G.I. JOE

• Title: G.I. JOE: Snake Eyes #6
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Casey Maloney

With the world on the edge of a unstoppable pandemic Snake Eyes and the infected Duke travel to Zimbabwe to track down Dr. Rodrigo Vargas, the Cobra scientist responsible for the Madness Bug, in hopes that he’s also created a cure.

Writer Chuck Dixon gives us another issue of Snake Eyes being a bad-ass (which Casey Maloney’s art shows off oh so well), and, really, what more do you want? We also see Duke’s out-of-the-box thinking to get Vargas to relinquish the location of his cure.

After a bit of a transition issue last month things start to pick up again with the hunt for Vargas and the cure (even if I do still miss Agent Helix and Snake’s team from the last story arc). Now we just have to wait and see if Snake Eyes can get his hands on the antidote before everyone infected, including Duke, succumbs to the madness. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: Snake Eyes #4
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Robert Atkins

Snake Eyes and his team made it off the mountain alive, but a new threat has been unleashed upon the world by another agent of Cobra hoping to earn himself the title of Cobra Commander. Scientist Rodrigo Vargas has released a pandemic to spread fear and death across the world. The disease, it turns out, is the same strain that is slowly killing Duke.

As the rest of his team lick their wounds Snake Eyes and Duke (in a protection suit designed to slow the process of the disease and stop him from spreading it to others) prepare to set out to find Vargas and a cure before a world-wide spread of the virus.

Chuck Dixon gives us a solid issue that sets up a new story arc for Snake Eyes. It might not be as strong as my favorite JOE trapped in a mountains surrounded by Cobra agents trying to kill him, but I’ve got a feeling things should begin to pick back up next issue (especially once we learn how the disease can psychologically effect those infected). Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: Snake Eyes #1
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Robert Atkins

Cobra Commander is dead, and he’s not the only one. Six JOEs are dead as well. Each one was personally trained by Snake Eyes and the man responsible is holed-up at the top of a mountain. As COBRA scrambles to find a new leader, Snake Eyes will lead a team (including Agent Helix, Alpine, and Iceberg) up a mountain to find the secret Himalayan fortress of Rajah Vikrim Khallikhan.

There are some great action sequences on the side of the mountain as well as flashbacks to Snake Eyes’ earlier attempts to track down Khallikhan – a man going to great links not to be found.

Robert Atkins knows how to draw Snake Eyes in both his silent somber and total kick-ass moments so well that I don’t want to see anyone else’s take on him for a long time. It’s hard to get both right and Atkins seems to do it effortlessly here. He even looks cool in his semi-ridiculous Hoth gear. The story, from Chuck Dixon, ain’t too shabby either. Must-read.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #164
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer:Larry Hama
• Artist: S.L. Gallant

Although I enjoyed G.I. JOE: Cobra, it’s been awhile since I’ve picked up a regular on-going G.I. JOE comic. Seeing both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow on the latest cover I decided to give this one a look.

Even though I hadn’t read much of IDW’s current G.I. JOE universe it was easy to pick things up. The Baroness had been captured and Destro and C.O.B.R.A. were using a homing device to locate her inside the JOE’s secret base.

We also get a battle between between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, part of which takes place in mid-air as they’re falling from a building. Okay, that’s kinda cool. This issue throws in Zartan and the Dreadnoks, which certainly isn’t going to hurt my opinion of the book.

In fact in many ways this entire issue feels like it’s playing on the nostalga of my youth. The trouble is, with as much fun as there is here to have, the story itself is somewhat empty. Am I glad I read this issue? Yes. Does it make me any more likely to pick up the next one? Not really.

[IDW, $3.99]