I have always been
a G.I. Joe fan. I loved the cartoon as a kid and would reenact
scenes with my ever expansive but never big enough collection of
action figures. G.I. Joe was even the first comic I ever bought, and
I’m often tempted to pick up an issue and see what my favorite
fictional military heroes are up to. However as with most comics I
want to get into, I’m oftentimes intimidated by the massive amount
of back story that I will need to catch up on. Cobra Civil War seems
to be IDW’s attempt at making G.I. Joe accessible again.
A recap on the
title page tells us that an undercover Joe named Chuckles
infiltrated Cobra and managed to kill Cobra Commander. From there
we have 3 short stories that set up the 3 titles that will be
carrying the crossover. Each of them is simple and presents enough
information to get you interested in checking out the next issue to
see where the story goes. To quickly recap each, the first story is
a simple story about a bunch of Joe’s I’ve never heard of
investigating an abandoned Cobra outpost. In the second story, we
get a inside look at what is happening inside of Cobra, as Baroness
moves to find a replacement Cobra Commander. Fan favorite Snake Eyes
is the center of the third and final story as he investigates an
incident at a training facility of his and we are treated to some
foreshadowing that leads to the obvious assumption that Snake Eyes
is going to see some pretty significant action in the crossover.
The art inside is
black and white although there is some very interesting use of color.
I’ve always loved how clearly the artist’s work comes through in B&W
although it makes it harder to disguise the sparse environments of
Antonio Fuso’s art in the second story. Artists Javier Saltares and
Agustin Padilla fare much better in the fist and last chapters as
their work features clean line work and dynamic action that seems to
jump off the page at times
I was impressed by
the tone of the stories, grim and gritty enough to appease the grown
up crowd, yet still filled with enough ninja action, cool gear, and
silly codenames to excite the 8 year old in all of us. Though brief,
this preview has me curious to see what’s in store for the next
phase of G.I. Joe.
