GI Joe

GI Joe 29-52

More thoughts as I plow through these issues.

Well, now we know where all of Cobra’s money is coming from:

More of Larry Hama’s sight gags:

Hama also has a disturbing tendency to kill animals in this title:

Hama completely devotes issue 34 to a dogfight between Ace and Wild Weasel.  It’s surprisingly engaging, and one of the standouts from this title. I especially like the show of respect between the duellists at the end of the engagement.  Old school class.    

This is around where Rod Whigham becomes the regular artist, and where the art starts hitting a consistent level of quality.  He’s the guy I think of when I remember the look and style of this comic. This is the GI Joe of my childhood.  

There’s a similarly exciting chase scene in issue 51:

There are a bunch of issues that have really nice covers.  Not sure if I like them at face value, or if it’s due to nostalgia.  Either way, here they are:

Visored Snake Eyes is the best looking Snake Eyes.

Ohhh, the covers are mostly done by Mike Zeck!  No wonder they look so nice.  

In issue 41, Cobra literally raises an island from the ocean floor to create a new sovereign nation.  Props for creativity there.

Can’t really fault Mindbender for not seeing this one coming…

No one expects scorpions.

Overdoing a little there with the lightning: 

Hama might as well have had him say, "Mwahaha!"

A rare funny from Cobra Commander:

The invasion of Springfield give Hama the opportunity to use every Joe at his disposal.  Pretty neat to see them all on two pages:

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Fine

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Spider-Man: Far From Home

I got to watch this a couple of days before opening day, thanks to some friends of mine.  Woots!  

As with Homecoming, I loved all the high school stuff.  The opening scene with the student-run newscast returns hilariously with Betty Brant, looking at the wrong camera, low production values, and one of the best uses of I Will Always Love You.  The movie dispenses with the fallout of the Snappening (now called The Blip in the MCU) in a quick five minutes, focusing on the humor and glossing over the insane repercussions that would really ensue if you put any kind of thought into it.  

Aside: As horrible as the idea of half the world’s population disappearing is, it may be just a nightmarish to consider all of them returning after five years.  So many legal issues with everyone having been pronounced dead. Previously widowed spouses would have moved on with their lives. Imagine waking up tomorrow and finding out that your wife had been remarried for the last four years to someone else.  Where are these people going to live? Have their old homes been resold/rented? How would the world’s infrastructure deal with an overnight load doubling?  

And seeing how everyone popped back where they disappeared, what about the people who disappeared in cars or planes?  Did they poof back midair with no plane around them? How many people died immediately upon returning? It’d be a total clusterfuck.  

Back to high school.  The kids are amazing. Ned and Betty are a couple of old souls.  Flash is hilarious as the harmless bully, and his moment of pathos at the end is effective despite its laziness.  

And then there’s Zendaya as MJ.  I can’t express how much I love her portrayal.  It’s very similar to Aubrey Plaza’s April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation - A young woman with a sarcastic, dark wit who hides the sweetest interior imaginable.  Her confidence and razor sharp wisecracks are so strong that they make her moments of vulnerability that much more powerful.  

Loves the Black Dahlia Murders and Spider-Man.

Loves Satan and Starlord.

Her scenes with Peter crackle with chemistry and likability, I would have watched a whole movie of that.  Now that the characters are all firmly established, I wish that Marvel would lean waaaay more into the teen rom-com side of this, with only ancillary action.  Something along the lines of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane.  

Looking forward to this reread.

Which is really the problem with Far From Home.  It has the standard MCU not-very-exciting-fight-scenes issue.  I like Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, and he does some neat stuff with his tech, but when I watch this movie again, I’m more than likely to skip the fire elemental fight and the final action set piece.  

I also HATE what happens in the post-credits scene - Why can’t anyone let Peter be happy for just a little bit?  Let him have fun being MJ’s boyfriend! I get why it’s necessary for plot purposes, and such is Peter’s lot in life.  But it’s just so damn unfair.

Final point: Captain America saying “Avengers assemble,” will always be my favorite MCU moment ever.  Ever. But coming somewhere in the top 5 has to be the joy I felt when JK Simmons showed up on screen.  The majority of MCU casting has been flawless over the last decade, but thank god they knew not to mess with perfection from the Sam Raimi trilogy.  Perfection.  

Best moment.

A close second?

Regret watching: No

Would watch again: Yes

Will buy on DVD: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Updated MCU rankings:

1. Avengers: Endgame
2. Captain America: Civil War
3. Captain America: Winter Soldier
4. Avengers
5. Ant Man/Wasp
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming
7. Black Panther
8. Avengers: Infinity War
9. Spider-Man: Far From Home
10. Captain America: First Avenger
11. Thor 3
12. Avengers: Age of Ultron
13. Captain Marvel
14. Ant-Man
15. Iron Man 1
16. Iron Man 3
17. Iron Man 2
18. Guardians 1
19. Doctor Strange
20. Guardians 2
21. Thor
22. Hulk
23. Thor 2

GI Joe

GI Joe 25-28

These are really starting to blur into each other.  Larry Hama will introduce someone new every couple of issues, and it’s neat to see all of these characters I remember popping up.  

There’s an overarching storyline that’s been running through the title from the beginning, but I couldn’t tell you what it is at this point - Destro, Major Bludd, the Baroness, and Cobra Commander have been plotting against and with each other in various configurations this whole time, it’s frankly unbelievable that they haven’t all killed each other by now.  The Joes chase Cobra around the world, always getting close, never really accomplishing much when it comes to shutting them down. The lack of fatalities with that many bullets flying around gets distracting after a while. It’s a suspension of disbelief that all action comics have to deal with, but the lip service to a realistic military environment and the absence of spandex makes it particularly jarring.  In that way, it’s very similar to the 80s cartoon. It’s geared for a slightly older crowd, but not by much.  

Some specific comments:

How.  How in the world is Junkyard the dog staying on the helicopter skid?

Issues 26 and 27 goes over the origin of Snake Eyes.  He really is the best part of GI Joe. He’s got that Jason Bourne uber competent thing going for him, the coolest outfit, a strict code of honor, and the strong silent cool factor.  And he’s a ninja. There’s nothing about him that I don’t love, I don’t know how you could improve him.  

Nice chase scene.  Also, it’s another example of Hama depicting ordinary people completely unimpressed by the self-importance of both GI Joe and Cobra.  He really seems to enjoy taking the piss out of them whenever he can.

This is also where we learn that Storm Shadow’s been working undercover, and isn’t really a bad guy.  Super sweet, it means the good guys get a second badass ninja.  

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Fine

Runaways, War of the Realms

Only two new issues, with a graphic novel that I’ll review some other time.

Runaways 22

With the exception of the opening scene, this is a bottle issue set in the hideout.  Chase succeeds in reactivating the Doombot, but without his ethical regulator. Fight ensues.  It’s got some great character moments, which really makes it fun.

Oops.

Oops again.  This team is endearingly full of oops.

Yes, we remember...

...from issue 9.

Except when it’s horribly sad.

War of the Realms 6

The last issue of this series finally feels like an epic battle, instead of the glimpses into cool fights that we’ve been getting up until now.  While there are cuts to some of the ancillary fights, the issue primarily focuses on the fight between Malekith and the four Thors. So much fun to read, Russell Dauterman really brings it home.  

Don't fuck with Carol Danvers.

I would have loved to see Frog Thor.

Check out the confident smile on Jane Foster.

Excellent division of labor.

New inscription.  Bravo.

A little groanworthy, but I still laughed.

The explosions and energy flying around reminds me of the climaxes of just about every MCU movie, but with more emotional investment.  It doesn’t feel like a soulless CGI-fest.

Jason Aaron did a pretty good job with the culmination of his years-long epic.  He knows how to deliver on the small fist-pumping moments, but I would have liked a little more focus on the overall story.  Now as things return to their monthly titles, I really wish Mike del Mundo wasn’t doing art for the main title, I’d still be buying it otherwise for Aaron’s story.  I’ll check out Aaron’s King Thor miniseries instead.  Undecided on the new Jane-Foster-as-Valkyrie title.  Not a fan of her new costume. Way preferred her as Thor.

GI Joe

GI Joe Yearbook 3

GI Joe 4, 6-20, 22-24

The start of what’s a far larger GI Joe collection than I remember having.  This is going to take a while.

Along with Transformers, GI Joe was my toy of choice growing up in the 80s.  Yet for some reason, Transformers was the only comic that I bought at the time.  All of these Marvel issues weren’t purchased until much later out of nostalgia.  

So I don’t regret buying these issues at all, they definitely take me back to a time that’s fun to remember.  But they’re not top-tier comics by any stretch :) Larry Hama wrote just about every issue in this 155-issue run, and I believe he’s currently writing a follow up ongoing for IDW Comics.  I’m amazingly stunned at his ability to mix actual US military jargon and tactics with the completely absurd world of Cobra, GI Joe, and their insane technologies. I’m sure plenty of examples will arise as I go through the various things that caught my attention.

Heh, snark from Snake-Eyes

A great splash page, but this is what I mean about insane tech - a modular ATV with telescoping neck traversing a chasm while in the middle of a firefight against the Soviet October Guard.  Hama follows the 80s tradition of calling out the names of everyone on the page. With such a massive roster of characters, it’s definitely appreciated. But a lot of the time, it feels like half the text is filled with nothing but names.  

Nice cover, feels like an old school war comic.

There are crap ton of death traps in this HQ out in the middle of nowhere.  Kids probably dug it, but all I can think about are the prohibitive costs involved with installing all of them, on the off chance that intruders will try to break in?  Seems like an armed contingent would be much more effective.

Where are they getting all the money??  Where are they getting all the tech??

Ah, yes.  "Silicone Valley."  Where they make the "chips."

I get that he's a SEAL, but why is he wearing flippers on land?

Larry Hama doesn't think very highly of Coney Island.

Love the color gradients, but they really clash with the flat style of the era.

Yep, he's got all the ransom-fulfilling steps checked off.

Every faceplate needs a strawhole.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Fine