Duke Vol. 1: Knowing Is Half the Battle

Conrad Hauser, aka Duke, watches a fighter jet turn into a giant robot and kill his friend Frosting. Colonel Hawk won't give him answers, so Duke investigates on his own and ends up at Destro's M.A.R.S. Industries, which is building weapons for someone. The company frames him for murder and he becomes a fugitive, hunted by Major Bludd. Along the way he has to team up with the Baroness to break out of a prison. In the end, Destro offers Duke a place at his side; Duke refuses, rips the head off a B.A.T. android with his bare hands and vanishes in a mountainside explosion. The world declares him dead and cleared, but Hawk's people pull him out, and he gets a new mission: build a team to hunt the robots.

1. Behind the scenesAn Eisner for the colors

   Jordie Bellaire won the 2025 Eisner Award for Best Coloring for her work on Duke and G.I. Joe.

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2. Behind the scenesThe writer collected the figures

   Joshua Williamson said he had been collecting G.I. Joe Classified figures before taking on Duke, which he called a new take on how the team was formed.

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3. ReferenceThe scientist from issue #1

   Dr. Adele Burkhart, killed off in #1, comes from Marvel's first issue in 1982. One of her documents shows the M.A.S.S. Device, the superweapon from the cartoon's pilot.

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4. ReferenceToy vehicles under a new flag

   The weapons Duke finds at M.A.R.S. include H.I.S.S. tanks, F.A.N.G.s and B.A.T.s, all classic Cobra vehicles and figures.

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5. SetupThe mission on the last pages

   The miniseries' ending hands Duke a job that becomes the starting point for the Energon Universe's next G.I. Joe books.

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