Customer Reviews

G.I. Joe America's Elite Volume 5: WWIII Omnibus

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Marvel Comics' GI Joe was one of the most popular comics of the 80s thanks to its tie-in with the popular toy line and TV ads for the comic (paid for by Hasbro to get around restrictions on toy ads). But also in a large part because of the efforts of writer Larry Hama (himself a US army vet) to bring realistic military jargon and thinking to the comic.

After a lull in the 90s the comic was relaunched, ironically just before the September 11th attacks, and continued through the 2000s.

World War III is finale to this long-running story and tries to fit in every character who appeared in that quarter-century of comics.

The result is uneven. Minor characters are killed off-panel while the main characters survive bullet wounds and massive battles without any trouble. Cities are razed, governments fall, the world is in chaos but you never feel like any of the characters is seriously at risk. The writer tries but never quite captures Hama's ability to make these action figures sound like real soldiers.

Plus as the finale to 25 years of comics casual readers will be completely lost and even long-time fans will be scratching their heads trying to remember who's who.

So add a star if you're a fan of GI Joe, take one off if you've not read these before.

Almost every G.I. Joe and Cobra character cameos at some point in this thick sized Devil's Due graphic novel. I'm not sure calling it an omnibus is correct. It's nowhere near as big as the Marvel or DC Omnibus (omnibi?) are. But it is an extra thick graphic novel (though not oversized).

Cobra has taken M.A.R.R.S. away from Destro and the Baroness and are using the advance weaponry to destabilize most of the world's hot spots. The world breaks into World War III while G.I. Joe is deployed internationally to get to the bottom of it. Then, to further escalate the war, Cobra nukes Boston.

The story is fine and virtually every living Joe and Cobra has at least a brief cameo. Those most heavily featured are: Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Agent Delta (you'll just have to read it), Shipwreck, Cover Girl, Duke, General Hawk, Wild Bill, Spirit, Destro, James McCullen Destro, The Baroness, Firefly, Roadblock, Scarlett, Cobra Commander, Tomax & Xamot, Billy (Cobra Commander's son who meets his end), and Zartan.