G.I. Joe #25 puts Joe against Joe, and the cover says it runs five issues

G.I. Joe #25 arrives in comic shops on Wednesday, August 19, and Skybound is not being subtle about the size of it. Image Comics’ own listing calls it a new story arc, 40 pages, rated Teen, at $4.99, with the pitch “IT HAD TO HAPPEN: G.I. JOE VS. NIGHT FORCE.”

Tom Reilly’s wraparound Cover A adds a detail the press release did not. Under the logo, beside the price, the trade dress reads NIGHTFORCE, PART 1 OF 5. So this is a five-issue arc, not an open-ended run of Joes fighting each other, and the cover itself is where that number is published.

The preview pages explain why there are two teams

Skybound released the opening pages, and they do the job a first page should. The narration belongs to somebody inside Night Force, and it starts with the decision that created it.

The opening page of G.I. Joe #25, a night infiltration in four panels, narrated in caption boxes

Page one of G.I. Joe #25. Art by Tom Reilly and Andrea Milana, colours by Lee Loughridge, letters by Rus Wooton. Preview page: Skybound Entertainment and Image Comics.

“Colonel Hawk wanted two teams,” the first caption says. “He felt that Duke was incapable of handling missions that were… outside his purview.” The world has changed, the next panel argues, and “the impossible threatens the natural order of things.” So a second unit was built out of “the best of the best that could get any job done.” No matter the cost.

The last panel finishes the thought and hands off to the spread: while Duke’s G.I. Joe operates in the light, this team strikes from the shadows, which is why they were given the codename.

A double-page battle spread carrying the Night Force title logo, a squad fighting walker mechs across a red desert

The title spread on pages two and three. Preview pages: Skybound Entertainment and Image Comics.

That framing is the whole hook. Hawk authorised a shadow team because he did not trust his field commander with a certain class of mission, and the book is about to put the two of them in the same room. Joshua Williamson writes, Reilly and Andrea Milana share the art, Lee Loughridge colours and Rus Wooton letters.

Ten covers, and five of them cost a dollar more

The cover list for a landmark issue is its own small industry. Cover A is Reilly’s wraparound. Covers B and C are open to order, by Jerome Opena with Neeraj Menon and by Miki Okazaki. After that it gets into ratios and finishes: a 1:25 streetwear variant by Fadime Yildirim, which Image’s own listing spells Yildrim, a 1:50 by Michele Rubini and Annalisa Leoni, and a 1:100 foil by Jonboy Meyers that Skybound says carries a spoiler reveal.

Then there are two blank sketch covers, one branded G.I. Joe and one Night Force, a foil edition of Reilly’s wraparound, and a foil die cut Zartan mask cover by Andrea Milana and Andres Juarez. Those five all list at $5.99. Cover A’s Lunar code is 0626IM0276 if you are ordering through a shop.

Why this matters if you only buy the figures

Night Force is not a comic invention. It is a 1988 sub-line, and Hasbro has been quietly rebuilding it in Classified: we covered the Night Force Psych-Out Walmart exclusive in July, and Toy News International’s feed carried it as available again at Walmart on August 16. A five-issue arc that puts the Night Force name on the cover of the flagship book, in the same year the deco is showing up on pegs, is the sort of thing that tends to precede more of it.

The Energon Universe side of the business has been feeding the toy side for a while now. The G.I. Joe and Tomb Raider crossover went the other way, a comic that produced a Classified figure. And on the pure toy beat, Ninja Force Snake Eyes and Jinx leaked ahead of Hasbro’s own renders at the weekend.

Getting hold of it

Wednesday, in comic shops and on digital. There is no preorder link worth pointing at from here: BigBadToyStore does not carry the single issue, and MyComicShop lists #25A but has it marked not in stock, which is normal for a book that has not shipped to distributors yet. That same page is the useful one if you are coming to this cold, because issues 1 through 24 are sitting there as back issues and #25 is a deliberate jumping-on point.

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Sources

G.I. JOE #25, Image Comics, on-sale date, page count, rating, price and Lunar code, read August 17, 2026
G.I. Joe and Night Force Face Off in G.I. JOE #25, the Landmark Extra-Sized Issue, Graphic Policy, the Skybound, Image and Hasbro announcement with the full variant list
Preview: G.I. JOE #25, Graphic Policy, the preview pages reproduced above
ToyNewsI daily news feed, which carried the Night Force Psych-Out Walmart restock on August 16, 2026
GI Joe (2024 Image), MyComicShop, stock state checked August 17, 2026

Cover and preview art: Skybound Entertainment and Image Comics. The “part 1 of 5” reading is taken off the printed trade dress on Cover A.