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Reread January 2019.On rereading, I wouldn't rate this one as high as I initially did. Hama is *just* really starting to hit his stride here - you can see the promise to come but it isn't as high quality as it would become. The few non-Hama issues certainly show that he was the only one who really "got" these characters and the thin line between realism and fantasy that was required to make it work.
A marked improvement over the first volume and I definitely recognize the G.I. Joe comics that I loved as a kid. What made G.I. Joe so interesting was that there was always a continuing backstory that Larry Hama wove through each issue, making it really compelling reading (at the time). Not to mention that the villains were a delightful bunch that were so much more intriguing than the heroes, who all come across as interchangeable nobodies (except, perhaps, for Snake Eyes and Scarlett). Unfortun...
The series is gaining some momentum. You can see Marvel and Hasbro expanding the universe in these issues, and new characters are starting to show up. The first 2 collections are really more set-up and foundation, allowing the creative team to sink their teeth into the stories/characters.
With this volume we get into the first story arc of the series. Plus it contains the first G.I. Joe comic as I read as a kid, Three Strikes for Snake Eyes. This one did bring back the found memories of the series. For the classic G.I. Joe series, this is where it does pick up.
This volume is definitely an improvement over the first, as Larry Hama is starting to find the voice of this series. He's not QUITE there yet at this point but he's getting close. The visual aesthetic is becoming more recognizable, as Cobra is now using their distinctive HISS tanks and Fang helicopters rather than generic vehicles (though Snake-Eyes still looks like he's wearing blue pajamas throughout the volume). Unlike the first arc that was mostly one-and-done stories, this one features long...
This is a great volume. The story that comprises the bulk of this trade, involving Scar-Face, Kwinn, Dr Venom, and Destro, is just an excellent story that's filled with great set pieces and some excellent character work, especially with The Cobra characters. Great, great stuff.
Another from my childhood. It is funny reading these now and realizing how basic the stories are--I remember them being so intense and awesome when I was 11 and 12. Most of the story is still pretty solid except when the scripts are written by writers than Larry Hama. The artwork is still pretty simple but in spots gets very amateurish. One nice thing about Vol. 2 is that the stories are very episodic and flow from one issue to the next very nicely--much better than some of the simplistic and fa...
An excellent blend of the comic superhero style storytelling and a military war comics. Huge cast of characters and a great evil villain and organization balances the series well. Very recommended.
Longer term storylines start to develop in this volume. I have to give a lot of credit to Larry Hama for crafting fairly realistic plots around a line of toys, and also Hasbro deserves a lot of credit for allowing him to run this as a more "mature" comic with more realistic violence and even character deaths. There are still a few silly moments, such as when GI Joe Skindiver Torpedo battles Cobra in a warehouse with no water to speak of dressed in a full wetsuit, including the mask and flippers
In volume 2, we start to see the formation of on going story arcs. The characters are flushed out even further. We also notice that Larry Hama has started to pick some favorite characters. Stalker and Clutch are in most of the comics. Snake eyes has started his ascendence to become the never losing, over the top fighter he will become. And while the stories themselves have gotten better. Some of the characters on the Cobra side lose their edge. In fighting, romance, and back stabbing becomes sec...
The series continues to be very interesting. This volume introduced more Joes, along with some Cobra greats like Destro and Major Bludd. There's a lot more depth to the story than you get with the cartoon. Kinda like with Lord of the Rings: there was a lot of backstory and intrigue that was removed from the books for the movies. Movies were still great, but the story was much more straight forward. Similar here, where the GI Joe comics have lots of threads and competing interests within Cobra th...
This volume starts before the stories I remember reading as a child but I owned most of the toys featured. Coming back to it as an adult you can almost see the orders from Hasbro. Each toy is usually featured in a huge panel to when it was introduced and then has to pop up a few more time over the course of the story.
Better than I expectedReading this for a personal project as I never read them as a kid. Much better than I was expecting and much more “grown up” than I would have assumed for kids back in the 80s. Not perfect, but still solid fun reads.
The pacing of the issues collected in this trade becomes frenetic as some beloved characters finally make their first appearances.
The complexity of the stories starts increasing in this volume, as does some of the seriousness. I have to admit to reading these comics completely to through nostalgia. For a reader who didn't grow up in the 80s the comics probably aren't worth it. They're a mix of reading levels, topics, and there's not much exploration of some of the characters at this point. But for those of us who remember G.I. Joe it's a great trip down memory lane. I'm looking forward to getting more of the volumes.
