G.I. Joe #0 – Review

By Chuck Dixon, Larry Hama, Mike Costa, and Christos N. Gage (writers), Robert Atkins, Tom Feister, and Antonio Fuso (artists), Andrew Crossley and Chris Chuckry (colors)

What You Get: Three short stories that serve as teasers for three upcoming series from IDW: G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: Origins, and G.I. Joe: Cobra. One story takes us back to the beginning where the Joes hear the first iteration of a new terrorist group, Cobra. The second story shows us how Duke is recruited onto the Joe team and gains his call sign. And the last story features a covert op by one of the more obscure characters in Joe lore, Chuckles!

What’s Good? There’s a lot of potential here. Larry Hama knows Joe history inside and out and even after all these years he shows he still has what it takes. I love how all the writers keep the exposition to a minimum while the acronyms and military terms are properly used with no explanations given whatsoever. It’s called “not talking down to the reader” and I appreciate that. All three writers (and artists) make out well given the small workspace they’ve been given and this issue is a great example of how to get readers excited about the new G.I. Joe series.

What’s Not So Good? I realize that there’s a G.I. Joe movie coming out next year and Hasbro rapes comic book publishers with the licensing costs, but having three series out next year is too much too soon. Comics are expensive as it is — does IDW really think people are going to buy all three titles at $3.99 a pop? Do we really need cardstock covers?

Conclusion: At $1.00, buying this issue’s a no-brainer. Granted the production values are excellent and the stories conveyed here seem to have genuine promise, but like most of IDW’s titles the prices of these forthcoming G.I. Joe series cannot be possibly justified (unless they’re 48 pages each). As excited as I am to read these on-going series, I’ll be holding out for the inevitable trades.

Grade: B+

– J. Montes

X-Force Special: Ain’t No Dog #1 – Review

By Charlie Houston (Writer), Jefte Palo (Artist), and Lee Loughridge (Colorist) Jason Aaron (Writer), Werther Dell’Edera (Penciler), Antonio Fuso (Inker), and Andrew Crossley (Colorist)

I am just going to cut right to the chase with this review and say that I have two major complaints about this book.

So here it goes.

This one-shot feels completely unnecessary and, in some ways, incomplete. It’s unnecessary because we already have more than enough Wolverine stories to last the rest of the year both in stores and in the pipeline. While not a total loss, there really is no reason for the Ain’t No Dog tale to even exist. As for the other major complaint, the book feels incomplete because it fails to include a story for X-23, the third and, in many ways, most interesting character of the current X-Force team. Instead of something about X-23, we get another Wolverine story and, to be honest, that just rubbed me the wrong way. With those things said, however, taken as stand alone stories, you could do worse than what’s offered in this book.

Ain’t No Dog is about a Cyclops directed mission for Wolverine to retrieve a computer chip that is implanted inside a person of interest. Needless to say, the “all too easy” capture of the person is a trap and Wolverine must kill a lot of people before figuring out a way to get the computer chip. A simple, brutal story that, as I said, is quite unnecessary. Unlike something like Kick-Ass, which uses violence as a means to tell a story, the insane amount of violence here seems forced. This is shocking violence just to have some red on the page because it sells books and goes well with the X-Force style of violence.

Charlie Houston does a decent enough job setting up and executing the story, even making an interesting point about the phrase “ain’t no dog,” but there is nothing that makes it memorable or unique. As for the art, Jefte Palo draws some ugly, gritty characters (his Cyclops reminded me of Steve Buscemi) and then turns the violence up to eleven. At times there is some well done, though unnecessary, gore and Lee Loughridge does some great work with the bright red blood and dark shadows presented on nearly every page, but taken as a whole, the art is pretty mediocre.

Hunters and Killers is definitely the better of the two stories, though it is predictable and brings little to the character of Warpath that readers of the X-Force series wouldn’t already know. In a nutshell, Hunters and Killers is a tale about Warpath contemplating the difference between a hunter and a killer in relation to his Indian heritage while he goes about stalking a bear. As with his recent treatment of Wolverine during the Get Mystique arc, Jason Aaron does a nice job bringing some depth to Warpath through the inner monologue that drives the story. He brings a philosophic touch to the concept of what a hunt is and what results. It is pretty compelling stuff, even if the ending of the tale can be seen from a mile away. As for the art, the team does a nice job staging the hunt, though there really wasn’t anything memorable about the presentation. This is a more intimate tale and the art reflects that well.

Overall, I can’t help but feel that this X-Force special will only satisfy certain types of people. Wolverine and Warpath fans will get a decent enough fix and those looking for some comic book carnage will find themselves satisfied with the mass bloodletting in the Wolverine story, but all the rest can easily skip this book. There is nothing in this book that adds to the current X-Force storyline, the art isn’t strong enough to elevate the basic tales, and there is no X-23. If you haven’t noticed, I was looking for a lot more than I got. (Grade C-)

-Kyle Posluszny