Comic World News | Pull List

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

G.I. Joe

Reviews of various G.I. Joe comics from Devil's Due

I was outgrowing weekday afternoon cartoons just as G.I. Joe and Transformers showed up to the party, so I�ve got zero nostalgia going for these properties and have done a pretty good job of ignoring them so far. But last year Devil�s Due tempted me by putting a couple of artists I really like onto the Joe books, so I gave the line a shot. Here�s what I found.

G.I. Joe: Scarlett: Declassified
Written by Mike O�Sullivan; Illustrated by Phil Noto

They got me with Noto. Ever since his stint doing covers on DC�s Birds of Prey, I�ve been in love with Noto�s �50s-inspired art. He knows how to draw women who are sexy, yet anatomically correct. It was a great move to give him the gig illustrating a one-shot that focuses on G.I. Joe�s sole female member. Not that Noto is limited to pin-ups. He�s a fine storyteller as well, creating evocative settings and flawlessly communicating both action and emotions.

Scarlett: Declassified was a good way for me to try out the G.I. Joe line from a story standpoint too. O�Sullivan wrote a nice, character-based tale about a young woman�s gradual entrance into the spy community. Other than setting up Cobra as the villains, there�s very little reference to the rest of the G.I. Joe mythos. It works as a story about anyone; you don�t have to be a Joe fan to enjoy it. Though you�ll likely want to read more about Scarlett once you�re done.

G.I. Joe: Dreadnoks: Declassified
Written by Josh Blaylock; Illustrated by Corey Zayatz and Joe Dodd

This, on the other hand, was practically impossible to get into. After the ease with which Scarlett introduced me to the Joe world, I expected Dreadnoks to be another easy transition, but it�s full of characters I don�t know being thrown at me willy-nilly and I had to struggle to keep up. The term �Dreadnok� doesn�t even appear until late in the book when it refers to a motorcycle gang that I hadn�t seen in the story up until then. I�m sure that the other characters in the story are somehow related to the Dreadnoks, but I couldn�t tell you how.

Scarlett was a one-shot; Dreadnoks was the first issue in a mini-series. Unlike Scarlett though, I had no desire to seek out another issue about these characters.

G.I. Joe: Declassified #1-3
Written by Larry Hama; Illustrated by Pat Quinn, Valentine De Landro, and Joe Dodd

Larry Hama is to G.I. Joe comics what Chris Claremont is to the X-Men, so it�s a big deal that he wrote this mini-series. Unfortunately for the uninitiated, Hama � like Claremont � knows so much about these characters that he wants to fit as much continuity about them into the story as he possibly can. I felt like the outsider that I was. This one�s for the faithful only.

G.I. Joe #14-18
Written by Joe Casey; Illustrated by Josh Medors

Medors is the other G.I. Joe artist whom I already liked. He�s got an exciting, detailed style that�s perfect for an adventure book like this, so I looked forward to checking it out and seeing if the story was as engaging as I knew the art would be.

I haven�t read Casey�s entire run, but the storyline in these issues is a fantastic, huge, action thriller. Cobra Commander has infiltrated the cabinet of the President of the United States and is using his power to not only undermine the G.I. Joe project, but also to develop his own team of �heroes� who�ll be ready to step in once he convinces the President to scrap the Joes. It�s got political intrigue and wonderful action as Cobra Commander�s team infiltrates G.I. Joe headquarters and takes it over, imprisoning many of the Joes while trying to locate a few stragglers. Of course, the few Joes who are still free are busy forming plans of their own. I don�t have any frame of reference to make this claim, but I suspect that this arc will go down in history as one of G.I. Joe�s classic ones. I know that I�ll want to re-read it.

The only disappointment was learning that Scarlett is having some kind of relationship with the silent, ninja-esque Snake Eyes. I get the feeling that they�ve become a couple not because it makes any sense, but because she�s the hot girl on the team and he�s the fan-favorite character who should be dating the hot girl.

Maybe it was explored in other issues, but how much of a relationship can they have when he doesn�t talk? I don�t know if he�s genuinely mute and I�m just being hard on him or if he�s really a pretentious poser and trying to be all mysterious, but I do know that I saw very little communicating between the couple via sign language or anything else and that that doesn�t make for a healthy relationship at all. They do a lot of casual touching and generally looking like a couple, but that�s it. It�s like two kids who don�t have the slightest idea of what a real relationship is, but are mimicking what they�ve seen other couples do. And maybe I�d buy that if Scarlett: Declassified hadn�t portrayed Scarlett as much more together than that.

If the unhealthiness of their relationship is getting explored in the series somewhere, I�d be interested in reading it, but if it�s just a case of giving the fans the �relationship� they think they want, no thanks.

G.I. Joe: Special Missions: Antarctica
Written by Andrew Dabb and Mike O�Sullivan; Illustrated by Tim Seeley and Joe Dodd

Dabb and Seeley take the lead in this one-shot featuring a few of the Joes on special assignment to Antarctica to blow up an illegal oil refinery run by Cobra. While they�re there, they hook up with some cold-climate specialists whom I imagine that G.I. Joe fans don�t usually see a lot of. This is a simpler story than the one in the ongoing title, but it�s just as good for similar reasons. Of all the Joe books I read, the most successful ones were the ones that left complicated continuity behind and just focused on telling big, action/adventure stories. Antarctica is a simple story with a clear-cut mission, but Dabb gives it enough surprises to keep it fun and interesting.

I also like how the lead story actually sets up the back-up story by O�Sullivan and Dodd. The back-up (set in Hawaii and co-starring some underwater specialists instead of the cold-weather guys) is shorter, but equal in quality to the opener. As a package, the one-shot�s a great, self-contained read. Another one I�ll want to re-read eventually.

And that�s my G.I. Joe experience. I�ll definitely want to check back and see what Casey and Medors are doing with the ongoing series, but I�m also into keeping an eye out for future one-shots that go easy on the continuity in favor of bigger thrills. Mike O�Sullivan looks like a guy to keep an eye out for, and even though I only read one story by him, so does Andrew Dabb.