IDW Publishing 2010
Written by Larry Hama
Penciled by S L Gallant
Inked by Brian Shearer
Coloured by J. Brown
After an underwater tussle near Cobra’s old Broca Beach facility off the coast of New Jersey, Torpedo, Cutter, Deep Six, and Shipwreck are ready to investigate a hidden underwater base! Meanwhile, Bombstrike starts to make her escape from Black Major’s facility, while Claire meets her contact in Benzheen... but she might get caught in the line of fire as a drone approaches the meeting point!
It is kind of amazing to me that Larry can write these continuing stories like this. While it’s a downtime between major arcs, that’s how it feels to me, the continuation of what’s happening is great it’s like a serial that actually advances the stories. Four different arcs are ongoing here and two reach something of a conclusion.
In the underwater base Cutter and Deep Six find themselves amidst a BAT assembly line and even though they aren’t completely ready a squadron is activated to defend the base. I love that Cobra may have “abandoned” the base but still use it on an automated basis showing us that they never truly abandon anything. Sometimes it’s not just about the action on the page but the bigger picture and that’s something Larry has always excelled at showing readers.
Dawn’s ongoing story is something that intrigues me. With all of the original Snake Eyes memories now mixed with her own whose side will she end up on. Heck even with Storm Shadow on her trail you never know if she’ll end up with Cobra again or with the Joe’s. That she could potentially be the newest most dangerous player on the board and she’s a complete wild card. A brand new character who can’t figure out her own mind as it’s mixed with the memories of two people giving her skills that take a lifetime to gain yeah she’s one of the best new creations to come along in quite some time. Even more so since it’s Cobra that’s responsible for her creation.
Claire sigh she’s still someone I don’t trust and this current arc with her doesn’t really shed a lot of light on her current situation much. Is she or isn’t she under someone’s thumb? I’m still going with yes after all it does seem awfully convenient that she’s back after all this time but overall Duke does deserve to be happy but at what cost?
Bombstrike has something to prove. Again a base of operations and Black Major who thinks he’ll take over for the women in the name of Cobra and yet it’s the women who seem to handle the situation in ways that he couldn’t. Then again this is the Joe’s we’re talking about and nothing is what it seems and in all honesty it played like I hoped it would but I was still holding my breath for a bit. Larry writes this so we really don’t know for sure one way or another until we see it with our own eyes.
Gallant and Brian have their pulse on exactly how to bring this to life. The interiors here are phenomenally detailed and the flow through page layouts with the use of angles, perspective and backgrounds really bring us into the action and this world nicely. It is the most natural progression or update of the cartoon that i’ve seen and it makes reading this so much fun. The creativity and imagination, those partially built BAT’s, on display make this both fantastic and realistic.
This is the G.I. Joe world we want and deserve as it’s the only series that’s remained what it’s meant to be a battle using both overt and covert means where there’s never a clear cut winner and both sides take their lickings but keep on ticking.