GI Joe, GI Joe: Order of Battle, GI Joe: Battle Files, Hawking

Hawking

I keep buying Jim Ottaviani’s science graphic novels whenever I see them on the store shelves.  But whenever I finish reading them, I wonder if it was worth it. Hawking is no exception.  I think that I appreciate what Ottaviani’s trying to do more than the result; These stories about famous scientists, the struggles they went through, and their huge contributions to society and knowledge need to be shared with as large of an audience as possible.  And I liked reading about the life of Stephen Hawking, even though there wasn’t anything particularly exciting in it. (Not that I expected fisticuffs or anything.)  

I think the fault lies with me, not the creators.  My impatience to finish the book meant that I glossed over most of the science portions of the story, thus robbing myself of the opportunity to truly understand the insights that Hawking and his colleagues brought to the world.  I think that my enjoyment of the work would have been enhanced if I had taken the time. Perhaps during the reread!

GI Joe: Order of Battle 1-4

GI Joe: Battle Files 1

The Marvel and Devil’s Due editions of a GI Joe encyclopedia.  I loved these as a kid, they gave me hours of entertainment and allowed me to deep dive into the backgrounds of everyone in this vast (toy-driven) empire.  Back when the internet wasn’t around to provide all the information in the world at a moment’s notice, these were gold. I didn’t read through these today, but I flipped through them and took a moment to remember how awesome they are.

A neat little story about Rocky Balboa’s appearance in the second Order of Battle issue.     

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Fine

GI Joe 1-8

Devil’s Due, in collaboration with Image, brought back GI Joe seven years after the last Marvel issue, continuing the continuity from the previous run.  It’s about as interesting as the Marvel issues, which is to say not that much, plus it doesn’t hold the same nostalgia factor for me.  The plots are convoluted and bombastic in the style of bad 90s action movies, and Steve Kurth’s art is just a little bit off to be pleasing to the eye.  

Can’t tell if Kurth’s cover is meant to be a tribute to John Byrne’s, but I was reminded of it:

As long as writers need it for plot purposes...

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Didn’t suck (Cutting)