GI JOE #5 Review
Previous:Seeming sorcerer supreme Crystal Ball and the always destructive Dreadnoks have been causing trouble. The Joe team has been infiltrating different cults and anarchic organizations investigating how the growing world anarchy events tie together, and if they involve dire wraiths, Rom, Cybertronians, or *GASP* the rise of Cobra again. Now the Joe team has taken Crystal Ball prisoner, but only after he seems to have magically unleashed some nasty creatures from under the Earth.
This Issue:The Joe team, which also consists of Decepticon Seeker Skywarp, attempts to learn more about the monsters and to drive them back to where they came from before they can do some serious damage. Skywarp, luckily, is about the size of these menaces, so he’s getting more front line action. Rock ’N Roll’s guilt becomes the focus for Crystal Ball, Doc faces her heritage, and Scarlett shares a big secret with Roadblock, who shares it with someone else…
Brought to you by these hard working creative types:
The Art:As you’ve probably noticed if you own the issue, or have taken a look at the preview, the art takes center stage here, with artist Aaron Conley along with colorist Lovern Kindzierski taking over the duties for the issue over regular Giannis Milonogiannis. Milonogiannis' style has been something for a reader to get used to, as it’s pretty different than what has been done in the past -much more stylized, but still fairly realistic.
With Conley in, we get something even more stylized, and perhaps maybe even more jolting to Joe readers. Conley’s style seems to be inspired by Christopher McCullough’s animated show, ‘The Venture Brothers’. This style may feel more jarring to some, others may welcome the change, or the reference to the show’s style. It seems very stylized and un-realistic, but GI JOE has become much less realistic and much more SCI FI as of late as it intertwines with the HASBROverse’s aliens, robots, and other properties. It’s also only a one off mission, so Giannis will be returning next issue, although Conley will still continue to do covers and other IDW series.
Didn't know Brock Sampson was on GI JOE too, did ya'?
And it's Roadblock's birthday. Time for cake!
Yay!
My take (GI JOE fan):There’s a lot for a GI JOE fan to like. It’s nice to see some underutilized characters appearing, like Stretcher, and to see that the book’s cast will not only be the small group that we were initially introduced to. The addition of Skywarp, and the push towards much heavier sci-finess may be too much at the moment, especially with the art, but this new Joe mag is still trying to figure out where it fits within the HASBROverse -as its Crown Jewel.
There’s some heavy humanity as Doc wrestles with her and her dad’s alien history, some downright creepiness with Crystal Ball’s sorcery and interactions with Rock N’ Roll, and moral and humane lines involving prisoners. These are balanced off with some silliness as the good guys' banter- which even Skywarp seems to be learning to enjoy. With the giant inner-Earth creatures being the more violent form of Sunbow’s old favorite Fatal Fluffies (albeit much bigger), it’s overall a fun issue. The art to me betrays some of the serious feelings incumbent in the issue. Is it what Joe fans really like? I’ll have to ask some… but this Joe fan is mostly tolerating it, albeit willing to continue to give it a chance.
In the show, cute turned into...
...RWOARRRRR!!!!!!!My take (Transformers fan):If I were a big Skywarp fan, I know I would have to tune in much more to this book. This issue contains probably the most we’ve seen of the bot in a long time. He’s almost fully operational, but does not currently seem to be able to teleport. His addition to this team as the only Transformer, and one pushed into being an ally mostly against his will, seems awkward for him-true to his previous character. You can tell he’s not a fan of humans - still bearing the same smugness and holier-than-thou attitude toward the ‘insects’- but he seems like he ’s beginning to feel somewhat better about his predicament- less of a prisoner.
He seems to have some grudging respect for a few members of the team, and plays nicely with most of the rest. He also seems like he’d like to jet (pun intended) at the first opportunity - or does he? At this point, he does not seem to do much reflection on the past, or his relationships with the Decepticons and seems almost content in his new role.
You can tell, Skywarp does really like them. They're still alive.One wonders if more interaction with the other Cybertronians is in his future (how can it not be?)… will he at some point have to confront Thundercracker? Will he be willing to escape if given the opportunity? Where would he turn if he did — Starscream and Cybertron?
Final:I cringe somewhat when asked to do GI JOE-related reviews. I feel like I represent a fandom that I do not know that well anymore. I’m such a Sunbow cartoon GI JOE fan first, and that’s where most of my love for the franchise came from. I apologize if I ever misrepresent any GI JOE group. Like Transformers fans, Joe fans have their passionate and yet different kinds of fan cliques.
The right of might...wow!I hope Joe fans are giving this comic a try. I’m fairly certain it won’t be a ‘purist’s’ (GI Joe geewunner) first choice, but it may provide enough so far to garner some interest and possible support to see in what direction it’s headed. The spread of Joe throughout the different HASBROverse books is new, and maybe exciting, with Zartan and Cobra showing up in MASK, Joes in Optimus Prime and Rom, and Revolutionaries playing around the edges of Transformers, Joe and Adventure Team history; it seems to be a fun time to be a fan of several franchises.
And, like I said above, if you’re a Skywarp fan, it looks like it’s time to start paying attention…
...they can't keep you in this comic as the only Transformer forever!
Does it genuinely sell better than other Hasbro-based properties? My guess is no. I'm sure I'm a bit biased, but when IDW has been publishing their TF comics/G1 universe for almost 12 years now, and had 
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