G.I. Joe (2024) issue 8

Publisher	Image Comics; Skybound Entertainment
First published	June 18, 2025
Cover date	June 2025
Written by	Joshua Williamson
Art by	Andrea Milana
Colors by	Lee Loughridge
Letters by	Rus Wooton
Editors	Ben Abernathy
Continuity	Energon Universe

Baroness and Cover Girl find themselves as prey while on what was supposed to be a relaxing Parisian getaway.

Synopsis

Alarms blare in the Pit, secret headquarters of G.I. Joe. Cover Girl and Risk sneak down a hallway, knowing they are getting closer to finding the Baroness. Unbeknownst to them, the Baroness is hiding in the rafters above and easily sneaks up on Cover Girl, knocking her down and shooting her in the chest with her paintball gun. As she stands above the “dead” Cover Girl, to pose and gloat, Risk tags her himself. With their training exercise complete, Duke tells Baroness that her head wasn't in the game, and that could cost them in a real fight.

At Cobra headquarters, Destro and Cobra Commander discuss recent events with the alien robots in Seattle, with the Commander even revealing some vague details about his own history with the machines. The Commander and Destro agree that they aren't ready to get involved in the robots' conflict. Destro suggests sending Mercer to Seattle to recover any pieces of technology they can use, but the Commander is far more interested in acquiring an intact specimen.

Meanwhile, Clutch returns to the Pit with Hound. Though the Autobot would like to explore more of Earth, Clutch insists that they have to keep him hidden, fearing what will happen if the rest of the Joes discover him. However, he is startled by the sudden appearance of Duke, who questions Clutch about the “new car”; nervously, Clutch claims it's his new pet project. Duke can tell something is off with Clutch, but assumes he's just rattled after his experience in Cobra, offering to let him take some time off to recover. This annoys the Baroness, as she isn't allowed to leave the Pit. She begs Duke for 48 hours of leave, which Duke reluctantly agrees to. When the Baroness arrives at her private plane later, however, she learns that her leave will not be unsupervised: Cover Girl is tagging along. Though the Baroness insists she doesn't need a babysitter, Cover Girl reveals that she agrees with her, the Joes do need some R&R.

Arriving in Paris, Courtney is excited, asking the Baroness what she wants to do first, but she's already given her chaperone the slip, zooming down the Parisian streets on a motorcycle until she arrives at a café with a waiter already expecting her. Cover Girl arrives minutes later, having put a tracker in the Baroness' boot on the plane. The Baroness reveals the real reason she asked for time away was to see her parents, who are dining at another restaurant across the street to celebrate their anniversary. However, when Courtney suggests going over to see them, Anastasia refuses, not wanting to spoil her parents' time.

Suddenly, a cast of falcons descends on the cafe, pecking and scratching at the customers before turning their attention to the pair of heroines. Anastasia asks Courtney to help her parents, but not let them see her. However, they are stopped by the arrival of the man controlling the birds: Raptor! The avian adversary delivers a message to the Baroness - Major Bludd demands her audience.

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

G.I. Joe	Cobra	Others
Cover Girl (1) Risk (2) Baroness (3) Duke (4) Stalker (5) Clutch (12)	Destro (6) Cobra Commander (7)	Bruticus (8, on screen) Devastator (9, on screen) Optimus Prime (10, on screen) Hound (11) Baroness' pilot (13) Baroness' flight attendant (14) Café host (15) Café waiter (16) Major Bludd (17) Mr. Cisarovna (18) Mrs. Cisarovna (19) Raptor (20)

Quotes

"You stopped to pose, Baroness. Always a mistake."

—Risk

"What a treat for you. Riding on a private jet for the first time."
"First time? Baroness, please. I was a model before I enlisted, remember? Had shoots all over. I've been flown around the world on quite a few private jets. My favorite being the Gulfstream G650ER. Hell, I’ve even flown in Air Force One a few times. Let me tell you, that is luxury. Yours is cute, tho."

—Baroness and Cover Girl

Notes

Continuity notes

Cobra Commander and Destro watch footage of the brawl between Bruticus and Devastator from Transformers #18.
Cobra Commander reveals to Destro that he once had possession of a "damaged robot" but that he no longer has access to its location. However, the Commander is unaware that Megatron freed himself from Cobra-La during the Transformers portion of the Energon Universe 2024 Special and has since taken back control of the Decepticons in Transformers #20.
We saw our first glimpse at the Baroness's parents in Duke #3, when Duke filled Clutch in on the Baroness’s history.
- Speaking of, how exactly does an internationally wanted war criminal in the custody of the United States government still have access to private planes with their own staff, especially if she isn’t in contact with her parents?
Cover Girl's history as a model was first alluded to in the first issue.

Transformers references

As confirmed in the letter pages of this issue, the Shard, what Cobra Commander calls the piece of technology he powered up with the Brainwave Scanner in issue 6, is in fact a transformation cog. What the Commander plans to do with it remains to be seen.

G.I. Joe references

Major Bludd is shown writing a poem, referencing his usual love of poetry from the Marvel A Real American Hero series.
Raptor is a character that originated in the 1987 line of A Real American Hero toys. His appearance here is based on his G.I. Joe: Classified Series figure.

Real-life references

Cover Girl mentions the Gulfstream G650ER, a class of large business jet favored by tech billionaires such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos.
The falcons attacking multiple civilians in the streets has a similar vibe to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

Errors

The host at the café's dialogue misspells Anastasia's last name as "Cisaronva."

Other notes

Energon Experience:
- Character Spotlight: A brief overview of the Baroness and what happened to her in the issue you just read.
- Transformation: Confirmation that the object Cobra Commander unlocked from the Brainwave Scanner in issue #6 was a transformation cog.
- Creator Q&A: Ben asks Joshua Williamson what his G.I. Joe codename would be. Williamson answers “BURNOUT”.

Covers

Cover A: Baroness leaves G.I. Joe, by Tom Reilly.
Cover B: A target is locked on Baroness, by Andrea Milana.
Cover C (1:10 Copy Incentive): Connecting cover, by Alan Quah.
Cover D (1:25 Copy Incentive): Major Bludd on an explosion background, by Marco Farrari.
Cover E (1:50 Copy Incentive): Baroness at a café, by Rossi Gifford.
Cover F (1:100 Copy Incentive): Baroness and Major Bludd, by Howard Porter & Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Cover G: Energon Universe Anniversary connecting cover, by Jason Howard and Annalisa Leoni.
Cover H: Energon Universe Anniversary connecting cover (black and white), by Jason Howard.