Wow…has it been a week already? I know I was holding off a bit on the review, for fear of spoiling the storyline events, but I figure pretty much anyone and everyone knows what’s happened at this point, and the review is fair game.
So then it was just laziness. :shifty:
Honestly, though, the latest issue of G.I. Joe: Cobra pretty much continues the status quo, and nobody should be surprised. Shocked maybe, but not surprised. Does that make sense? Read the full review after the jump.
G.I. Joe: Cobra #12
Writers: Mike Costa and Christos Gage
Art: Antonio Fuso
Tomax and Xamot continue their dichotomy, battling each other and Xamot even picks a fight with Chuckles himself. Rescued from his own anger by Big Boa, Chuckles doesn’t realize that Xamot lifted his ID card.
Hearing about the conflict between Xamot and Chuckles, Tomax ventures to Xamot’s quarters to confront him…but instead his twin brother is waiting for him, knocks him out, and assumes his identity. Xamot has apparently gone completely off the reservation, as he acquires an assault rifle and guns down a squad of Vipers, apparently intent on taking the fight directly to Cobra Commander.
As chaos reigns throughout Cobra high command, Xamot slowly peels off his disguise and waltzes into Cobra Commander’s main throne room. Confronting the Commander, he reveals a dirty plot, planning to frame Chuckles and murder the Commander in cold blood. Thinking his loyal Crimson Guards will back up his claims, he gets a very nasty surprise when Chuckles reveals himself underneath one of the CG’s helmets.
Taking the rifle, Chuckles is ordered by Cobra Commander to kill Xamot, and Chuckles does indeed pull the trigger…but we all know by now who takes the bullet.
Amazing. An amazing story. When we first got introduced to the G.I. Joe: Cobra universe, I wasn’t sure it could maintain the sense of style and atmosphere that it had constructed with just one short story. Well, now we’re essentially at 16 issues, plus a pair of special one-shots, and there has been absolutely no drop in quality or impact.
Sure, there have been some minor lulls here and there…the Scoop story I thought was a bit of a departure, but the story was still great, and here we are at issue #12, and the title just doesn’t stop hitting. The conflict between Tomax and Xamot is an extraordinary story telling idea that completely separates from existing continuities, yet it feels so normal and natural. Even having the twins dressed in opposing colors gives a good sense of ying and yang…one twin more evil than the other. Seeing Xamot casually roam through the Cobra fortress, gunning down Vipers and waltzing through the chaos was like watching a film. The pacing was so exceptional, reading the issue just felt totally natural. This isn’t an easy task.
So what about the climax? How was the whole end? Did it make sense?
Yeah, it made perfect sense. There are times that you get the sense that certain deaths or events are purely for shock value, and yeah, I’m sure some element of this story is designed for that, but the progress was totally organic. It felt like a natural, normal progression of the story and didn’t feel at all forced or pressured.
In short, this was yet another stellar issue of a stellar series that just happened to feature an event designed to catapult G.I. Joe into its next phase. Exceptional work by the writers, the artist, and the overall production team. This is a book that continues to raise the bar. I look forward to seeing how it continues with the Cobra Civil War.
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Fully agree Justin, this was an amazing story. Anyone who cries foul and says that this was just a shock value thing to sell copies hasn’t read the comics. It all leads up to this and it was well thought out and progressed naturally. As a bonus we are left with a great cliffhanger and I can’t wait to read the next issue.
This was expertly done and one thing I love about this IDW take on GIJoe is that things make sense. They started out from the very start with a much more agressive and realistic storyline, we’ve come to see that death is often a tragic consequence of this type of war and when people die, well they’re dead. I can accept this and respect this. This isn’t like back in the original run of ARAH where out of the blue SAW Viper mows down a bunch of Joes in a comic that normally didn’t like to show any of the realism of war.
With the exception of Snake Eyes, it’s nice to know that anyone could die in this new Joe-verse, it gives meaning to their struggles and conflicts and puts a reader on edge when their favorite Joe gets in a bind. Cause you never know, do you?
On the down side, I find this comic running more and more in conflict with the super hero title GIJoe by Chuck Dixon. Not only is Snake Eyes completely unbelievable as a soldier (even a ninja soldier), they had to add Helix to the mix to make it all that much more ludicrous. So while Cobra is gritty and real, GIJoe is little boy, high adveture and I’m having real trouble seeing how this will all mix together. I hope IDW hasn’t shot itself in the foot by converging these three titles, two of which are written by Dixon. I’m worried the feel of this fantastic series will get lost to the super fluff of Dixons stories.
Nothing to do but wait and see.
I agree with both of you. This issue was excellent. It wasn’t a shock value kill, it made total sense and really had great impact within the story. Chuckles was already pretty awesome, but turning the gun and capping the Commander? Yeah, that rocks. My only concern is what will come. I’ve read here how many Joes will be dying as a result of the Cobra Civil War including top tier guys. While I understand that this is a reality of war, I also feel that I read the G.I. Joe comics for the characters. I also feel that there are many Joe characters that have barely been touched upon within the IDW universe. My concern is that killing off characters before they’ve had any real involvement within this universe is in a way meaningless. As I’ve enjoyed the main G.I. Joe series, I do feel that plodding pace hasn’t allowed for much character development with the Joes. Maybe I’m remembering incorrectly but it doesn’t feel like we’ve gotten to know too many Joes. Bazooka’s death for me had little impact other than I like the character and was bummed to see him killed in the same issue he debuted. But as a character there really wasn’t any. I am enjoying all the Joe comics and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where things go, but I do have those concerns. I also think that the final four issues of Origins were really good and am interested to see how they impact the Civil War story line.
Snake Eyes is completely unbelievable as a soldier??? Oh that’s right, I forgot that G.I. Joe comic books are all about reality and they only show what can and can’t be done in the real world…
Of course it’s not shock value… you like it, there’s no reason for you to hate it and call it that.
A bit late to the party. I’m recently back into the G I Joe comics, and went searching for the issue where CC gets killed.
The first thing I noticed was that the cover was very familiar:
https://shop.idwpublishing.com/comics/series/gi-joe/cobra/g-i-joe-cobra-12.html
I wonder if cover artist Antonio Fuso is a big fan of Canadian superheroes or John Byrne.
(Ironically, also issue #12)
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/alpha-flight