G.I. Joe Energon Universe 2025 Special story
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| Publisher | Image Comics Skybound Entertainment | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 3, 2025 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Joshua Williamson | ||||||||||||
| Art by | Andrea Milana | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Lee Loughridge | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Rus Wooton | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Energon Universe | ||||||||||||
A mysterious robot has some questions for Clutch.
Synopsis
Aboard the Ark, Hound is thrown from the vessel as it crashes to Earth, where he is buried for centuries before being awoken by a mysterious signal. Separated from his comrades, Hound resumes his normal mission as a scout; find information for the Autobots in their never-ending war...
Which leads him to Clutch, who does not appreciate the giant robot’s abrasive questioning about where he found Energon and begins firing. Clutch knows what the transforming robots are capable of, and fires his Energon weapon at him. This succeeds in wounding the Autobot to the point where he can’t transform anymore. Clutch, now concerned he may have made a mistake, brings Hound to a friend of his, Matt Trakker, for repair. Trakker is seemingly unsurprised by the presence of a giant alien robot, and converses with Clutch about his new assignment.
During their conversation, Hound suddenly alerts them to an enemy presence: Ravage, who smashes through the bunker’s window and shrugs off several shots from Trakker’s gun. It soon becomes clear that the fiendish feline is after Energon; he pounces on Clutch, only to be grabbed by the tail by Hound, who chucks him out the window and shots him as he runs away. Hound warns the two humans that he’ll be back with reinforcements and that they need to leave.
The next morning, Trakker sees the two soldiers off, with a warning to keep the events of the last night a secret, especially his involvement. Clutch and Hound drive off, with the former revealing the origin of his Energon weapon: Cobra. Hound is intrigued…
In a swamp, an overturned Cobra jeep smolders. The sole surviving soldier is interrogated as to the reason for his presence; they were going to move what Energon is left from the swamps. The interrogator clarifies the chain of command; the hapless trooper confirms he used to work for Destro, but now some new guy’s taken over the show. Some new guy named Cobra Commander. Buzzer activates his chainsaw; Cobra Commander took everything from the Dreadnoks, and once they find him, they’re going to war.
Featured characters
Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | G.I. Joe | Other |
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Quotes
Notes
Continuity Notes
- This story follows off of #6’s cliffhanger ending, and explains what Hound is doing in this side of the Energon Universe.
- Hound is revealed to have been one of the Autobots aboard the Ark, who, like Beachcomber, was thrown from the ship prior to the crash. Unlike Beachcomber, he wound up close enough to the Ark that Teletraan I was able to repair him during the events of Transformers #1. He was still buried underground, which is why nobody noticed him waking up.
- Clutch got his Energon weapon from his undercover stint with Cobra in the Joe ongoing, first revealed in issue 2.
- The presence of Ravage indicates that this story takes place some time after Transformers #18, where he was finally repaired by Megatron after spending virtually the entire series offline.
Transformers references
- Hound vs Ravage is a classic Transformers matchup, going all the way back to the 80’s cartoon’s second episode.
G.I. Joe references
Other Hasbro franchise references
- Matt Trakker is actually from M.A.S.K., not G.I. Joe. His familiarity with Cybertronian technology may have something to do with M.A.S.K.’s usual schtick of transforming vehicles, though the exact details are left vague in the story.
