Written by John Barber
Illustrated by Salvador NavarroSnake Eyes and Roadblock. Perhaps the most dangerous of all the Joes—their combination of stealth, cunning, power and raw courage is nearly unmatched. But what unspoken bond do they share? Find out their never-before-revealed secrets in this prequel to the summers most anticipated action movie!
Before G.I. Joe: Retaliation hits the big screen this Summer, IDW is laying the groundwork for the eagerly anticipated Real American Reboot with a four issue prequel mini-series.
The first issue hit comics shelves this week. Find out if you should care after the jump.
Believe it or not, folks, I really enjoy G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Not because it’s a good movie, but because it’s a terrible one and it makes me laugh. The best thing about ROC is that it really goes out of its way to NOT stay true to what fans like about G.I. Joe, choosing to complicate things that aren’t in the least bit complicated, and avoiding several coincidental plots from the comics by replacing them with even more improbable and unlikely characters situations, like Cobra Commander being the Baroness’ brother, and Duke acting like a completely ineffectual idiot who forgets he’s carrying a gun about 99% of the time.
But no joke, if it’s on, I’m watching it, so who’s laughing now, huh?
Still, I can honestly say I never expected to get a sequel to ROC, and more so, not in a million years would I have expected it to actually look like it could be awesome. But here we are, just four months away from watching Snake Eyes and Jinx kick ninjas off a mountain, and Roadblock (I’m calling him Rockblock, btw) quoting Jay-Z, and totting around a real life Ma Deuce. If my 12 year old self could see me NOW! But before we all present our tickets, there’s some work to be done, and thankfully, IDW has stepped in to bring us all up to speed.
The less than ostentatiously titled G.I. Joe 2: Movie Prequel #1 opens several years before Rise of Cobra with Roadblock and the movie universe versions of several Joes who will never actually see any screen time. This is Mainframe’s first time in the field, and Roadblock’s committed to watching his back and making sure he comes out on the other side of his first field op. However, a mysterious band of red ninja have other plans, and attack the Joes’ Blackhawk transport, in mid-air, making for a really cool scene that actually got a pretty good chuckle out of me. I mean c’mon — how badass of a ninja do you have to be to leap into the airspace of a moving helicopter? Cobra ninjas don’t mess around, I’m telling you…
Anyway, things go badly, and Roadblock and his team crash. And just as the red ninja are closing in for the kill, we’re reminded that no matter how formidable the red ninja might be, there’s always Snake Eyes. And Snake Eyes doesn’t take prisoners.
Regrettably, the Joes lose a lot of good soldiers, and Mainframe gets captured. The injured Roadblock and Snake Eyes return to the Pit, and after they get patched up, Roadblock makes it known he intends to go after Mainframe. Then, to my surprise, General Hawk shows up in all his Dennis Quad inspired glory. But Roadblock’s not nearly as excited to see him as I was, and he just clocks the dudes, laying out the good General and earning himself in the brig. Not exactly a good start for our boy Roadblock, but a nice way of letting us know that he’s not exactly the a fall in line blind kind of guy.
Writer John Barber seems to really know his Joe. He makes references to Roadblock’s secondary MOS as a chef and includes a couple of old school team members for credibility’s sake. He does a nice little bit of world building in a relatively short comic, and implies that the G.I. Joe of the movies has just as much going on as the G.I. Joe of the comics and cartoons. Barber’s set up a cool story, and it makes you want to not only read the next issue, but it makes you want to see the movie.
Continued belowSalvador Navarro’s job is a little harder, I guess, as he has to actually draw the thing. His figure work is pretty solid, and while his storytelling could be a little clearer, he gets a pass for simply just having so much doggone stuff to draw. His first double page splash has fifteen ninja jumping into the path of two Blackhawk helicopters, and while it’s probably not the craziest thing he’ll ever draw in this business, it’s crazy enough for this comic in particular. He struggles a little with keeping the Rock and others’ likenesses on model for the whole issue, but that’s the beauty of each character having a distinctive costume and not just running around in standard military fatigues. Thank goodness for the Joe team’s always imaginative dress code.
I usually shy away from movie tie-ins, but to my surprise, G.I. Joe 2: Movie Prequel #1 was well worth it. The truth is, I was down for Retaliation the minute I heard it was happening, so it’s not like this comic really needed to sell me on the movie. But it made me feel less crazy about how thrilled I am to see this movie, and left me with some optimism that Retaliation could be a G.I. Joe movie we can all be proud of.
Final Verdict: 8.25 — Buy/Recommended