Skybound Entertainment's new G.I. Joe series debuts next month, as the Energon Universe reboot of the franchise's continuity is finally complete, with the beginning of a new ongoing series from writer Josh Williamson. Screen Rant spoke to Williamson about the series, and the task of assembling the main team for the book, creating a brand-new character for the franchise and much, much more.

Joshua Williamson has already charted a good portion of Joe lore's introduction to the Energon Universe earlier this year, with the Duke and Cobra Commander miniseries, but G.I. Joe #1 represents his first ongoing series effort in Skybound’s shared universe.

Williamson’s enthusiasm for the franchise is undeniable, and it’s clear from talking to him how much of a fan of G.I. Joe he truly is. Check out our conversation below, edited slightly for clarity, to learn what Williamson has planned for the G.I. Joe series.

Screen Rant: There are literally hundreds of characters in the G.I. Joe franchise, so I’m curious to know how you selected which characters would be the focus in the new book. How did you go about selecting the main cast for the new team?

Joshua Williamson: I was thinking about this yesterday… It’s crazy that, like, I could write this book for years, and there would still be characters I wouldn’t get to. I have all the toys over here on my shelf, and I was thinking, “Man, I don’t know when I’m going to get to this character.” We also don’t want it to be a thing where it’s just like, we’re overloading you with new characters. We want to be able to tell a full story with this cast.

So, the cast for the new G.I. Joe came about organically, while I was working on Duke. We kind of knew which characters would show up, but when I was working on Duke, the dynamic changed a little bit. Like, I don’t think Clutch and Cover Girl were originally intended to be on the team when we first started out. Clutch was kind of a happy accident, in a way…I love Clutch. I think Clutch plays a really important role in the book in general. He was always one of my favorite G.I. Joes, but he wasn’t originally in our early outlines…Clutch came about because we needed a guy who was a mechanic.

But the thing I started looking at, when I was blocking out who I wanted to use first, was really the first two waves of toys. I was looking at the initial toys, and thinking, ‘Who was there from the start?” And that’s why we have characters like Stalker, obviously.

But then I changed things around, because we also have Baroness and Duke. And Duke didn’t show up until much later, in the comics and in the toys. He’s not there originally…He became more prominent because of the cartoon, and he’s so synonymous now with the brand. And then I thought, “What are the dynamics we need for the team?” So, we have Rock ’N Roll and Stalker chasing Duke (in the miniseries), so it made sense to include them since they were in the original line.

For Baroness, it was interesting. Early on, I wanted to do something different with Baroness… I thinking, “You know how easy it would be to make a G.I. Joe version of Baroness? All you have to do is take the Cobra logo off, and then put a star on it.” I texting Tom (Reilly, artist on Duke and G.I. Joe) and telling him, "Hey, I think we’re gonna have Baroness be a member of G.I. Joe. Would you be cool deg this?” And he designed it in like, a day. She’s such an interesting character, and she creates a little bit of conflict, a little bit of mistrust.

This is such an early version of G.I. Joe… They don’t know each other that well. They’re not friends yet, and having Baroness there really helps with that. And then, the reader is thinking, “Is she ever going to go to Cobra?” That’s also why I introduced Mercer in Duke… I was always really fascinated by this guy, who used to be with Cobra. He used to be a Viper, and now he’s with G.I. Joe, and I thought, “Let’s show that. Let’s show how he used to be a Viper.” And then you can see the process of what happens next.

And, you know, you want these characters who are going to bounce off of each other. You want people who aren’t like Duke, characters who are distinct and different. So that was really where my head was when building this team out. Look at the early figures, look at the early stories, and see who would bounce off each other the most in these situations. That’s why we have Stalker and Baroness… Clearly those two aren’t going to get along. Clearly Clutch is going to try to flirt with Cover Girl. And it just worked out.

We talked about there being different on the team, but as we got closer to the end of Duke, I was like, “This is the team. We built it.” You can see it when you read the book, so it all came together pretty organically.

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SR: We also meet a new character in the first issue. Tell us a little about creating a new character for G.I. Joe…What role did you want him to fulfill, both on the team and within the larger franchise?

JW: His name is Risk, yeah. So he’s ex-CIA. You know, he was a person that – and this comes up in issue #2 – he was kind of like a rich-boy thrill-seeker who would try to do different, like, hand-to-hand-fighting, cage fights, and it wasn’t enough for him. And so, he ed the CIA and part of his job was actually like, risk-assessment… You know, what is the collateral damage of this mission? Is this mission going to be too much? And then he went into the field, because he felt like, well, if I’m going to send people out on these dangerous missions, I should also go out on them, right?

If I’m going to tell someone else to take a risk, I should be able to take the risk, too. And so then he started going out in the field, he started doing a lot of stuff overseas, a lot of like, deep undercover type missions, you know? Like, really living off the grid. And then, because of Joe forming, and some of the things we’ll explore with Hawk as we keep going down the line, Hawk eventually looks at it and says, “I think Risk would be a really good person (on this team).”

But also, I think for Hawk, Hawk is like… Duke’s team is mostly comprised of a particular type of soldier, or people that Duke picked, so Hawk is kind of, like, I want my own person in this group, and that’s where he gets Risk from. And so that’s Risk’s backstory.

So it was all these different things. But then I was like, you know, the fun thing about creating a new G.I. Joe character is: how are they visually different? Because, again, I have this wall of G.I. Joe toys over here (on my shelf), and I would just stare at them. And I would be like, “How is he different?”

And I’m looking at Duke, I’m looking at Flint, I’m looking at the different characters, like Rock ’n Roll and Shipwreck and Chuckles (laughs) You’re going through looking at it, and I was like, “You know what’s missing from this line-up? A dude in a suit.” It’s funny because, if you go back and you look at how different Joes were based off of… either famous people, or they were based off of a popular thing. Like, there was that moment where there was going to be the Rocky toy that eventually became Big Boa.

I was thinking about that, and I thought, “You know, we don’t have a John Wick character. We don’t have a character that wears a suit and beats the crap out of people.” That would be such a cool visual on the line-up. Like you have all these characters, and here’s the guy in the Hawaiian T-shirt and here’s the dude in the sailor outfit, and then…here’s the dude in a suit.

So we had a lot of conversations about that, and then Tom (Reilly) went and ran with it and made a bunch of cool stuff. He has these knuckles that are electric, like brass knuckles that charge up. But yeah, he was a fun character to create, and I’m hoping that people respond to him and see that’s he’s sort of intended to be a little bit of an antagonist for Duke.

SR: Hopefully they’ll make him into a G.I. Joe: Classified figure…

JW: Yeah, I’m hoping!

SR: I’m also curious about your process in crafting a number one issue. I imagine writing a new G.I. Joe #1 carries quite a bit of responsibility, so what were the elements you knew you had to get into this first issue?

JW: Well, I think about issue ones a lot. I’ve always kind of been obsessed with the structure of issue ones, and it’s interesting… the structure, the dynamic between doing something that’s brand-new or a creator-owned property, and the information you have to give the reader, and trying to…invite the reader into your story. So I always think about that a lot.

With this, it’s interesting, because it’s an issue one, but it’s a known property. And what we’ve found is a lot of people – we’ve been able to get a lot of new readers coming in. But that’s the thing: with this issue in particular, I have to make sure that it appeals to new readers, right? But then it also has to appeal to people who love G.I. Joe. So I have to think about it, like, “What would get me excited about reading it?”

But then also, we’ve done the four minis (Duke, Cobra Commander, Scarlett & Destro). And so the four minis also act as preludes, but I don’t want people to feel they have to have read those to read (G.I. Joe #1)…I always believe the thing you should look for in an issue #1 is accessibility, right? Like, someone should pick it up, read it, understand what happens, and understand the mission statement and intent and then be able to say, “I want to read the next issue.”

I think about this all the time. I think one of the best issue #1 writers in comics is Brian K. Vaughan, so I sat down and looked as his #1’s a lot. A few years ago I talked to him about Y: The Last Man #1 and I thought it was so fascinating. The way he structured that issue was that…you go into knowing what’s going to happen. You know what it’s about…But the ending to Y: The Last Man #1 is not some big, like, “Oh, no… Who did it? How are all the men dead?” It’s an emotional cliffhanger because the reader is left with, “Oh, no… What happened with Beth?” Yorick was on the phone with Beth, and they got disconnected, so what was she going to say? It’s fascinating that – in this massive story that has worldwide implications – the cliffhanger is actually the smaller, emotional one.

But yeah, issue #1’s like this, when you’re thinking about this kind of cast, it’s all about how I bring the reader into this story so they understand what kind of story I’m trying to do. I don’t want a reader leaving an issue #1 confused. I want them to be, like, “I understand what we’re doing. I understand what this is about, and I can’t wait for issue #2.”

I also think about the artist I’m working with…I don’t want to give them boring stuff to draw. I’m always thinking, “What are cool visuals? What are cool page turns and big moments?” So I’m always very mindful of those bits and pieces as I’m working.

But with G.I. Joe…there’s such an enormous fandom for it. So you want to appeal to them, but you also want to do something different. Something unexpected. It may not be the G.I. Joe you know, but the heart and core and all the stuff that Larry Hama built is still here. So it was a lot of work to get this one where it is, and I’m really happy with it.

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SR: We also must talk about the art team, which sees you reunited with your Duke collaborators Tom Reilly and Jordie Bellaire. What made them the right fit for G.I. Joe, and what is it you hoped they would bring to the book?

JW: I’ve actually been a fan of Tom’s for a very long time. He and I started working on a creator-owned book back in 2021, I think? But then he got some job offers from Marvel, and my DC schedule was increasing, so we kind of put it on the back-burner…We stayed in touch, and he was doing Ant-Man and The Thing, and I kept thinking, ‘Man, this guy is so good.’ His storytelling is so strong, and the kind of art and the way he draws pages is the stuff I’m really drawn to.

But it was actually Robert Kirkman who was the one who said, “What if we get this Tom Reilly guy to do Duke?” And I was obviously down with that. So it was two or three years ago, Tom and I were at NYCC, and we were just talking about the future. And I was asking, “Do you want to do the creator-owned book? Do you want to work with Skybound?” And we realized we just wanted to do something together, so we started talking about G.I. Joe, and he said, “I think this would be really fun to do.” And so he started doing designs, and the moment the pages started coming in for Duke… Like, there’s that opening two-page spread in Duke #1, and I seeing that and saying, “Okay. This is the guy.”

And then Tom really wanted to work with Jordie Bellaire. I’ve worked with Jordie a few times, and she’s easily one of the best colorists… It’s why she wins all the awards every year. But she really came in and elevated everything we were doing. She started thinking about how different scenes would have different tones. Like, whenever the color red shows up in the book, that means there’s going to be danger coming. We started talking about how different colors will create different moods for the pages, and she just went with it. She is awesome.

And then Rus Wooton came in doing letters. He loves G.I. Joe, so he came in and put his own spin on stuff. I’m really proud of the package we’re putting together with this book… I don’t know, I don’t want to be rude, but I feel like this has got to be the best-looking G.I. Joe book of the last couple years. But then I really love the stuff they’re doing in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Like, Chris Mooneyham is doing those pages with Larry (Hama), and that book also looks way too good (laughs). And then those Andy Kubert covers… it’s so annoying! (laughs)

But, yeah, I’m really proud of the work that Tom and Jordie and Rus have been doing.

SR: I’m curious how the Energon Universe works behind the scenes. With major story beats like Cobra-La going into space, or Megatron being a prisoner of Cobra Commander, how much are you talking with your fellow Energon Universe creators about how everything fits together?

JW: I talk to Robert more than Daniel (Warren Johnson, writer of Transformers)… Daniel and I will talk at conventions, and we spit ideas back-and-forth, and we text each other. Because his stuff was so much more planned out than mine was… By the time I got brought in, he was further along than I was. Because Transformers was coming out so much earlier, and he was drawing it, so it was a whole other thing. I mean, I might have been brought on before him, but he started working long before I did; I was just talking [to Skybound].

We had a Zoom really early on, and this is where the Cobra Commander book really came from, but Daniel was saying, “I think Cobra Commander should do this and this,” and I was like, “I think he should do this.” We were talking so much about Cobra Commander, that it made sense to put him in his own book. Like, we’re talking about so much stuff for him to do, that we’re not going to have room in these books, so his book came out of that.

So, yeah, Daniel and I will meet at conventions and we’ll talk through ideas. Robert and I… I’ll see him every few months or he’ll call or text or e-mail. So, like, for example, last year around Christmas, that time where we’re all supposed to be taking time off from work and we don’t (laughs), Robert e-mailed me and said, ‘Hey what do you think about Pythona leaving at the end of Cobra Commander and going into space?’ And I was like, ‘Hell, yeah! Let’s do that!’ I know exactly how to do it… We were going to have a coda with Cobra-La anyway, so I said, ‘Let’s map this out.’ And then he and I just e-mailed back and forth that day of how it would work…It’s almost like improv, you know?

And then I’ll go down to Skybound and meet with Robert and talk…Robert and I have very different sensibilities. Robert is more of a slow burn person. Or he’s much more patient than I am. I’m always, “Let’s get to it! Let’s go, let’s go!” And he’s always there, saying, ‘No, slow down.’ (laughs) It’s just a lot of talks. I’ll write up a document, and we’ll do notes, but a lot of it is just talking.

You know, there have been times where we’ve gone to a Hasbro at a convention, and they’ll show some G.I. Joe: Classified toy and it’ll look amazing. And Sean Mackiewicz [publisher of Skybound] will be sitting next to me and I’ll just lean over and say, ‘I’m gonna use that. That’s going in the book.’ And he’s like, ‘Okay, fine. As long as it’s cool.’ (laughs) Like, I saw the new Thunder Machine toy, and I knew then that the Dreadnoks were going to be in Cobra Commander, and we’re gonna have a big splash page with the Thunder Machine. I had that toy when I was a kid.

SR: Finally, I know you probably can’t say much, but what can you tease about what’s to come in the first year of G.I. Joe?

JW: The first year, oh my gosh… My head is so far out, in some ways. I would say the third arc is the one that will blow people away. So that’ll be towards the end of the first year. There’s an arc coming that is super crazy exciting in the stuff we have planned for it. It’s something I’ve never seen before in this property, and I’m really excited about it. There are a lot of twists and turns coming. You know, there’s going to be some definite connections with Transformers, and stuff with Void Rivals, but really… There’s a lot of cool character stuff I’m excited about. Like, really fleshing this world out.

You know, you look at the cartoon, you look at the comics… Not everything had to be some gigantic “Cobra vs G.I. Joe” battle. There were stories that had such high-tension, but… I don’t want to use the word ‘smaller,’ but they weren’t ‘events.’ Just these cool little missions they would go on.

So, I feel like with this first year, we’re really building to some cool stuff. It’s gonna be a lot of fun for the first year, and beyond. We have so much stuff planned, and that’s one thing I want readers to know: this is a long-term commitment. We really do have a big story that’s planned. This isn’t going to be a short, little run and then we take off; we have big plans that we want to do right.

Many thanks to Josh Williamson for taking the time to speak with us.

G.I. Joe #1 is on sale November 11, 2024 from Skybound Entertainment.