Yo Joe! Oh no, I don’t think so. “G.I. Joe” #1 looks and feels like a modern army / political story and not an action story. It seems G.I. Joe has grown up into something boring and not as explosion and ninja-friendly as I recall. It’s a little too realistic in all the wrong ways.
WRITTEN BY: Karen Traviss
ART BY: Steve Kurth
PUBLISHER: IDW Publishing
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: 24 September 2014
Reviewed by: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brady
Twitter: @mrbradysteele
Cobra has won. They are now appear to the world as privatized military going into war zones where borders and battles are dirty and calculated. Cobra has everyone fooled except for G.I. Joe. However, the Joes are in committee meetings justifying their budgets and their continued existence. Sound interesting to you? This is one of the most unexciting comics I’ve ever read. Writer Karen Traviss has sucked all of the fun out of this once unashamed elite fighting force. I confess I’ve not read a G.I. Joe comic in a very long time but this premiere issue did nothing to make me want to pick up another one.
The art by Steve Kurth is serviceable. He’s not given much to draw except for talking heads and one half page of old battles which looks badass. Kurth’s world and people in it look sketchy and unpolished. The coloring by Kito Young is muted and murky and makes the whole story feel depressing. All the covers look to trick readers into something this book isn’t: action-packed and kick ass.
This entire issue is way too drawn out and dull for me. It takes far too long for anything to happen. I miss all the crazy-looking vehicles, the evil Cobra and their crazy plans for world domination. I think there’s another series out there with Joes and Transformers that is more of what I think of when I hear G.I. Joe. If you want to see your childhood heroes old and neutered, ala The Expendables films, this is the series for you.