FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

GI Joe #3

by Chuck Dixon and Robert Atkins

(IDW)

Reader Appeal: Tweens, Teens, and Adults

Genre: Action Comic

G.I. Joe. A real American hero...Or rather (since today things have moved on a bit), an international peacekeeping force.

With the G.I. Joe movie (in all its slightly-revised glory) set to come out soon, it was almost inevitable that we would see a re-launch of this venerable comic franchise. To tell the truth, the current series that started off again at zero and is now at three is actually a re-launch of a re-launch. Joe officially came back with G.I. Joe: Reinstated a few years ago, but the current series is published by a different publisher and ignores everything that happened in any previous incarnations.

My own brother used to read these comics, and I would later wander down to his room (when he was gone, of course) and flip through them. For some people the franchise was just an excuse to sell toys, to others it was an important part of their childhood. But is the re-launched Joe comic any good?

Well, it certainly isn’t short on action.

So far we’re only a few issues in, so much of the meat that makes up the G.I. Joe universe hasn’t really come up. Destro, the Baroness, and Cobra Commander aren’t really a factor yet. Instead we’re getting to spend some time with the Joes and see how they came together and how they fight. The Joes are cutting their teeth on a series of generic Cobra minions at the moment, which is fine for a warm-up, but hopefully things will eventually get more interesting. The villains tended to be the more interesting characters in the Joe franchise (excepting maybe Snake Eyes), so hopefully we get to see more of them soon.

The art here is pretty decent, if not inspired. The characters could use a bit more detail, and nit-pickers who remember the old comics will notice some sloppy continuity issues (is it me or are Duke’s highlights fading?). But G.I. Joe comics are really all about the action and the crazy engines of destruction, and this seems to be artist Robert Atkins’ strength. It’s like some sort of futuristic demolition derby in there.

All in all, it’s nice to see the series isn’t going out of its way to trample on my childhood, and even if it hasn’t warmed up to anything amazing yet, it’s just getting started. No doubt things will get more interesting when IDW releases the lead-ups to the G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra movie. Until then, this is a decent series if you want to relive a bit of nostalgia or are a big fan of straight-up toy-based action comics.

Parents might want to consider whether this is the kind of comic they want their kids to be reading (despite its solid values of freedom, loyalty, patriotism, and the triumph of good, it glorifies war and functions as advertising). But I can’t say anything too bad about it as a comic.

FAMILYFANS RATING: B-

--MV

Note: All book or comics-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective publisher.