Cover Girl

Profile

Courtney A. Krieger, born in Peoria, Illinois, serves as a G.I. Joe team member with a primary specialty in armor and a secondary role as an AFV mechanic. Before enlisting, she was a top fashion model in Chicago and New York, appearing on many magazine covers. Bored with modeling, she joined the Army for fresh challenges and attended Armor School at Fort Knox and other technical schools to prove her abilities.

She is skilled in diesel mechanics and gas turbine technology, and is an expert with the LAW rocket, Dragon AT missile, M-16, and M1911A1 Auto Pistol. Later, her knowledge of makeup and stagecraft was used for undercover intelligence work, though she disliked assignments that exploited her looks. She expanded her skills at Fort Huachuca Military Intelligence School, becoming a more capable field agent.

Comics

Cover Girl made her first appearance in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #16, published in October 1983. Her early missions included guarding the U.S. Treasury building from Cobra agents and later teaming up with Clutch to pursue Cobra operatives across Europe. She took part in a Joe raid on the fictional country of Frusenland, where Cobra was brainwashing civilians into violence. Working alongside tank driver Back-Stop, she helped destroy numerous Cobra vehicles.

During that mission, she and her fellow Joes were hit by Cobra’s brainwashing weapons and were saved by Battleforce 2000—the very soldiers they had been sent to protect. After a botched raid on Cobra Island, the Jugglers framed the Joes, and Cover Girl became one of many on the run. While rescuing General Hawk and General Hollingsworth from a clinic-prison, she was shot in the shoulder. In Special Missions #24, Cover Girl, Lady Jaye, Scarlett, and Jinx reluctantly went undercover as cheerleaders to protect the President during an exhibition baseball game, but he was still captured by a Cobra blimp.

Teaming up with Hardball, she batted a gas canister into the blimp to aid the rescue. That same issue revealed her ability to snap people out of hypnosis, countering the effects of Cobra’s hypnotist Crystal Ball. Her final appearance in the Marvel series was a cameo in issue #149, where she monitored Destro’s castle. In IDW’s original series, Cover Girl served on a team with Duke, Roadblock, Shipwreck, Tunnel Rat, Quick Kick, and Doc.

IDW Publishing

An origin story showed her recruitment after she single-handedly slaughtered a group of pirates, later admitting she had finally found something she was good at—killing. She later joined a G.I. Joe tank crew alongside Cross-Country, Steeler, and Wildcard, working with the remnants of the Oktober Guard to protect civilians from Cobra factional fighting. During a shootout with a Crimson Guardsman, she woke from a coma and discovered her throat had been severely injured, leaving her with a deep voice.

Other versions

Cover Girl first teamed with Spirit and Snake Eyes in a Devil's Due G.I. Joe story to investigate a string of kidnappings involving identical children. This led to her and Spirit being captured on the rebuilt Cobra Island, where they escaped with help from Cobra Commander, himself a prisoner.

Later, in another series, it was revealed she was dating Shipwreck, a fact that made Clutch jealous. Their relationship was further explored in a special mission in Brazil, where they rescued a kidnapped senator, and again when they captured a retired Cobra agent named Skullbuster. In an alternate reality crossover, Cover Girl aided a wounded Snake Eyes after alien robots caused an explosion that scarred his face.

Animated series

In Sunbow's G.I. Joe animated series, Liz Aubrey provided the voice for Cover Girl. Her debut was in the "Real American Hero" mini-series, where she sported a green jacket and long blonde hair. Starting with "The Revenge of Cobra" mini-series, her look changed to a brown jacket and short auburn hair to match her action figure. She frequently worked alongside Shipwreck on missions.

In the first-season episode "Twenty Questions," Cover Girl led a search party for Shipwreck in the Rocky Mountains. Her first major role came in "Lights! Camera! Cobra!," where she served as a technical advisor on a G.I. Joe movie.

After taking injured Joes Dusty and Recondo to the hospital, Shipwreck was captured by Cobra, but Cover Girl tricked Cobra Commander into releasing him. In "Cobra Claws Are Coming to Town," she took charge when Duke was captured, leading the Joes to stop a Cobra attack. Flying a Cobra Rattler, she demanded Duke's return, and after Cobra Commander shot her down, a giant Polly saved her. Her modeling past was hinted at in "Glamor Girls," where she and Lady Jaye infiltrated a fake modeling shoot set up by Zartan and Baroness, exposing them by mentioning a defunct agency.

In G.I. Joe: The Movie, she appeared as a background character with long auburn hair. She also appeared in G.I. Joe: Resolute as an auburn brunette, helping evacuate the U.S.S. Flagg.

Did You Know?

• The 1983 Cover Girl figure has been released in Brazil as Agente Secreta: Sparta, and in Argentina repainted with blue highlights as an Argentinian version of Sparta.
• Dorian Brown played an FBI agent named Courtney Krieger in the NCIS episode Identity Crisis.
• Cover Girl is discussed at length in the non-fiction novel The Paradise of Bombs.