G.I Joe: Cobra Files #6 Review


Another ‘personal’ issue this month with G.I Joe: Cobra Files #6. As a stand alone issue, it has its merits, but in the grand scheme of things, it feels out of place.

The official description from IDW:

THE BOY MOST LIKELY TO, Part 2! After being captured by the enemy and seeing the team’s mission fall apart, FLINT’s faith in his leadership abilities has been shaken. Can FLINT keep things together and help the team get past their mistakes… or have the cracks begun to show?

My problem isn’t directly with the issue itself. The story is good and the personal character development is okay.. even though everyone on G.I Joe has a moody back-story about high-school and parents. The problem is the timing. The last few issues were building up another issue and Cobra Files #6 swings in a completely different direction. It may be part of some grand plan, but the lack of resonance with the rest of the series makes it feel disjointed.

It’s no fault of Mike Costa’s in terms of the actual writing. The narration is solid – as ‘moody’ pieces go. This story, even with flashbacks, is exceptionally linear but the simplicity helps in a way. It just needed more underlining with other elements.

As for the visuals, Werther Dell’edera offers a quality suitable for Cobra Files. The art can be sketchy at times, however. Characters like Flint often being as no more than a few lines over a vague egg shaped thing. Really not what I’d call a face. When it comes to colors, Arianna Florean makes this issue feel very drab. Everything is saturated. This includes both flashbacks and non-flashbacks: the latter just has shading.

When it comes down to it, part of me wants to like this issue. Cobra Files has shown much promise of late and this unfortunately doesn’t meet the high bar it set itself previously.

2.5/5

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