G.I. Joe joins the Energon Universe, and Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly chat all about the new Duke

Skybound’s Duke #1 is a whole new beginning for some real American heroes — even if it doesn’t look like it immediately. In the first issue of the new G.I. Joe era as part of the Energon Universe, things look pretty bleak for the character fans know as the leader of the Joes… and that’s just what creators Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly want.

Spinning out of events in Transformers #2, Duke is in a bad way, and things go from bad to worse as he tries to get answers to just what those robots in disguise really are… and if they’re even real in the first place. It’s a G.I. Joe comic unlike any that have come before, and that’s part of Williamson’s larger intent with the franchise. (He’s also writing Cobra Commander, which launches in January.) But where did this version of the Joes come from, and where are they headed?

Popverse spoke to Williamson and Reilly about the first issue, its roots in the larger Energon Universe, and the value of beating up your heroes.

What were the origins of Duke? Josh, I know that you’re a big G.I. Joe fan from way back. When Skybound came to you — assuming that Skybound came to you, and not vice versa — did you just say, "I've got a great idea”?

Joshua Williamson: So what happened was, probably five or six years ago — I forget when it was, it was long enough that I had one child, not two, so it was definitely a while ago — Sean Mackiewicz at Skybound called me and was like, "If Skybound ever did a licensed thing, is there anything that you'd ever be interested in?" I was like, "I am done with licenses. I am never doing them again. Either it's creator owned [work], or big two, and that's it. I'm never going to do them again. Except for one. I would do G.I. Joe. I've actually put thought into what I want. Here are things I'd want to do." And Sean was like, "Oh, that's really interesting."

I remember at one point in that conversation, Sean was like, "Robert has this idea of doing a creator owned book, and then the last page is a twist: ‘Oh, there's Transformers’.” I was like, "Dude, I love that. That's so crazy. He should do that." Then we never talked about it again.

And that was like six years ago.

Williamson: Yeah. It's funny, I think Robert has said this in interviews, so I'm not completely talking out of turn, but he had told a handful of people that he had thought about doing this, and then when he decided he was actually going to do it, he had to think about, who did he tell that to, to be like,