Last month saw the end of the G.I. Joe mega-event, ‘Cobra Command’, and boy, what an ending it was! The new Cobra Commander triumphant! The Cobra Council crushed! Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow united! Major Bludd running for his life! And the core Joe team pulverized like never before! With three months worth of smoke to clear, this week’s “G.I. Joe” #12 had the unenviable task of picking up the pieces, and setting the stage for the next chapter in the lives of America’s Daring, Highly Trained Special Missions Force and their detestable adversary, Cobra.
Written by Chuck Dixon
Illustrated by Will RosadoCOBRA COMMAND AFTERMATH! It’s a new day for the JOEs–as they crawl from the ruins of COBRA COMMAND, they find a new status quo… and a change in command! Who will lead the Joes into this new, deadlier, downsized future? SCARLETT leads and op into one of the wildest wildernesses on the planet to uncover a COBRA facility that threatens the very balance of the universe as we enter… DEEP TERROR!
This issue opens with an acknowledgement of all the Joes who died during ‘Cobra Command.’ But don’t feel too bad if you don’t recognize names like Hotwire, Musketoon, Gun Daddy, or any of the others on Hawk’s litany of dead soldiers. They’re not names you’d be familiar with, because they were made for the scene. As much as I like this opening and what it does for the Joes we DO know, it can’t help but feel just a little shortchanged. Afterall, it’s not like the Marvel series shied away from killing off “real” Joes, and with the IDW series not really having a toyline to prop up, I’m stunned by how often they avoid thinning the ranks a bit. Certainly, name-checking a few lower tier characters would probably antagonize an already finicky fanbase, but it would also give the overall fallout of ‘Cobra Command’ even more weight and reinforce the idea that this is a war comic and people die. Even those you like.
Still, that said, there’s a particularly good moment between Scarlett and Helix that says volumes about both ladies and their respective bonds to Snake Eyes. With Snake among those presumed dead, Scarlett is mourning the loss of the man she might have loved, while Helix laments the man for an entirely different reason — neither completely wrong, and neither right. It’s a subtle scene between two of the series’ most interesting characters, and it makes for some pretty good comics.
But the real focus of the issue is Hawk, who, as the cover implies, faces a major turning point in his role as leader of G.I. Joe. With Duke on the injured list, Hawk got his boots on the ground in ‘Cobra Command’ like never before and we really saw him be the leader we’ve been told he was. However, the deck was stacked against the whole team, and despite Hawk’s best efforts, the team got smashed. You can count on the consequences being less than favorable, and in Hawk’s case, it doesn’t help that Cobra has people everywhere, and especially in Washington, D.C. Ultimately, a good soldier takes one for the team and we’re left wondering what it means for the outfit he’s been running since the book started?
Also in this issue, we get the return of Zartan. Unexpectedly important to the rise in power of the new Cobra Commander, and yet noticeably absent for most of ‘Cobra Command’, Zartan definitely makes up for lost time.
Setting aside the sort of non-committal opening scene, Chuck Dixon really delivers one of his best issues. As I said before, Scarlett and Hawk are both given some great moments, and I was genuinely moved by both their stories. This is Dixon’s book, now more than ever, and post-Cobra Command, he’s shaking things up even more. With every new issue, I find myself even more worried for the safety of the Joes, which is why I think the whole “fake Joes” thing stands out to me so much, as it’s kind of undermines all the good work Dixon and co. are doing on the front end.
Continued belowWill Rosado handled the art on this issue, and as much as I might be missing my Alex Cal (artist for just about all of Cobra Command) fix for the month, this was beautifully done and an example of how to draw a comic book. Rosado’s a master storyteller, and as a fan of his work with Dixon on Green Arrow, I was really excited to see them working together again. His work is just so clean, and so deliberately straightforward in just the right way. I haven’t looked at the solicitations for the upcoming issues, but I sincerely hope he sticks around.
If you were expecting things to slow down now that ‘Cobra Command’ is over, you’d better think again. Sure, “G.I. Joe” #12 features less straight forward action than what we’ve been seeing, but don’t let this issue’s lack of explosions and swordplay fool you, because plenty happens, I promise. In fact, it’s one of the series’ most eventful issues yet. The next great chapter of G.I. Joe starts here. Don’t miss out.
Final Verdict: 8.75 – Buy
