by generalsjoes | Jun 15, 2010 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comic Reviews, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe Reviews, IDW
Warning – There are Spoilers abound in this review! If you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading.
As I sit down and read through this issue, it suddenly occurs to me. We are well over a year into G.I. Joe’s run through the IDW universe, and we haven’t even seen Storm Shadow yet. How is that possible? Or did I just miss it somewhere along the way?
I don’t have a clue why I suddenly thought of that as I was reading the issue…perhaps it was seeing Snake Eyes meditating in the darkness as Scarlett welcomed him back to The Pit in a sort of awkward non-conversation. I don’t know whether I should commend Chuck Dixon for holding off that long, or if I should ask “what the #@$ are you waiting for?” Granted, there really hasn’t been a place for Storm Shadow to fit in yet, but part of me does hope they don’t just reserve the “Origins” book to show all of the…you know… origins. I mean, something like that has to happen in the main title, right?
G.I. Joe’s flagship book continues to move at a decent pace, though I’ve grown a bit weary already of the “Destro in the gulag” storyline. It at least takes a step in the right direction this time around, and it was cool to see him have some direct (sort of) interaction with Cobra Commander. I find myself really digging Cobra Commander’s “look” in this universe, and part of me hopes maybe this is a new evolution of the character. As comfortable as we all are in his typical battle helmet or hood, this fanged faceplate is growing on me. It would be neat to see this look in Renegades as well.
We get a small taste of Destro’s ancestry in this issue, too, which follows pretty typical norms as his Scottish ancestor uses grenades to scatter a French invasion force just prior to the events of Waterloo. Gallant’s art continues to have a great flow and feel in this issue, and he draws landscape scenes and action with similar energy. I find myself consistently reminded of Mark Bagley, and I enjoy that style of art, so I have no issues with that whatsoever.
The issue wraps up with a possible cameo of Cobra Island, as the Joes look to pay a little visit to this mysterious piece of green forest in the middle of the ocean.
As I said, the pace continues pretty steadily this month, and things actually continue to happen. Action was mostly concentrated in the gulag, but it looks like that could potentially change next month as the Joes crawl into enemy territory. It does continue to surprise me that we have a glaring lack of certain core characters, but there’s always something to look forward to. One just hopes they don’t wait a little bit too long.
no images were found
by generalsjoes | Jun 15, 2010 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
I’m a bit conflicted on this one. On the one hand, I love the fact that The Terror Drome has gotten their hands on a nice allotment of unproduced Pursuit of Cobra figures, then made some very in depth updates to their image galleries. But on the other hand, the more I see these detailed images, the sadder I get over the fact that some of this stuff won’t hit retail, especially a figure as nice as “City Strike” Scarlett.
Sure, the base figure is simply Resolute Scarlett, painted up in darker colors and with an updated Rachel Nichols head. But what kills me here is the gear. Even though the major piece of equipment with Scarlett, the flight pack, is one we’ve seen a couple of times already, adding that oxygen mask, that sword/sheath combination, and those incredible bladed tonfa swords makes for a whole new look for the Joe covert ops specialist. She fits in so well with the Pursuit of Cobra City Strike theme… a damn shame that she’s destined for the scrap heap, but even if you can’t have her, you can enjoy the terrific images. I’ve mirrored them below, but you really should check out The Terror Drome directly.
no images were found
Along with Scarlett, they’ve also posted a pretty slick set of images for the unreleased Jungle Assault Cobra Commander. Even though he comes with the same fishbowl head sculpt, the addition of the jacket adds some nice bulk to the figure, I really like the gray color variations, and that crazy robotic bug is too cool for words. Sure, if this guy hit retail, he probably wouldn’t have been among my favorites, but he’s got such a unique look, I find myself really loving the figure and accessories, and hoping that some day I can get my hands on him as well.
You can see some mirrored images below, but also check out the gallery at The Terror Drome.
no images were found
These figures weren’t the only showcases either… awesome new images of City Strike Beachhead, Jungle Assault Duke (Tatum and non-Tatum), as well as Quick Kick are also there as well. I just wanted to showcase two of my personal favorites.
A big kudos to The Terror Drome for getting images of these out to the fans. A great look into what “could have been”.
by generalsjoes | Jun 15, 2010 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
Just in case anyone is wondering about the “slow news days” at GeneralsJoes the past few days, I’m out of town doing some pretty heavy Cisco training for my “real life” job which has taken up pretty much every single free minute of my time since Sunday. Today, we got out of class a bit early, and I find myself with a little break between topics, so I’m hoping to flood the site with some updates this evening, so stay tuned!
To start off with, GeneralsJoes regular Hawkwinter has been a fixture in the comments section for quite a while, often going at odds with me over my Rise of Cobra opinions (and 25th Anniversary opinions, and IDW opinions, and…. ) but one thing we agree on is that the Pursuit of Cobra might be the best thing to happen to G.I. Joe in toy form in a long, long time.
So, he volunteered to do some guest reviews for me, and knowing I was going to be out of town, I took him up on it! Any time I can get some content on the site that I don’t have to work for it’s all good with me! It helps that he takes some nice pictures and has some well thought-out opinions to boot.
Anyway, over in the Pursuit of Cobra Reviews Page, there are now links to City Strike Beachhead and Elite Ice-Viper.
A huge thanks to Hawkwinter for cashing in and getting these done for me. Thanks, man.
by generalsjoes | Jun 14, 2010 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary, G.I. Joe Collectors Club
Last week we saw that Adventure Team figures are hitting mailboxes with a furver, and now the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club reports that the figure sets are in stock now at GIJoeClub.com/shop.
If you haven’t gotten ’em yet, what the hell are you waiting for?
no images were found
by generalsjoes | Jun 12, 2010 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Toys, Pursuit of COBRA
When he first showed up at JoeCon 2009, Shadow Tracker immediately became a fan favorite, and when he mysteriously vanished when the official Pursuit of Cobra announcement came, many feared the worst.
But Hasbro calmed our fears in JoeCon this year when they reported that Shadow Tracker wasn’t dead, he was just waiting… though, checking out these pictures, maybe he’s dead AND he’s waiting. HissTank.com uncovered an auction on TaoBao.com that features some pre-production images of Shadow Tracker, and as cool as I thought he was from day one…man, he just surpassed that.
The dude has a skull for a head. Say that again. A SKULL FOR A HEAD.
Seriously…awesomeness personified.
I don’t know what happened as The Rise of Cobra came and went, but whatever it was, I want more! The Joe designers at Hasbro are simply doing some amazing stuff right now…every single figure is just oozing with personality. It’s very 80’s like, only in a 21st Century style. Shadow Tracker looks like an awesome new character, and I can’t wait to get him in my collection, just so he can scare the piss out of the other guys with his FREAKING SKULL HEAD.
no images were found
by generalsjoes | Jun 11, 2010 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: The Movie, Operation: H.I.S.S.
Looks like Hasbro is making up for some lost time. After a few months in limbo, a couple of days ago, we got a short Scarlett spotlight, which was the first Operation: HISS update we’d gotten in quite a while. Now this morning, it would appear that even though Hasbro hasn’t posted them on their site yet, MonkeybarTV.com has Episodes 4 and 5 posted for the animated series that has gotten quite mixed reviews.
Well, not so mixed. Pretty much just bad. But hey! Look! It’s Agent Helix!
Seriously, this is obviously made for kids…not much money invested in it…and not a whole lot of emotion either. But it’s always cool to see Joe characters come to life on screen, and I can’t help but smile seeing Helix running around alongside Snake Eyes in animated form. Check out the episodes at the links below. These actually have a nice little helping of action…and yes, it’s quite obvious they’re simply using the video game models to make these, but hey, I guess it’s something, right?
Episode 4
no images were found
Episode 5
no images were found
Warning – There are Spoilers abound in this review! If you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading.
