G.I. JOE

• Title: G.I. JOE: Special Missions #1
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Chuck Dixon
• Artist: Paul Gulacy

With G.I. JOE going public in IDW’s recent relaunch of the main title, there’s still plenty of quieter jobs for a covert force to do around the globe. Written by Chuck Dixon, G.I. JOE: Special Missions focuses on Scarlett and her team dropped into the middle of the action in southern Libya while around the globe an old enemy is making plans of her own.

Discovering the location of Cobra’s sunken $40 billion treasure (the one Snake Eyes scuttled while working with the Arashikage) Cobra’s former lieutenant has gone into the salvage business. To retrieve the gold she’ll need the help of some capable sailors (the ones she doesn’t cripple in a bar fight), and to stay one step ahead of Serpentor‘s Coil soldiers (who have been dispatched to kill the traitor) as well as Scarlett’s team who heads after the treasure as well after an unorthodox extraction by Wild Bill.

I’m glad to see Dixon getting another G.I. JOE title, although the covert team is sorely missing the most covert JOE of all – Snake Eyes. We’ll have to wait and see if the still presumed dead JOE turns up or if Dixon has any plans for the masked man’s protege Helix in the coming months. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE #2
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Fred Van Lente
• Artist: Robert Atkins

Cobra has sprung it’s trap. The JOE team is divided and Duke has been captured by the Baroness and Dr. Mindbender as Cobra troops and the locals of Warrenton, Ohio, hunt down the wounded JOEs.

Roadblock, Quick Kick, and Tunnel Rat manage to keep the wounded Shipwreck safe from further harm as Cover Girl and a wounded Doc must deal with not only with the individuals hunting them but naivete of Hashtag who gives up their location to the enemy.

The action heats up in this second issue, and Cover Girl gets some nice kick-ass and wise-cracking moments, as the fractured team find themselves in enemy territory in the middle of the United States thanks to Cobra buying the cooperation of the struggling town’s locals.

Cut-off from the outside world, we’ll have to see how long the JOEs can keep fighting and how long Duke can hold out before succumming to Dr. Mindbender’s mind control. Once that happens, he’ll agree to do whatever the Baroness commands. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

• Title: G.I. JOE #1
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Fred Van Lente
• Artist: Robert Atkins

G.I. JOE comes out of the shadows as IDW relaunches all their G.I. JOE related titles beginning here with a somewhat less covert team than we’ve seen in the past. General Joe Colton introduces Duke and acknowledges the existence of the JOE’s to the media before sending Duke and his team to to a media friendly mission to Warrenton, Ohio, where Cobra has established a chemical weapons plant.

For his team, and to fit under the Pentagon’s regulations of a proper mix of gender, ethnicity, and skill sets to market around and fulfill the mission, Duke chooses Roadblock, Quick Kick, Tunnel Rat, Cover Girl, Shipwreck, and Doc (each who has been given a new look and codenames by marketing a public affairs to enhance their likability – much to Shipwreck’s chagrin). He’s also saddled with including the JOE’s embedded blogger Hashtag.

When the JOEs walk right into a Cobra trap and get their transport shot down in the middle of downtown, what should be an easy assignment turns into anything but.

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