G.I. Joe (2024) issue 9

Publisher	Image Comics; Skybound Entertainment
First published	July 16, 2025
Cover date	July 2025
Written by	Joshua Williamson
Art by	Andrea Milana
Colors by	Lee Loughridge
Letters by	Rus Wooton
Editors	Ben Abernathy
Continuity	Energon Universe

Cover Girl and Baroness have been captured by Major Bludd and must make a deadly decision if they want to survive.

Synopsis

The Baroness declines Raptor's invitation from Major Bludd, but the self-styled “Great Bird of Prey” makes it clear that Bludd's demand is non-negotiable, descending upon Baroness and Cover Girl. Baroness asks Cover Girl to get her parents to safety while she handles Raptor, but Raptor reveals that his toying with them was just a distraction as Bludd himself arrives on the scene and shoots Cover Girl in the shoulder (although he was aiming for her head). While Paris police attempt to deal with Major Bludd to little success, Baroness suggests escaping, but Cover Girl tells her that if Bludd and Raptor are here for her, then she has to face them or else more people will be harmed in the crossfire. Begrudgingly, she grabs one of the police officer's pistols and confronts Bludd... only for her and Cover Girl to be snatched up in a net by Raptor. Bludd orders they be taken to the safe house.

At the Pit, Duke and Risk are practicing on the shooting range. Risk expresses his concern that something is off with Clutch, but Duke assures him that his friend has nothing to hide. Meanwhile, Clutch is hiding in the garage with the Autobot Hound as the Transformer tells him about the war between the Autobots and Decepticons that brought the robots to Earth. He has tried, unsuccessfully, to contact his leader, but believes that he can be of aid to the Joes' efforts to stop Cobra in the meantime. Suddenly, Hound begins to keel over, his Energon levels dangerously low. Clutch tells him that they'll just have to get some more from Cobra.

Elsewhere, Mercer reports to Destro that he's located Agent Martin in a prison facility, having apparently lost his mind after his encounter with Starscream and obsessively painting his image on his cell wall. Mercer relays what happened between the M.A.R.S. team and the Decepticon, which confirms for Destro that this is the same robot Duke has been hunting. When Mercer asks if Destro plans to inform Cobra Commander, Destro tells him that he doesn't want anyone else learning what Martin saw. Mercer confirms this order, pulls out a pistol, and executes Martin.

Cover Girl wakes up to find herself and Baroness trapped in some sort of pit. Baroness chastises her that they lost their opportunity to escape because Courtney insisted on helping people. Their argument is interrupted by Major Bludd, who reveals that while he does want revenge on the Baroness for his eye, there are plenty of other people that she's made enemies of over the years who are willing to pay top dollar for the chance to kill her themselves. As such, he throws his knife into the pit and presents his captives with a choice: if Cover Girl wants to live, she'll cut out the Baroness's eye for Bludd; if Baroness wants to be handed over to his buyers intact, she'll kill Cover Girl. Baroness balks at this, not trusting Bludd at all, but Bludd reveals that he has Raptor watching over her parents, ready to kill them if they don't play along. As Baroness continues to scream at Bludd to come face her himself, Cover Girl grabs the knife... and plunges it into Baroness's back!

Featured characters

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

G.I. Joe	Cobra	Others
Baroness (1) Cover Girl (2) Duke (8) Risk (9) Clutch (10)	Mercer (13) Destro (15) Cobra Commander (16) Tomax and Xamot (17 & 18)	Raptor (3) Mr. Cisarovna (4) Mrs. Cisarovna (5) Major Bludd (6) Paris Police (7) Hound (11) Agent Martin (12) Starscream (14, painting) Archibald Monev (19) Beach Head (20)

Quotes

"I'm sure you've heard of me... the great bird of prey. I've hunted across the world with my trained aviary."
"Nope. I don't know you. And I know everyone!"

—Raptor and Baroness

"We should have left when we had the chance."
"That's not what a Joe would do, Baroness."
"I did not want to be a Joe. Unlike you, I had no choice. It was either join Duke's mad plan or be locked up. And yet... I am still locked up."

—Baroness and Cover Girl

Notes

Continuity notes

Baroness shot Major Bludd's eye out back in Duke #3.
Hound says his transponder must have been damaged in the Ark's crash.
Hound references his repairs by Matt Trakker from the main segment of the Energon Universe 2025 Special.
The necessity of Energon for the Transformers has been a recurring focus across all the Energon Universe titles, and this issue shows Hound beginning to run low on his own supply.
Agent Martin and his M.A.R.S. team's encounter with Starscream happened in Transformers #13 and #14.
- Mercer says that the events of those issues happened "last year", which follows roughly the real-world release schedule of the issues. However, the in-universe timeline there is a bit... tricky, to say the least. Those events occurred concurrent with that of the second arc of Transformers, with Martin and company witnessing the shard of Cybertron falling into the ocean from the end of Transformers #12. The first issue of G.I. Joe then picks up shortly after those events and, up to this point, can only cover a matter of weeks at most. The story of Transformers is certainly not being written as taking place over the course of a single year, let alone two, and this is before we even TRY and address the whole "six months later" thing from Duke #1.
Destro has been on the trail of Starscream since learning about Duke's encounter with the Seeker (first seen in Transformers #2) in Duke #5.
When Bludd recounts his search for the Baroness, we see flashbacks to G.I. Joe #4 and #7.

G.I. Joe references

Raptor mentions his backstory as a taxman who trained falcons to hunt, an aspect of his character that goes back to his original filecard.

Errors

The back cover of the physical release shows the A cover in place of the E cover.

Other notes

Energon Experience: Presented by Skybound Publisher Sean Mackiewicz.
- Character Spotlight: A brief overview of the Cover Girl and what happened with her and the Baroness last issue.
- Lance Prefers Blondes: Acknowledgement of Cover Girl's change of hair color from G.I. Joe #1.
- Creator Q&A: Sean asks Andrea Milana what his Cobra codename would be. Milana answers “Sinistro”, for its parallel to Destro and the fact that he’s left handed.

Covers

Cover A: Baroness land Cover Girl in Paris, by Tom Reilly.
Cover B: A playing card with Baroness and Cover Girl as the Queen, by Andrea Milana.
Cover C (1:10 Copy Incentive): Connecting cover, by Alan Quah.
Cover D (1:25 Copy Incentive): Hound on an explosion background, by John Amor.
Cover E (1:50 Copy Incentive): Baroness, by Ito.