G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Silent Option #2
IDW Publishing 2018
Written by Larry Hama
Illustrated by Netho Diaz
Inked by Alisson Rodrigues & Jagdish Kumar
Coloured by Vinicius Townsend
Lettered by Neil Uyetake
Bombstrike leads her covert team of JOE special operators in a desperate search and rescue mission to save the enigmatic Agent Helix! Plus, Ryan Ferrier and Kenneth Loh dive deeper into Helix’s origin in “Codename: Helix,” Part 2!
Say what you will but I believe that ever single person should be reading IDW’s G.I. Joe A Real American Hero. The reason really is simple, Larry Hama. He is the man who knows these characters the best, better than any have really and he’s managed to do something impossible he’s made them feel current, relevant and NOW. The team we see in these pages well it feels more like a script for Mission Impossible than anything we saw in the cartoons or those disastrous cinema features (okay the first was fun the second not so much).
No laser guns, they don’t exist yet, so guns it is and no outlandish gear or stuff everything that we see them with is something that is very much in use at this moment or it’s slightly ahead but the point is it’s realistic. So are the attitudes, personalities and backgrounds of the Joe’s which didn’t have to be gender or racially swapped to include diversity, Larry does that naturally. As Larry has grown so too has the franchise and that it’s evolved into something so strongly written and gorgeously illustrated that it’s no wonder why I long for the days when this becomes a cartoon, this version right here even if it’s only an animated feature length film.
The way this book is structured is amazing to see. There is a natural progression of events that unfold that makes this as believable as possible, at least to me. Since this mini-unit is going after Helix, yes rescue mission I know, they really are going into each situation blind and that makes the tension heighten and the feeling we get from more intense. It is wonderfully done so that it really feels like it’s an action adventure story almost a black ops kind of deal and as it doesn’t feel fantastical and it’s bloody as all get out well yeah.
The interior artwork here is superb. The attention to detail is stunning in how it’s been done and the steady creative mind of Netho is just a pure joy to see unfold. I mean to see the hatching work in the mats and the knots in the rope it just goes to show that no detail is overlooked and all of it is treated the same way to bring as complete a picture as humanly possible without it being a photograph. The inkers bring those pencils to a stage where they are ready for the colours is extremely well done and that inked linework really looks amazingly strong. Then the colours wow the shading from light sources are superb and how the colours naturally gradate is sensational, a lot of that is hair work too. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off an amazing eye for storytelling. The way backgrounds are utilised strengthen that and bring a fuller picture of what is happen as well as the size and scope of the story.
I am so impressed with this story as well as the main book in the franchise. It has everything I think it should have and when Larry makes changes or kills someone off, yes there are death’s that stick in this version, they make sense and I don’t get upset about it. Shocked, well sure, surprised, definitely but this franchise will outlive us all and it deserves all accolades it gets and so much more.
IDW Publishing 2018
Written by Larry Hama
Illustrated by Netho Diaz
Inked by Alisson Rodrigues & Jagdish Kumar
Coloured by Vinicius Townsend
Lettered by Neil Uyetake
Bombstrike leads her covert team of JOE special operators in a desperate search and rescue mission to save the enigmatic Agent Helix! Plus, Ryan Ferrier and Kenneth Loh dive deeper into Helix’s origin in “Codename: Helix,” Part 2!
Say what you will but I believe that ever single person should be reading IDW’s G.I. Joe A Real American Hero. The reason really is simple, Larry Hama. He is the man who knows these characters the best, better than any have really and he’s managed to do something impossible he’s made them feel current, relevant and NOW. The team we see in these pages well it feels more like a script for Mission Impossible than anything we saw in the cartoons or those disastrous cinema features (okay the first was fun the second not so much).
No laser guns, they don’t exist yet, so guns it is and no outlandish gear or stuff everything that we see them with is something that is very much in use at this moment or it’s slightly ahead but the point is it’s realistic. So are the attitudes, personalities and backgrounds of the Joe’s which didn’t have to be gender or racially swapped to include diversity, Larry does that naturally. As Larry has grown so too has the franchise and that it’s evolved into something so strongly written and gorgeously illustrated that it’s no wonder why I long for the days when this becomes a cartoon, this version right here even if it’s only an animated feature length film.
The way this book is structured is amazing to see. There is a natural progression of events that unfold that makes this as believable as possible, at least to me. Since this mini-unit is going after Helix, yes rescue mission I know, they really are going into each situation blind and that makes the tension heighten and the feeling we get from more intense. It is wonderfully done so that it really feels like it’s an action adventure story almost a black ops kind of deal and as it doesn’t feel fantastical and it’s bloody as all get out well yeah.
The interior artwork here is superb. The attention to detail is stunning in how it’s been done and the steady creative mind of Netho is just a pure joy to see unfold. I mean to see the hatching work in the mats and the knots in the rope it just goes to show that no detail is overlooked and all of it is treated the same way to bring as complete a picture as humanly possible without it being a photograph. The inkers bring those pencils to a stage where they are ready for the colours is extremely well done and that inked linework really looks amazingly strong. Then the colours wow the shading from light sources are superb and how the colours naturally gradate is sensational, a lot of that is hair work too. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off an amazing eye for storytelling. The way backgrounds are utilised strengthen that and bring a fuller picture of what is happen as well as the size and scope of the story.
I am so impressed with this story as well as the main book in the franchise. It has everything I think it should have and when Larry makes changes or kills someone off, yes there are death’s that stick in this version, they make sense and I don’t get upset about it. Shocked, well sure, surprised, definitely but this franchise will outlive us all and it deserves all accolades it gets and so much more.
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