G.I. Joe #324 // Review
Ace is in the Sky Raven. He’s been sent out to check on a suspicious unidentified object in geosynchronous orbit over the North Atlantic. It was listed as a telecommunications satellite, but it’s much bigger than that. The thing is the size of an orbital research station. There’s no telecom satellite that’s THAT big. ce sis pretty far away from it, but it’s bristling with antennae. Duke and Stalker are goig to ask for photos of the ting. That’s going to be a bit tricky: all of the cameras in a Sky Raven point downward. That’s going to prove to be the least of their problems in G.I. Joe #324. Veteran writer Larry Hama continues an epic run with the series in an issue brought to page and panel by artist Paul Pelletier and inker Tony Kordos.
From what Ace is giving Duke and Stalker, it’s apparent that the unidentified object is a space station, The antenna array on it is huge. Clearly it isn’t cjust collecting data...it’s transmitting it as well. It’s possible that something that big could be somehow connected to all of the mysterious drones that have been popping-up al over the place. That’s not really in question. The REAL question is: how does something that big get off the Earth and into geosynchronous orbit without being noticed?
Hama pieces together, a very solid and respectably, enjoyable encounter in orbit. The physics might not necessarily seem all that believable, but it's a lot of fun to watch it. Shoot across the page. And it's on power with much of the space based sci-fi action that's made it to page and screen over the years. The investigation, encounter and aftermath run a pretty reliably entertaining course from one cover to the other. There are just enough details, presented in the script to deliver some degree of satisfying complexity, beyond the surface level action without overloading it. There's enough detail in and around the edges of everything to serve as a basis for the action that makes it feel like more than just an action sequence.
Pelletier frame the action on the page in an intelligible way. Theoretically there would be ways of presenting combat in space that would feel a little bit more dynamic and pleasantly disorienting. The art team does a good job of presenting it all in a way that feels quite coherent. It's just not as dazzling as it probably could be if it were framed from more interesting angles. The impact of the combat is clearly felt on the page, though. And there's quite a bit of intensity to what's being delivered.
Fishers as a compelling set up for threats that will no doubt to be presented in the title as things progress. It's nice to see. the Joes once again being present presented with a threat that isn’t. necessarily Cobra. The overwhelming way universal villains are always fun, but it's nice to see other threats. Make it to the page. The nemesis presented in the latest issue has been around for a little less than a decade. It's one of the more compelling recent additions to the franchise that's step in the right direction of keeping it dynamic.
