G.I Joe: Special Missions #9 Review


G.I Joe_Special_missions_bannerSince it’s launch, this title has been fairly filler free, but there is no way to describe G.I Joe: Special Missions #9. It’s a one-shot without any obvious connections – but can it still be entertaining?

The official description from IDW:

BILDOCKER’S DAY OFF! The Special Mission Unit’s expert conniver and master scrounger wants to prove he’s got as much right to be G.I. JOE as anyone else. BILDOCKER and DIAL-TONE take off on a road trip to the Florida Everglades to cut a deal with one of his shady contacts. But what they find out in the swamp is a weapon of mass destruction auction run by COBRA! Can BILDOCKER talk himself and DIAL-TONE out of becoming gator bait?

IF we were to split comics into those you would read time and time again, and those that you would only read once, G.I Joe: Special Missions #9 unfortunately comes under the latter. Everything about it feels… generic – as if the team had just acquired a random script and changed some of G.I Joe Special Missions 9the names for G.I Joe. Sure, it has a little charm but it adds nothing and explores characters with very little reason to care about them and neither does it leave you with a reason too, either.

This really isn’t any discredit to Chuck Dixon, a writer that has already proven he has the chops. It’s just.. the story doesn’t matter at all and neither do the characters, unfortunately. His sense of personality and humor comes through at times, but that simply can’t clean up a poor idea.

Likewise, the visual direction doesn’t match the regular quality seen in both G.I Joe and Special Missions. Jamal Igle can draw faces and nail the positioning of complex scenes and postures, it’s just a little ‘wacky’ or ever so slightly exaggerated for the title. The colors from Aburtov, Graphikslava and Lisa Jackson holds up to the usual standard, ensuring each page at least offers refreshing color and charm, but this isn’t enough to hide what its coloring over.

All in all, there are plenty of people I suspect will like this title. It has its merits… it just doesn’t fit in among the rest of Special Missions. Back to the regular plot, please.

2.5/5

twohalfstar

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