Micro-Reviews: G. I. JOE, Vol. 4, Part One

Vol. 4 reprint. Entering now perhaps the best-known JOE era. These are the issues released during the earliest days of the cartoon. #GIJoe @JScottCampbell

For fans like me too young to read comics, their earliest JOE impressions are made here. I'll begin my reviews of Vol. 4 this week. AND, the next installment in my #GIJoe novel is available for free.(smashwords.com/profile/view/G…)

On to the reviews...

G. I. JOE #31 (January 1985) I don’t think this cover is viewed as the classic that it is. #GIJoe #LarryHama #SnakeEyes

It’s likely I’m biased, as this was one of my earliest issues, consumed through the reprint digest. 1988 JOE had the main series, SPECIAL MISSIONS, TALES, a UK reprint magazine, and a reprint digest. If I could, I would just post a scan of each page. I can’t emphasize just how significant this one comic is for me.

The cast all resemble the cartoon, thanks to Whigham’s clean work. But, boy, is this not the cartoon. Characters are injured, real military strategy is applied to every action, Cobra’s plots are anything but silly…for someone who only knew the Sunbow world, this was beyond mind blowing. Hama’s faith in the art to carry the story, in the days of very text-heavy Marvel books, also provided an alternate view on comics storytelling

I was lucky to walk into one of the greatest Snake-Eyes comics ever. Previously, he was the cool looking guy on the cartoon who didn’t do much, even though his toy was always sold out.

Here, he’s the ultimate kid fantasy. Even the Joes are amazed by this guy.

The action is violent, intense, anything but “safe.” I was captivated.

Notice how “right” the characters look. And two examples on one page of Hama’s broken thought balloon rule.

It’s impossible to remove my personal bias from this, but I still view this as one of the series’ best issues. I’d rank it up there with #21, even.

G. I. JOE #32 (February 1985) Off-model Dreadnoks -- attack! #GIJoe #LarryHama

When Hama does choose to write prose, it’s solid work. I think this the line @tomscioli wanted to quote but couldn't find in TF/GIJOE.

Another classic issue. Tons of action, odd characters, very clean art. Firefly and Destro versus a bear. Good stuff. The seeming illogic of Soft Master’s views fascinated me as a kid. The unpredictability of his stories is a lot of fun.

Lady Jaye & Ripcord debut. Jaye already resembles the cartoon model, not the toy. And Scarlett having issues with another female Joe is a repeat of her initial conflict with Cover Girl. Neither “feud” went anywhere.

One of the more significant pages of the canon. This page stuck with me as a kid because it’s so quietly disturbing. This is a replacement for the Cobra agent who died earlier in the issue

Every “Fred” is surgically altered to resemble a generic white guy. These kids now have a substitute father they know is a fake. The replacement dad is Wade Collins, who we’ll discover served in Nam with Snake-Eyes. Wade is one of the more interesting figures in the canon. 

And that little boy goes on to become quite important. He’s Sean Collins, the kid who pens the famous letter from the final Marvel issue of JOE. And, years later, was revived by Hama in the IDW book…to become Snake-Eyes. All of this was overshadowed by the other replacement Snakes, but I was honestly impressed with the way Hama used this continuity. 

Given that Wade is the substitute dad…that means Collins isn’t Sean’s true last name. I don’t think this specific continuity has ever been addressed. Hama today writes the Collins family as if they are truly blood.

G. I. JOE #33 (March 1985) Easily one of my favorite JOE covers. Mike Zeck! #LarryHama #GIJoe @MikeZeck

The Joes go to a shopping mall. Notice how much personality is conveyed in just a few panels. And I do have vague memories of people still smoking in stores as a young child.

Bludd and Baroness training a kid for murder unnerved me as a child. The image of a Cub Scout as an assassin is Hama again using classic Americana and twisting it into something dark.

Arguably, this is subversive, but likely it’s more about playing with reader expectations and rendering something that just looks cool. (I think Hama actually was an Eagle Scout.)

And this sequence with Destro unmasking seems odd in retrospect. We have to say Baroness is merely stunned that he’d ever unmask for her, since we now know Destro’s face is perfectly normal.

And now Bongo the Bear appears! Significant debut, as Bongo turns out to be Candy, an important civilian character from this era.

The absurdity of this story grows with each page, but doesn’t have the obnoxious “humor” of today’s irony-drenched nonsense. The ludicrousness of the Joes confronting Cobra at the mall is acknowledged, but Hama isn’t putting hats on top of hats. He lets the humor play out naturally, while also giving kids the sincere action they want. 

One of the most significant JOE moments—the revelation Billy is Cobra Commander’s son!

I’ll repeat this doesn’t work with the existing canon, and is the kind of thing you can’t pull off today with a vocal internet fanbase. But the relationship between Billy and the Commander is integral to the series. The theme of fathers and sons, also expressed through Wade and Sean, is often the heart of JOE. 

Also, this was pointed out when the trades first came out, and I’ve never forgotten. How does Destro know Billy is the Commander’s son? Why does he recognize him while the Commander doesn’t? And why did Billy believe the Commander and his father were two different people?

G. I. JOE #34 (April 1985) I know I keep saying these issues are important or significant -- but I mean it. #GIJoe #LarryHama

This is the first dogfight issue of JOE. They’ll later become a recurring feature of the SPECIAL MISSIONS spinoff. The story rests on Hama writing hyper-precise technical detail on fighter jets. I have no idea if war comics did these stories before JOE, but they’ve always felt specific to Hama’s writing. 

Baroness was introduced as the standard Cobra pilot. Essentially forgotten after Wild Weasel’s debut.

The story plays with page layouts continuously. Wild Weasel and Baroness are just as much the stars as Lady Jaye and Ace.

Clever layouts and a bit of humor--just not the zany, “Aren’t we so random?” nonsense irony of today.

I don’t think any kid could forget this scene. Whigham renders the acting as well as the jets.

A classic issue, easily. #GIJoe #LarryHama