RazorFine Review

• Title: G.I. JOE: Snake Eyes #10
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Alex Cal

The “Cobra Command” crossover continues as Cobra destroys the opium fields of Nanzhao and Storm Shadow’s ninja teams take out the U.N. trops helping with the civilian evacuation. Realizing there’s no one else for the job Snake Eyes take it upon himself, with Helix in tow, to go deep into the jungles of Nanzhao and find his blood brother.

As Snake Eyes and Helix go deep into the jungles we learn the Storm Shadow’s latest cat-and-mouse game involving Snake Eyes are not part of the new Cobra Commander‘s master plan. Meanwhile, the rest of the Joes at Fort Baxter try to determine Cobra’s endgame and what they are after by depopulating the country, destroying its drug supply, and leaving the highways and utilities intact.

There’s plenty of ninja action here and more than a little foreshadowing that we’re going to get a major throwdown between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow before “Cobra Command” ends. And we’ve still got plenty of unanswered questions as to what the new Cobra Commander is really after and what plans he has for the dirty nuclear bombs Destro is seen unloading in the comic’s final panel. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: Cobra #9
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Mike Costa
• Artist: Alex Cal

The “Cobra Command” crossover continues here as Snake Eyes, and his team (Helix, Iceberg, and Alpine) are successful in taking out one of COBRA’s bases in the Southeast Nation of Nazhao, but COBRA has firm control of the entire country and delivers an ultimatum to the entire population of the country to evacuate. At first the JOE’s believe COBRA plans to stay but the more intelligence they gather the more it looks like the new Cobra Commander‘s plan for Nazhao is complete destruction.

Honestly if this hadn’t been a continuation of a story from last week’s Snake Eyes (the only G.I. JOE comic I’m picking up on a regular basis), I probably wouldn’t have picked this one up.

It doesn’t appear that I’m going to have to keep up with all three titles to follow “Cobra Command,” but this issue does give a little more on the inner-workings of COBRA’s hierarchy (Desrto, Baroness, Major Bludd) as each are learning how to deal with the new Commander.

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• Title: G.I. JOE: Snake Eyes #9
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Alex Cal

The new Cobra Commander has made his first strike on the world. Snake Eyes, Helix, Iceberg, and Alpine head to the jungles of Nanzhao following the invasion of C.O.B.R.A. into the the Southeast Asian country central to the worldwide drug trade.

Although the issue is Part Two of the new “Cobra Command” crossover taking place in G.I. JOE and Cobra as well as Snake Eyes I didn’t read Part One and was still able to follow the story easily.

As regular readers of the comic would expect the issue is full of some crazy fun including Snake Eyes battling H.I.S.S. Tanks and armored Heavy Metal Exoskeletal War Machines fans of Avatar should recognize.

The final panel shows us Storm Shadow (YES!), will be joining the storyline possibly as soon as next issue. Although there wasn’t quite enough here to get me to check out the rest of “Cobra Command” (at least not yet), once again writer Chuck Dixon gives us a Snake Eyes comic that’s an awful lot of fun. And arist Alex Cal doesn’t miss a beat stepping in for Casey Maloney.

Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: Snake Eyes #8
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Casey Maloney

Deep inside Rodrigo Vargas‘ Albanian compound, Snake Eyes just needs to keep Duke alive long enough for the scientists to find a cure for the Madness Bug. Of course the fact that they’re surrounded by two legions of Cobra Vipers and only back-up Snake Eyes has to rely on is Kwinn and a rapidly deteriorating Duke makes things a little more interesting.

The final issue of Madness Bug storyline leaves us with one less potential Cobra Commander candidate and one hell of a body count. Seriously folks, this one gets bloody. Snake Eyes, Duke, and Kwinn waste neither time nor ammunition in mowing down dozens of Cobra troops whose bodies litter the halls of the underground laboratory.

Eventually too far outnumbered the trio resort to a little trickery to make it out alive, and get Duke back home to recuperate once a cure has been discovered. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: Snake Eyes #7
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Casey Maloney

Snake Eyes and the ailing Duke have kidnapped Rodrigo Vargas and taken him to his laboratory in Albania in hopes of finding a cure for the Madness Bug running rampant in Zimbabwe and slowly eating away at Duke as well.

There are a couple of nice moments between Snake Eyes and Duke as the ailing JOE asks his friend to abandon him if the madness makes it impossible to complete their mission. Although Snake Eyes has nothing to say (as usual), you get the feeling he’ll do everything possible to complete the mission except abandon a friend in need.

To help them infiltrate the lab Snake Eyes calls on Kwinn to cash in an old favor. Once in the laboratory, however, the JOEs learn the antidote doesn’t actually exist and there’s a full army of Cobra agents who don’t take kindly to a pair of JOEs hijacking one of their facilities.

There are some nice character moments, and even if more of the action suggested rather than on-panel this time around it looks like next issue should ramp things back up again. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• 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]