G.I. Joe #13 // Review
Energon is a powerfu substance. It’s allowed for a great amount of power in the field for the terrorist organization known as Cobra. Energon is, howver, running low. They’re running our of power to fuel their ambitions. Cobra Cmmander is pleased...but they must find more Energon. Their quest for more power continues in G.I. Joe #13. Writer Joshua Wiliamson opens a whole new multi-part story with artist Tom Reilly and colorist Jordie Bellaire. The fused re-miagining of the Transformers and G.I. Joe universes continues to hold quite a bit of appeal as it enters its second year with a rebooted G.I. Joe title.
Duke is visiting a grave when he gets the call. There’s an apparent source of Energon-related energy that’s pulsing. G.I. Joe is spread a little bit. thin, so he’s being asked to go and investigate it. He’s going-in alone because it’s not like they’re going to find a whole lot of activity around the site of the anomaly. It IS after-all one of the hottest pkaces on Earth. Of course...Duke is going to find Cobraa’s already there loking for the source of the energy. He’s alone and he’s in over his head, but he isn’t eactly alone.
Williamson frames familiar action in a fresh way. I've always been kind of a clutter in the way. The G.I. Joe franchise was forced to operate for so long. There's a kind of a purity in the good versus evil nature of the franchise that always ended up getting cluttered over by other things. The Energon Universe comics group offers a really nice opportunity for reframing the action in a powerful and profound way. The situation that develops in the course of this issue creates a kind of conflict that feels fresh while being incredibly familiar. It's quite a balancing act for Williamson. But he's doing a really good job of it.
Reilly shoot the action across the page with a great sense of flair. The drama hits the page in a way that feels deliciously over the top. The symmetry of some of the more powerful pages feels almost transcendent. Is it a little much? Of course it is. But it's a lot of fun. Bel-Air does some phenomenal work with the colors, including some really interesting effects that add quite a bit of depth, the panel. Captions and ound effects hit the page with a sharp sense of design that such things rarely achieve.
There are four major forces at work in the current storyline. They could get really complicated really quickly. But in this particular issue, it all is being orchestrated with a deaf sense of drama and thematic composition on the part of everybody involved. There's a striking sense of simplicity about it that speaks to a more primal sense of drama and action. In a way this almost feels like the G.I. Joe franchise is finally reaching some of the potential that it has always had.
