By: Michael S. Dworkis
Despite coming out a month late (originally listed by IDW as an October release), G.I. Joe: Revolution delivers a standalone tale of a small group of Joes going up against the Dire Wraiths. The issue is straightforward with the mission. Recon, attack, recover. Mission accomplished? Yes, but not without some casualties.
The IDW tales of G.I. Joe have been different. Gone are the days from the 80’s cartoon where not a single shot ever connected, unless it was a B.A.T. unit, because those were robots, and blowing up robots was perfectly fine. Joes and Cobra agents die. This is not your father’s Joe. In this issue, we learn an Earth Defense Command base has been taken over, and the chances of any Joe being left, or even being Joes in the first place are slim-to-none. Leading the team is Scarlett, who somehow pulls a Wolverine and appears in every Revolution title (much like Autobot Windblade), along with Quick Kick, Roadblock, Heavy Duty, Shipwreck, and Wild Bill have to rescue some unknown asset from this secret base.
The base, is not so secret. The Dire Wraiths have already taken it. Before the battle even begins, a Joe is revealed to be a Dire Wraith, and it is a bit heartbreaking when a much beloved Joe character turns out to be one of the bad guys. Things take a morbid turn when two Joes confront each other, with one scared witless and the other untrusting of anyone. One shoots the other, and we get a glimpse of what war can do to a soldier. It was a bit clichéd, but does fit the theme of being unable to trust a fellow man… Because that fellow man could be a Dire Wraith.
Before I get into more, the art work here felt very inconsistent, and Scarlett looked like a straight-up Manga drawn character. Did not fit with the darker tone at all. I expected her to go Anime-mode at some point, which thankfully did not happen. Still, the choice for colors and design were a bit of a head-scratcher to me.
Secondly, events in this issue apparently took place before issue #3 of Revolution. However, there was not much of a tie-in, because the conclusion to this issue so far has no effect on the rest of the main arc. It was a pretty cool ending in my opinion, except we have yet to see how things came to be. Let’s just say this character was someplace else when we last saw him in another comic a couple of months ago.
Not a great issue, but not terrible either. At its core, provided a small piece to the larger puzzle, and for G.I. Joe, paves its own road to a reboot coming soon.
