Editing Duke issue 1

{{Comicstory
|seriesissue=''[[Duke (comic)|Duke]]'' #1
|prev=Transformers (2023) issue 2
|next=Duke issue 2
|image=Duke 2023 1 cvr.jpg
|caption=A dedicated young man.
|title=
|publisher=[[Image Comics]]<br>[[Skybound Entertainment]]
|date=[[December 27]], [[2023]]
|coverdate=December 2023
|written by=[[Joshua Williamson]]
|art by=[[Tom Reilly]]
|colors by=[[Jordie Bellaire]]
|letters by=[[Rus Wooton]]
|editors=[[Sean Mackiewicz]] & [[Jonathan Manning]]
|continuity=[[Energon Universe]]
|chronology=
}}

'''Duke's entire world has been shattered. And if his country won't give him the answers he seeks, he'll find them himself.'''

==Synopsis==
Colonel [[Hawk (G.I. Joe|Hawk]] meets with First Sergeant [[Duke (G.I. Joe)|Conrad Duke Hauser]]. Once one of the United States Army's finest soldiers, Duke hasn't been the same since he saw his friend, [[Frosting|Tyler "Frosting" Frost]], killed by [[Starscream (G1)|a giant robot that turned into a plane]]. However, Hawk tells Duke his country needs him back, assuming he can stop asking questions. Duke cant abide that, demanding to see the black box from Frosting's plane, but Hawk simply tells him that information is classified. An enraged Duke storms out, vowing find out what that flying robot was and take it out.

Six months later, Duke attends a meeting of alien conspiracy theorists in [[Washinton, D.C.]] Though he's unsure he's in the right place, he soon meets Doctor Adele Bukhart, a physicist using the meeting as a front for her own mission. Burkhart tells Duke that she used to be part of a project looking for new sources of clean energy. Burkhart had hoped to harness the power of cosmic elements created during the Big Bang that she believed were hidden on Earth. However, she became concerned that the people she worked for had less noble intentions, planning to use it to design weapons of war. Having heard Duke's story, Burkhart believes he's stumbled onto a high-tech arms race and enlists his help to investigate the company on the edge of said race: [[M.A.R.S.|M.A.R.S. Industries]].

Duke sneaks into the M.A.R.S. offices, discovering a hidden basement where hundreds of advanced weapons and combat vehicles are being built, including robotic exosuits, which leads him to conclude M.A.R.S. is responsible for the robot that killed Frosting. However, he is soon discovered and attacked by [[Mercer]]. The pair fight for a bit before more M.A.R.S. security overwhelm Duke and drag him out of the building. Mercer wants to kill Duke since he's seen too much, but [[Destro|his employer]] (watching from a camera hidden in a statue) tells him to stay his hand: his family didn't get this far by killing everyone who poked their nose into their business, and that there are other ways to deal with him.

As Duke heads back to Burkharts, he calls an unknown contact and leaves a message telling them about what he saw inside M.A.R.S. However, his call is interrupted when he sees inside the meeting: a massacre. Duke finds Burkhart bleeding out and asks her what happened. She tells him a man claiming to be a believer attacked and stole all of her research, save for a single small hard drive. Duke tells her to hold on, but Burkhart uses her dying breath to tell him not to let the drive fall into the wrong hands and to find the truth. At that moment, a squad of police officers swarm the building, ordering Duke to freeze. He tries to de-escalate the situation, but the police open fire on him. Duke flees, jumping out the window of the second story. Though wounded, he slinks off into the night, more determined than ever to get answers.

With Duke now compromised, Hawk is ordered by his superiors to take care of his rogue soldier. His aide, [[Cover Girl|Krieger]], tells him that finding Duke will be impossible. Hawk says that if they want to track one American hero, they’re going to need American heroes. Namely, [[Stalker (G.I. Joe)|Stalker]] and [[Rock 'n Roll]]!

{{--}}

==Featured characters==
Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in flashbacks.<br>
{{Featuredcharacters
|c2=
* [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (3)

|c3=
* [[Duke (G.I. Joe)|Duke]] (1)
* [[Hawk (G.I. Joe)|Hawk]] (2)
* [[Frosting]] (4)
* [[Adele Burkhart]] (5)
* [[Mercer]] (6)
* [[Destro]] (7)
* [[Cover Girl|Krieger]] (8)
* [[Stalker (G.I. Joe)|Stalker]] (9)
* [[Rock 'n Roll]] (10)
}}

==Quotes==
: "I believe [[energon|this]] is the new apple from the tree of knowledge, and there is [[Cobra|a snake]] hoping someone takes a bite out of it."
:—'''Adele Burkhart'''



==Notes==
===Continuity notes===
* Duke's traumatic encounter with the [[Decepticon]] [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] and the death of Frosting was depicted in [[Transformers (2023 comic)|Transformers]] [[Transformers (2023) issue 2|#2]]. 
** Frosting's name is also given here as "Tyler Frost," while the art for Transformers #2 had his first name being "Mike". This is likely just a case of a detail that wasn’t communicated between different creative teams since it's so minor. Or perhaps his full name is "Mike Tyler Frost"?
* The six-month jump places this story further in the Energon Universe timeline than the concurrently running ''Transformers''. (Possibly further than ''Void Rivals'' as well depending on how long it took [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] to get to [[Earth]] and how long it took [[Darak]] and [[Solila]] to get off the planetoid.)
* One of the conspiracy theorists might be a resident of [[Farmingham]], since they reference [[Optimus Prime (G1)|a massive truck]] standing up. 
* Hanging on the wall at the conspiracy theorist meeting is an "I want to believe" poster featuring the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]], suggesting that its arrival was more recent and well-known than previously thought.
* Burkhart’s goal of deriving a clean energy source from raw elements from space seems to point pretty clearly to [[energon]], continuing the theme of the substance playing a crucial role across the various titles. 

===G.I. Joe references===
* The character designs for Duke, Stalker, and Rock 'n Roll are all at least partially based on their ''G.I. Joe Classified Series'' figures. 
* Hawk mentions Duke's stubborn and insubordiante brother, a reference to the G.I. Joe member [[Falcon (G.I. Joe)|Falcon]], who was portrayed as Duke’s younger half-brother in ''G.I. Joe: The Movie'' and younger full brother in the ''G.I. Joe: Renegades'' cartoon. 
* As Duke drives to the meeting, we see a stack of books on aliens and unexplained phenomena in his car. One of these books says "[[Doctor Mindbender|Mindbender]]" on the cover, though it's not clear if that is the title or the author.
* Among the conversations of the conspiracy theorists, one bit that is overheard is about "a secret society in the ice," likely a reference to [[Cobra-La]]. 
* Another tidbit mentions a man ripping his face off to reveal another face which might be a reference to the preeminent master-of-disguise/sometimes shapeshifter of the ''Joe'' mythos, [[Zartan]].
* Doctor Adele Burkhart is a minor supporting character from the [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] ''[[G.I. Joe (comic)|G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]'' comics, first appearing in the very first issue as a nuclear physicist-turned-whistleblower kidnapped by [[Cobra]] that the Joe team must rescue.
* Several of the weapons M.A.R.S. is building are based on classic Cobra vehicles, including [[H.I.S.S. tank]]s, [[F.A.N.G.]]s, [[S.N.A.K.E.]]s, tanks that might be [[C.A.T.]]s, and even a stray [[C.L.A.W.]] 
* Mercer is usually depicted as a former [[Cobra Viper]] who defects to join G.I. Joe. However, since G.I. Joe and Cobra have yet to form in the Energon Universe, he is depicted here at the beginning of that journey as an enforcer for [[M.A.R.S.]]
* Both Burkhart and Destro reference the history of M.A.R.S. as a family operation of the McCullen clan, something that dates back to the original file card for the character. 
* Burkhart notes that the man who stole her research came all the way from Austrailia. Could we be seeing [[Major Bludd]] in the near future?
* Only identified by her last name, Kreiger is longtime G.I. Joe vehicle expert [[Cover Girl]]. Here she is acting as Hawk's aide, similar to her role in the ''G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra'' film.

===Transformers references===
* One of the conspiracy theorists insists that there are little green men controlling the [[Transformer|alien robots]] from inside their heads, referencing the [[Nebulan]] [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmasters]] from the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]. 

===Real-world references===
* The “I want to believe” poster mentioned above is based on [[Fox Mulder]]'s poster from ''The X-Files'', with the Ark replacing Mulder’s more traditional UFO. 

===Errors===
* Hawk's nameplate on his desk should really read “Abernathy,” his legal last name, not his cool toy trademark. The same should also go for Duke's nametag on his uniform. 

===Other trivia===
* This issue contains a four page preview for ''[[Cobra Commander (comic)|Cobra Commander]]'' [[Cobra Commander issue 1|#1]].
* Like with [[Transformers (2023) issue 1|Transformers #1]], an ashcan copy of this issue was available exclusively at [[San Diego Comic-Con]] 2023 prior to its official release. 

===Covers===
* '''Cover A:''' Duke stands tall as Starscream soars through the sky, by Tom Reilly.
* '''Cover B:''' 
* '''Cover C (1:10 Copy Incentive):''' 
* '''Cover D (1:25 Copy Incentive):''' 
* '''Cover E (1:50 Copy Incentive):''' 


<gallery>
File:Duke 2023 1 cvr.jpg||
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* The [[Cobra]] threat begins in ''Cobra Commander'' #1!

===Reprints===
* '''''Duke Volume 1''''' <small>([[June 5]], [[2024]]) ISBN 1534398163 / ISBN 978-1534398160 </small>
** Collects issues #1–5.
** Trade paperback format.

<gallery>
File:Duke V1.jpg|'''''Volume 1''''' – cover art by [[Tom Reilly]]
</gallery>

==External links==
* 

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Duke issues]]