NYCC 2026: The Pressure Of Creating New Characters — Tom Reilly And Ben Abernathy Discuss ‘G.I. Joe’
by Gary Catig
Even though other franchises have been introduced into the Energon Universe, the major pillars are still Transformers and G.I. Joe. Plenty of exciting news regarding the shared universe came out during New York Comic Con (NYCC). Also at the event, we spoke with artist Tom Reilly and editor Ben Abernathy to discuss the G.I. Joe side of things.
Part of the fun of playing in the Energon Universe sandbox is the ability to work with and update characters the creators were fond of when they were younger. However, there have been opportunities to create new additions as well. Reilly talked about the process of creating the recently introduced Major Medusa.
“It’s definitely kind of stressful,” he said. “It’s kind of a big responsibility to design a whole new character. As I said on the panel, everyone’s got a ton of different favorite G.I. Joe characters that they might rather see than a new character. You got to make sure they stand out. Make sure they’re cool.”
Reilly continued:
“My approach to designing these characters? Usually Josh [Williamson] gives me a name that I go off of. It’s usually a pretty cool name that I can derive what I want to see, design elements and that sort of stuff. I think a lot about colors. I think she’s wearing green. There’s never been a Cobra character that wears green except for maybe Croc Master and he’s a Dreadnok. Just unique character elements that make the character visually stand out.”
One of the biggest bombs to be dropped at the NYCC panel was on the cover of G.I. Joe #30. Baroness wears a Cobra uniform. It’s not entirely a surprise if you know the previous iterations of the comics and cartoons. Still, there have been instances in the series so far that telegraphed the development.
Abernathy shared:
“I can think of two immediately. What you have to remember about her is she is a mercenary. Always out for number one which is herself. Obviously her bonding with Duke when they were in prison together in the Pit in G.I. Joe. There’s been points where she interacted with Destro. In issue #6 there’s a scene where they shoot out. The other one, they teamed up in “The Crystal Ball” arc so they had to work together to escape.”
Based off of Abernathy’s words, Baroness’ allegiance switch seems permanent. But we can’t receive full context or know the complete story until the issue releases January 20th, 2027.
