Check out the 5-Page Preview below, the issue hits on Wednesday.

Cobra Ongoing #9

Mike Costa (w) • Alex Cal (a) • Dave Wilkins, Antonio Fuso (c)

“Cobra Command,” Part Three! As the takeover of a foreign nation by the new Cobra Commander continues, we follow other members of Cobra High Command who are not as amenable to the new Commander as they first seemed. While certain Cobra agents quietly plot their vengeance, others align themselves with the new Commander… but he may have more in store for Cobra than just a military coup.

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:

Nick Runge variant cover!

Cobra Clan symbol temporary tattoos!

[View with PicLens]

First, I’d like to point out Indigo Studios, who were apparently the folks behind the Pursuit of Cobra paintings that served as backdrops for the slideshow at the G.I. Joe Convention in 2009.  They may have been used elsewhere, but I’m not sure where.  All I know is I am absolutely in love with these paintings, and I am fired up that there is now a place to see them in all of their medium res glory.  They really capture the whole Pursuit of Cobra aesthetic pretty perfectly, I must say.  I do find it a bit odd that the human characters don’t bare much resemblance to the Pursuit of Cobra characters we got, but the vehicles and environments make up for that.  You can find Indigo Studios right here, and I’ve mirrored the fantastic images below.

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Next are some images from SoupGraphix.com, who appear to be a graphic design company much more animated in spirit, but equally cool.  They appear to be behind some of the recent Convention logos, and apparently had some input into the G.I. Joe: Renegades logo, too.  There are some pretty neat ideas below that we have not seen anywhere.  Question is, are they unused logos from projects past, or potential clues about stuff still to come?  Regardless, I’ve mirrored a few of the images below, hit up SoupGraphix.com to see the rest.

[View with PicLens]

I friggen love this stuff.  Thanks again to notpicard for his eagle eye lookin’ out!

We don’t have 1, not 2…but THREE 5-page previews for G.I. Joe related issues hitting Wednesday.  Included in this barrage is G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #174, Snake Eyes #9, and Cobra Annual 2012 featuring the history of the new Cobra Commander.  Excellent.

Click the Read the Rest of this Entry link below to check out the three previews.

Cobra Annual 2012: The Origin of Cobra Commander

Chuck Dixon (w) • S L Gallant (a) • menton3, Robert Atkins (c)

Now that the COBRA CIVIL WAR has ended, a new, more ruthless Cobra Commander has stepped into place. But how much do we really know about this new Commander? There’s only so much we can tell you! In this first-ever COBRA ANNUAL, Cobra Commander’s origin is finally revealed! Once a [CLASSIFIED] in the [CLASSIFIED], the Commander led a [CLASSIFIED] and stole from [CLASSIFIED] and [CLASSIFIED]. Soon, this caught the attention of COBRA. A choice was given: join us or die. Little did High Command suspect that [CLASSIFIED] would one day become the newest leader of COBRA.

FC • 48 pages • $7.99

*Variant covers:

• Robert Atkins Model Sheet Turnaround variant 

Bullet points:

• All new, all original, the true origin of the new Cobra Commander revealed!
• Perfect lead-in to the first big G.I. JOE crossover, “COBRA COMMAND” (turn the page to see what we mean!).

[View with PicLens]

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #174

Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a) • Herb Trimpe, Gallant (c)

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are on the hunt, tracking down the members of the deadly Blue Ninja clan and bringing them to justice before they cause more harm to the Arashikage. But these adversaries may prove too difficult for the ninjas to face alone… it may be time to call in reinforcements! It’s a deadly ninja showdown in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #174, don’t miss it!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:

Larry Hama variant sketch cover!

Bullet points:

Nominated for a 2011 Shel Dorf Award for Best Ongoing Series!

[View with PicLens]

Snake Eyes Ongoing #9

Chuck Dixon (w) • Alex Cal (a) • Dave Wilkins, Robert Atkins (c)

“Cobra Command,” Part Two! Snake Eyes travels halfway around the world with his team to stop the invasion of a sovereign nation under attack by Cobra. But the Joes’ silent warrior may be on a mission all his own. Snake Eyes is haunted by his past and Storm Shadow is at the heart of it. Snake Eyes carves himself his own bloody corner in a war of annihilation!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:

• Nick Runge variant cover!
• Arashikaye symbol temporary tattoos!

Bullet points:

• PART 2 of the G.I. JOE crossover, “COBRA COMMAND”!
• A rolling nine-issue crossover between all three ongoing G.I. JOE titles, all with the same art team!

[View with PicLens]

As folks will hopefully notice, I’ve kicked things off by posting the official IDW “Cobra Civil War Casualty Count” in the upper right hand corner of the screen, and the next obvious step in my mind was reviewing the first installment of the Cobra Civil War series, Issue #0, which was released last week.

Many of the pages of this issue had been released via previews on various websites, but it was refreshing to be able to read the entire issue cover to cover in one fell swoop to get a better idea for story flow.  And how did the story turn out?  Click the “Read the Rest of this Entry” link below for my review!

Cobra Civil War #0

G.I. Joe

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Javier Saltares

Cobra

Writer: Mike Costa
Artist: Antonio Fuso

Snake Eyes

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Agustin Padilla

Although the issue is broken down into three separate sections, I’m reviewing as a whole, just because they all tie together, at least somewhat.  As most of us know by now, the Cobra Civil War involves a scattering of Cobra agents who are all competing to become the next Cobra Commander.  Of course, the test they have to complete is to kill the most Joe agents…and issue #0 begins the bloodshed.

The G.I. Joe title starts things off as Barbecue leads a team of recruits on a search of Springfield, the same Springfield that Snake Eyes and Mainframe investigated earlier in the series.  Springfield is now abandoned, and the Joes are doing some recon, trying to turn up some Cobra related information.  Just the fact that Barbecue is the only named Joe in the group is an indication that things are about to go sideways, and they certainly do.

A familiar Cobra agent named Krake is waiting in ambush, and quickly takes out the entire group of Joe agents, quickly gaining the upper hand in the Cobra Commander competition.

The G.I. Joe portion of this issue was okay.  Javier Saltares’ art left me a bit underwhelmed, and I would much prefer to see Robert Atkins doing his thing as he has been.  Some titles lend themselves to a somewhat murky and artistic style, but I’m not sure G.I. Joe is one of them.  Saltares is at home with supernatural stuff like Ghost Rider, which isn’t firmly planted in reality, but G.I. Joe has so many realistic hard edges, it’s really tough to grasp Saltare’s artwork here.  Can’t say I’m a fan, at least not at this point.

The story is quick and somewhat predictable.  I love Krake…his look, his attitude…the entire character is pretty cool, so I like seeing him included here.  I totally foresaw the events of this story, and was a bit disappointed that Barbecue was introduced simply to be gunned down, though I probably shouldn’t be surprised.  That certainly seems to be the trend these days.  So far, not a bad start, but nothing that really hit me.

The Cobra story obviously tells the tale from the bad guys’ point of view.  We see Crystal Ball again, flying towards Cobra’s remote headquarters where the Baroness meets with everyone to give them the lowdown on what happened and where Cobra is going from here.  We get introduced to “Vargas” who appears to be Cobra medical specialist Scalpel, and we also get briefly introduced to several other named characters throughout the Cobra hierarchy.  We hear a little bit more about the ever present and ever mysterious Cobra “council” and the story ends with the dramatic entrance of Serpentor, proclaiming himself a Cobra “holy man”.

While the Cobra installment didn’t have the action of the G.I. Joe story, it was well written and up to the expected standards of the Cobra title.  Not much gunplay, more mind games, words, and intricate plot details, and that certainly still seems to be the motif going forward.  I loved seeing Crystal Ball again, and getting introduced to some more Cobra agents is always cool.  Serpentor was an awesome bonus, and even with a decided lack of action, this was a great portion of this overall issue.

Lastly, the Snake Eyes portion of Cobra Civil War #0.  Like Barbecue’s tale in the first part, the infamous G.I. Joe Ninja Force is introduced, only to be unsummarily killed off.  We never meet the characters, we only see their corpses (with the exception of Bushido, who lives to tell another tale).  I kind of like the re-imagined Ninja Force, from what I see.  Camouflaged soldiers who seem to be adept at martial arts as well as standard forms of combat, but of course their potential will never be realized at this point.  I do wish a more impactful character had been chosen as the survivor, like Nunchuk or Dojo, but who am I kidding, I doubt we’ll see much more of Bushido after this point as it stands.

Throughout the issue, Snake Eyes continues finding the dead bodies, and culminates in the revelation that Ninja Force was ambushed by two attackers…two attackers revealed at the end to be Slice and Dice!

While the Cobra portion was gripping and intriguing, the G.I. Joe portion was somewhat senseless and violent, the Snake Eyes part fell somewhere in between.  I don’t think anyone is particularly shocked about the deaths of Ninja Force, but the way the story was uncovered was pretty cool, and it was neat to see Slice and Dice introduced into the IDW library, even if only piloting Trubble Bubbles and disguised as Snake Eyes.  It is revealed that they are working for Khallikhan, a strange Cobra operative who doesn’t seem to be an extension of a known character.

As I’ve mentioned in several of my Real American Hero reviews, Padilla isn’t my favorite artist, but he was serviceable here at least.  Even if his strength isn’t with pure military action, he at least draws some exaggerated martial arts combat fairly well, and the dramatic and energetic motions of the combating ninjas translated pretty nicely.  Beyond that, though, I’m still not a fan of his work, and I hope his role in this title is transitionary and not permanent.

Overall, this #0 issue was a decent introduction, if somewhat unremarkable.  Speaking from my own experience, I was really hoping that IDW wasn’t just going to start tossing random Joes into the fires for shock value, but that certainly seems to be what’s happening so far.  Sure, fans might have an attachment to the Barbecue name, but nobody knows who THIS Barbecue is, so where are we emotionally invested?  Why do we care if he lives or dies, to say nothing of his group of obnoxiously named FOB’s.  The story moved briskly and it’s obvious that the action will be aplenty, I just hope it gets a bit more captivating as it moves on.  We certainly have the potential for some great storylines to be told here, but it’s not off to a perfect start.

I anxiously await the #1′s!

[View with PicLens]

Check out CobraCon.com, and take a peek at the YouTube video below.

Excellent.  Thanks to The Terror Drome for the information.