by Larry Hama & Netho Diaz Published: IDW Publishing (October 22, 2019)
Softcover, 120 pages
Amazon Listing
Another
great collection of GI Joe: A Real
American Hero. This volume brings together issues 261 - 265. The plots are
all over the place here. We begin with Destro and the Baroness's continued
assault on Revanche and the cybernetic Blue Ninjas which is a story that
should've been shelved twenty issues ago. They are confronted with Alpha 001,
the prime unit and are mentally taken over by other creature, which then goes
on to infect many more iron grenadiers. The plot is worn thin with the
unstoppable cybernetic monster that constantly rebuilds and grows bigger. X-Men
did it better with the Sentinel Master Mold.
As
this is going on, the Joe's are still rescuing UN aid workers from a war torn Middle
Eastern country. This story expresses everything the Joe's are about. A small
tactical force of highly trained personally fighting the good fight over
seemingly overwhelming odd, but still managing to pull through.
The
story is being set up for an attempt by Cobra Commander to kidnap and subvert
Snake Eyes via the brainwave scanner (who we know is dead, but has been
replaced by Sean Collins aka Throwdown, though the Cobras don't know this).
The
set up to this brings back a lot of old characters: The October Guard- the old
Soviet equivalent of the Joe's. Crystal Ball, the Cobra mesmerist, who I
believe only ever appeared in one issue of A Real American hero. He has been
working as a sleazy fortune teller since being booted from Cobra. Last but not
least, Zartan, Zarana, Zandar and the entire Dreadnok crew (even Zanzibar)
reappear to take on Cobra.
The
book ends on a bittersweet note with a special Memorial Day tribute to all of
the fallen characters in the series. To those unfamiliar with the whole series,
a lot of characters will be mentioned that you might not have heard of. A third
of the dead come from the vastly unpopular G.I Battleforce 2000 which sold so
poorly Larry Hama was given permission to wipe out the whole squad. This is
excellent fan service however and a lot of old characters are brought up. Except
for the dead Cobras as they apparently don't mourn the dead.
My
only fan-boy gripe is that when the Arisinkage clan is honoring their dead
members: the Hard Master and the Soft Master, they forgot to include the Blind
Master who was killed by Zartan. A small oversight, but it bugged me.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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