G.I. JOE

• Title: G.I. JOE: Special Missions #8
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: S.L. Gallant

This single issue tale has a little less action than you’re regular issue of G.I. JOE: Special Missions, but plenty of equipment and high-tech gadgetry, as the team’s nerdier members set out to stop a Cobra hacker from starting a war between two former Soviet Republics.

This is an issue where characters like Hard Drive, Spreadsheet, and Dial-Tone all get to strut their stuff and Mainframe (rather than someone like Duke or Scarlett) gets to perform the big heroic mission by destroying a Cobra drone at 60,000 feet before it can kill the one man capable of negotiating a settlement and stopping a full-out war.

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to see the series continue without some of the JOEs bigger names getting into the action as well, but for a one-off tale G.I. JOE: Special Missions #8 works pretty well and reminds readers about the diversity of the ranks and skill sets of the organization. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: The Cobra Files #7
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Mike Costa
• Artist: Werther Dell’Edera

Flint breaks the news to his team that he’s decided to disband their group. While some of the team takes the news well, both Chameleon and Clockspring show their displeasure at Flint’s decision which puts both their futures in limbo.

While Chameleon apologizes for the recent romantic tinges of her relationship with Flint, Clockspring gets more wound up than usual thanks to Tomax who has absolutely no plans to let the JOEs throw him in the nearest gulag now that his usefulness as a consultant is at an end.

Escaping isn’t going to be easy for the former Cobra operative. Of course it helps that he’s gotten in tight with the team’s computer expert and invited a couple of friends (Firefly, Night Adder) to the desert and inside the JOEs’ secret base.

The tension which has been building in the mishmashed team since the first issue is finally boiling over. The only question is who will survive, and what side will some of them ultimately end up on? Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: Special Missions #7
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: William Rosado

The latest issue of G.I. JOE: Special Missions finds Zartan in on the run in the middle of the Australian Outback from both the JOEs and the Dreadnoks, who he abandons to pursue his mad dream of using the genetic information on the MARS device to populate the planet with an infinite number of Zartan clones.

With action both back at the Dreadnok base and in the various pursuits, as the JOES and Dreadnoks fight amongst themselves for who will get to Zartan first, G.I. JOE: Special Missions #7 is filled with a good amount of action and is available with a Torch variant cover (c’mon, you know you want one).

Zartan’s mad plans are (thankfully) short-lived and we won’t have to suffer through a battle of clones. But his abandonment of the Dreadnoks also suggests that might not be seeing them again going forward (and least not under his command). I’ve got to admit, this makes me a little sad. For fans.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE: The Cobra Files #6
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Mike Costa
• Artist: Werther Dell’Edera

The latest issue of G.I. JOE: The Cobra Files turns its attention on the covert team’s leader. Through flashbacks writer Mike Costa and artist Werther Dell’Edera deliver a look at what makes Flint tick and the choices that led him to lead this team and to decide its need to be disbanded as soon as humanly possible.

Given his recent capture and the team’s volatile nature which includes two former agents of Cobra, Cobra Commander’s son, and a computer programmer who may be losing his grip on reality you can definitely see where Flint is coming from (although his unresolved feelings for Chameleon certainly factor in as well).

To be honest, I’ve never been that big a fan of Flint who I’ve always seen as a blander Duke. This issue does a good job in fleshing out and selling the character as the man willing to take the job that needs to be done (whether or not he believes he’s a good fit for the assignment). As to whether the team (and comic’s) days truly are numbered, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]