Desperately trying to get back on the ball with my IDW Comic reviews, and it’s with pleasure that I tackle G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #173.  I say with pleasure because as I’ve said a number of times, this title is far and away my favorite IDW G.I. Joe book, and this latest issue was no exception.

With the shocking events of last issue in place, how will Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes react to these events and where do things go from here?  Lots of loose ends tied up, with a bunch more unveiled.  Click the Read the Rest of this Entry link below for the full review.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #173
Writer: Larry Hama
Artists: Ron Wagner, Wil Rosado, and SL Gallant

How I love this book, let me count the ways.

Okay, maybe not.  I need to remain at least a little bit objective don’t I?  My G.I. Joe fandom was born and thrived on the Marvel Comics back in the day, and it does my heart proud to see that Marvel universe continued with the spirit and energy so intact.

This story takes place after the events of Real American Hero #172 and the fall out from the surprising death of Cobra Commander’s son Billy.  I hope at this point that this isn’t a spoiler for anyone.

While there certainly is some action in this particular issue, to me, the best parts of it were what went on “between the lines”.  In one excellent sequence, Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes infiltrate Cobra and end up face-to-face with Cobra Commander, with the sole intention to deliver Billy’s remains.  No attempt on his life, on vague threats, just doing what is necessary and giving a father his son’s corpse.  A very humanizing moment when the Commander discovers whose body is at the foot of his bed.  It would have been easy to cast Cobra Commander in a horrid light and have him cast off the death as if he didn’t care, but instead we got a very poignant scene.

In another great thought-provoking moment, Sneak Peek visits his mother to confess to her that his death was faked so he could work undercover, only to see that his mother is now suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and doesn’t even remember who he is.  His last memories were that her son was dead, and that obviously as an impact on the young recon trooper.  Another very well done scenes.

These two scenes really exemplify what Hama is able to do with this title.  This isn’t just a licensed book to him, and he manages to take a minor character like Sneak Peek and immediately get him some more personality.  Fantastic.

But of course, it’s not just these emotional scenes that make this book.  We have an awesome exercise in Benzheen involving a quartet of G.I. Joe motorheads driving the Patriot Grizzly (yay!) who are going against Russian operatives (including former Oktober Guard soldier Daina) trying to prove their armor is superior to the other in an effort to make some weapons deals.

The end of the issue involves these Russian and American troops facing down the business end of a horde of Cobra tanks, as Cobra decides to make a move into Benzheen for unknown reasons.  I totally geeked out when the DTC HISS was leading the charge.

Sprinkled in throughout that was a furthering of the strange story of cyborg ninjas…I really don’t know where this is going, and find myself somewhat bored with this angle, but the rest of the issue made up for it.

Unfortunately with the fantastic writing, the art this month is somewhat uneven.  Where SL Gallant provided his normal great work, I thoroughly enjoyed the layout and the artwork, but you could definitely tell where Rosado and where Wagner took over.  It’s not that either of them are good, they just have somewhat different styles and it was sort of jarring.  I’m sure there were reasons for it, but I did feel the art suffered somewhat.

I do love that the vehicles were, as usual, portrayed very realistically and accurately to the source material, and I find myself ecstatic that they are pulling vehicles not just from the classic days, but from more modern days, too, as the Patriot Grizzly and Direct to Consumer HISS are pretty prevalent in these pages, and it’s awesome to see.  So much cool stuff came out in the later 2000′s, there are plenty of cool things to pick from, so it’s great the artists are doing this.

All told, this issue was still a great one, even with the shifting artistic team.  The writing was stellar, and the art worked also, but not quite as great as when Gallant has the duties for the entire issue.

[View with PicLens]

Related posts:

1. GeneralsJoes Reviews G.I. Joe: ARAH #166
2. GeneralsJoes Reviews IDW G.I. Joe: ARAH #160
3. GeneralsJoes Reviews G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #156
4. GeneralsJoes Reviews IDW G.I. Joe RAH #161
5. GeneralsJoes Reviews IDW G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #172