IDW Publishing 2016
Written by Aubrey Sitterson
Illustrated by Giannis Milonogiannis
Coloured by Lovern Kindzierski
Lettered by Chris Mowry
Revolution is over and it’s time for the new world order to begin. G.I. Joe are no longer America’s Heroes but heroes for the entire world. With a new mandate, a new leader and new direction the Crown of the Hasbro Universe is ready to begin it’s latest chapter.
Well Aubrey has almost this brand new slate to work with here. A brand new universe with new rules, players and technology at his disposal. So how will this affect the Joe’s and what they do moving forward, both plenty and little! We open this issue with a group chasing down some of Dr. X’s Red Shadows who have been upgraded! So while it seems that they are chasing down ninja’s they are in reality chasing down the future in terms of everything old becomes new again only now aliens and alien technology have come into play.
Right off the bat the characterisation from the one-shot where the Joe team freed their Cybertronian ally Skywarp and encountered the Dire Wraiths. There was a scene in that with Rock ‘N Roll that was horrific for him and the aftermath of that is approached here nicely. I am pretty impressed with what Aubrey is bringing us from that aspect.
This issue also brings us a look at the Joe’s new base of operations and new look at the core team that inhabits it. With some of my favourite Joe’s now seemingly an integral part of the team, Shipwreck and Lady Jaye, the possibilities here are fantastic. Plus it also gives us a new look at some characters and how they live and what they believe in. Who knew Shipwreck would be an intense vegetarian type serving seaweed as a meal or that Covergirl would be such a staunch meat eater! It’s the little things like this that Aubrey reveals that make me delight in what he’s doing.
For me personally i’m not a fan of Giannis and his style of artwork. It doesn’t do the kind of justice that I feel the Joe’s need. The detail isn’t as nice or clear as I care for and faces are missing at times. Using backgrounds for me is important to storytelling and we get so little of that here. His use of page layouts through angles and perspective are good. However it’s so incomplete to me overall that I find it distracting and unappealing. Again however that’s subjective to the reader so not everyone will feel the same way so give it a go and see how you feel about it.
From a story standpoint I like where this is heading and how the Joe’s are going about finding their new place in the world order. There’s so much potential here for some strong storytelling. From excellent story structure to great characterisation and highly intriguing premise it could be a fun time to be a Joe fan.
For me I don’t think i’ll be following the Joe’s and that’s a first considering how much i’ve grown to love the franchise over the years. While Aubrey’s a great storyteller for me the artwork just makes me not want to continue.