness to turn around to retrieve Duke, surprising Destro who orders all the troops back to Springfield before the bomb detonates. Duke is able to stop Cobra Commander, though suffers injuries in the process and tells the Commander that Cobra may live on but not with him, prompting Cobra Commander to stop the bomb. Before Cobra Commander can kill Duke, the Joes show up. The Commander tells Duke he hopes they meet again and escapes. In Springfield, he tells Destro that, while their plan didn't go through, they had a lot of success and shows him a recording of Megatron. Back at the Pit, Hawk debriefs Duke as well, who wants to focus on finding the Transformers again. Clutch gets in a very familiar looking military Jeep to drive around and clear his head, though there is something more than meets the eye to the whole affair.
Writing: An excellent finish to the first arc of the on-going G.I. Joe comic, Williamson keeps the action going, gives Duke and Cobra Commander their time to shine in their fight while leaving us wanting to know what's coming next. I like that Cobra Commander if very competent in this series and has a master plan....he is really Duke's opposite. And he's not afraid to run away from a fight (until he's outnumbered). The only downside is we don't get many more real character interactions for the bulk of the issue. Destro, Hawk, Clutch, and the Baroness are the only other characters to really get any dialogue.
Art: Reilly is really doing a great job with the art. He keeps the action moving during the fight scenes, and gives us two quick pages breaking down Duke and Cobra Commander's backstory, which was cool. Reilly is also good showing expression. When Destro needs to evade the giant helicopter now coming at him looked good. And the final page, really nice. Overall, colors are decent too, when we get to see them. There are times that the shadowing or other splash of colors do overtake the rest of the colors.
Overall: A strong finish to the first story arc while nicely setting up the next one. The team really put forth an amazing amount of effort to get us here. We now have established G.I. Joe and Cobra teams who are going to be trying to stop each other. We're still connecting to the larger Energon Universe as well and will see more of that play out in the upcoming story arcs. Hopefully future issues will focus more on other characters as well.
