Duke #5: My Personal War

Duke #5 is the conclusion to the first miniseries in the G.I. Joe era of the Energon Universe, setting up the team’s role in this new shared universe. Full of espionage, intrigue, and some of the coolest action of the year, Duke #5 absolutely knocks it out of the park as one of the best revitalizations of a franchise in recent memory. While I do not often interject my personal feelings about a property into my reviews, it is worth noting that I was not a huge G.I. Joe fan growing up. I never connected with the franchise in a huge manner, so this series was genuinely my first fuaret into this world.

One of the most intriguing aspects of this miniseries was that it builds off of a major event from the Transformers series while making sure that readers know this can be read in a self-contained manner. Additionally, this has always been billed as a lead up to the creation of G.I. Joe, yet at no point does this just feel like a stepping stone. Duke is a complete, contained narrative that has a satisfying conclusion that is only made better by the hints at what is to come in the future. At the same time, it serves as a great introduction to these characters and this world that maintains its status as its own thing. Too many series try and fail when attempting this kind of endeavor, but Duke is not one of them.

Outside of Joshua Williamson’s inventive and engaging writing, the most outstanding part of this series is the art and colors from Tom Reilly and Jordie Bellaire. This book looks and feels like a Saturday morning cartoon, while having the full maturity in its action and subject matter of a modern day series. This series almost feels like the X-Men ’97 version of the original G.I. Joe, and anyone who has seen that series will know that is the highest compliment it can get. While this series may not be seen as impactful as Transformers or Void Rivals, there is no doubt that the creative team and narrative inside are top tier.

Narratively speaking, Williamson does a great job in balancing that line between setup and self-containment. Clearly, the elements featuring Destro and his minions are here to setup the upcoming Destro series, but at no point does Williamson let that detract from the story he wants to tell. Duke #5 is lighter on the side cast that have been present throughout the main narrative; however, this leaves room to take that deep dive into Duke’s mind, giving an emotional conclusion to the mystery he has been investigating since the first issue.

Looking at what’s to come in the future, without trying to do too much wishful thinking, it’s clear that there is going to be some kind of G.I. Joe vs. Transformers conflict in the horizon, which will probably be the Energon Universe’s first big event. Duke expertly sets the stage for this. Hopefully Williamson and Reilly can return in some capacity when that happens as their takes on this character and this world are truly the foreground for the greatness that should be expected from a franchise like this.