R & R 's Comic Review #8
THE GOOD:
ROGER:
RON: Yes, I also love Shipwreck's lack of enthusiasm when he finds out the Joes are going up against Storm Shadow. It is like he was hoping the other Joes would stop him. Here is something you can't say in the cartoon rated TV-Y7-FV.
ROGER: We FINALLY get to see some sort of
explanation for the mechanics behind Destro's mask. Thank you!
RON: I was going to save this image for the Ugly Section becuase the images were kinda freaky, but it is also cool too. Not very realistic, but the mask is what makes the character. So I will go with it all the way.
ROGER: It is, as always, great to see more of the old Joe's used to fill in the
ranks on specific missions. No need to use a green shirt when there is a
perfectly logical specialist waiting in the wings.
RON: It is good to know someone is listening at DD. A few earlier issues seemed to be plagued with limited apprearances. Now we get to see more of the Joes we love. Even if it is a cameo, that is fine.
RON: My kinda action....grenades, explosions, and a gun blazing battle!!! Conflicts between Joes and Cobra are best handled well using this method. I know we see a little ninja action later in the book, but a good ole' firefight is where it's at.
ROGER: I loved the "confrontation" between Storm Shadow, and Kamakura. Can you
even imagine the level of confidence it would take in the real world to
all but ignore a potential threat just because you know you are the best.
At
least he talks to Kamakura, poor Shipwreck doesn't even get that courtesy.
RON: Talk about getting the
smack down. I thought we were seeing the last of our friend Kamakura.
But Stormy took it easy on him so he can school him in the future.
THE BAD:
ROGER: That age old cliché, villains in the duct work. At least they have the self awareness, and humor to point out the all to often used convention.
RON: It was predictable, but the Joes had that covered. The Joes really need a few back up cameras because the enemy is right there to disable them. But that is not the worst thing, we are still seeing "our buddy" Mainframe dressed up like a Borg from Star Trek. "Hey 'Frame, the convention is over... you can take off you costume now!"
ROGER: While I certainly go along with the idea of
the Joe's being one step ahead of Cobra, how does Snow Job have any clue which
direction the Snow Serpent is going to run? They are on snowmobiles in the
forest. He could have gone any direction. Yet no explanation is given for the
perfect troop placement.
RON: I will try to pass the scene off as the Joes had the Serpents surrounded. So there is no way to go...right? Hmmmm :-)
THE UGLY:
ROGER:
As I've already stated, it's great
to see some old faces now and again. Tripwire and Clutch are two of my
favorites. But I think their quirks are a little too exaggerated. I loved the
fact that Trip' plays a joke on Wet Suit, but the rest of the time he's even too
klutzy for the cartoon. And while it's probably realistic for Clutch, I've never
really seen him as a redneck. A grease monkey for sure, but somehow he strikes
me wrong here.
RON: You're right Roger, there was an exaggeration that made them a little lame. But having too much "character" is better than having not enough. Personally, I barely remember them from the old days. Neither one had a whole lot of pages devoted to them. So their personalities were never really set in stone with me. That is the sad part.
ROGER: Here's a problem I've always had with G.I. Joe, and really comics in general. Wet Suit gets back to base, appropriately dresses down for debriefing, then in what amounts to an emergency situation, takes the time to put his diving gear back on while never needing to go back in the water. Why? Granted, his new gear is armored, but I bet it takes the better part of an hour to put on, wouldn't a Kevlar vest be more suited to the situation?
RON: Thank goodness I miss most of that illogical dress changes in my reading. I guess I am looking at the guns and the shots fired and miss it completely. But that does bother me now. You would think there would be someone to proof read and detect this inconsistency.
OVERALL:
ROGER:
In the words of the Simpsons Comic
Book Guy, "Best issue ever!" Or at least best issue to date. This was certainly
one of the funniest issues of G.I. Joe I have ever read. So much of this story
was well done that it was hard to find anything bad to say about it. I hope this
is the level of quality that we have to look forward to.
RON: Now this is the caliber we are use to seeing in the Joe comics over the years. A well designed and told story. I too had a rough time coming up with negative to say. I think they have found the right chemistry to putting together a good book and making a successful series.
FRONT LINE PREVIEW
ROGER: As a side note I'd like to do a quick review of the G.I. Joe Front Line preview in this months Wizard #132. It was 7 pages long. I'm glad Larry Hama has come back to G.I. Joe, though he does seem a little rusty on the subject. The art work on the other hand leaves something to be desired. Despite the fact that it is supposed to take place around 1996, it seems that someone decided to only give Dan Jurgens reference material from 1984. The characters are all dated and many are handled wrong. Ripper for instance just has a plain old Mohawk, and there is not a Viper in sight. Then you have a completely made up Cobra vehicle. WHY!!?? There are so may good one's why make them up? I have plenty more to say about 7 short pages, but I need to leave some for the actual issue, so I'll close with the one good point. The Snake Eyes and Scarlet image at the top of the fifth page was quite well done.
Look for the review of G.I. Joe Front Line soon after its release.
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Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001& 2002, Treasures 'N Toys, All Rights Reserved.
Special thanks to Roger Taft for his review.
Thanks to Devil's Due for allowing us to reproduce images of G.I. Joe comics for
review purposes.