What I thought of...GI Joe: Snake Eyes Agent of Cobra #2

GI Joe: Snake Eyes Agent of Cobra #2: Is the next awesome issue in this series by writer Mike Costa and artist Paolo Villanelli. Snake Eyes has turned on the Joes, and he's now working for Cobra and out for blood!! Could Snake Eyes REALLY be a traitor?
The Good: This book avoids a lot of comic book traps. When you have a character that doesn't talk, there's risk of running into the "lassie situation". You know what I'm talking about even if you've never seen an episode of Lassie. Lassie is a dog, and can't talk, so during the course of the show, you get lines like "What's that Lassie? There's a gang of rowdy kids causing trouble down the road?". And, in past issues of some GI Joe series, there's been lines like "What's that Snake Eyes? Cobra's staked out up ahead?" or "Snake Eyes wants us to follow him!", but not here. Costa does a great job of making it natural and logical for Snake Eyes to sit back and observe and let the other characters do the talking. Add to this, Villanelli's crisp, clean artwork and you've got a book that's pretty awesome.
The Bad: As much as I loved this issue, honestly...there could've been a little more Snake Eyes in it for my tastes. Yes, he's a big part, but he almost plays second banana this issue.
The Verdict: BUY IT!!! The good FAR outweighs the bad, and I didn't even mention the ending! And, in case you don't remember just how awesome Snake Eyes, here's a little reminder......

What I thought of...Snake Eyes: Agent of Cobra #1

Snake Eyes: Agent of Cobra #1: Snake Eyes, the ultimate member of the GI Joe team is working for what, now? Yeah, you read the title right. One of the ORIGINAL members of the (1982) GI Joe team has turned traitor and is working for Cobra. Jerkstore.
The Good: Mike Costa writes. Paolo Villanelli art. Do I need to list anything else? OK, I will anyway. The story is WAY better than I thought it would be (no offense Mike Costa)! I thought this would be the typical "Duke tells Snake Eyes to infiltrate Cobra, Snake does, but gets threatened into working for them" kinda thing. That is far FAR from the case here. Truth be told, we haven't seen Snake Eyes in quite a while, and now that he'd back, we're REALLY not sure where his loyalties lay. The last we knew, he got screwed over by the Joe team pretty bad. So this story actually has the feel of "Wow.Snake Eyes really COULD be a bad guy now!"!
The Bad: We spend a lot of time with Destro in this issue. Quite a lot. But, since Snake Eyes doesn't really talk we need someone to "narrate" the story, for lack of a better term.
The Verdict: BUY IT!!!! It's Mike Costa writing GI Joe! Also, he introduces a character that, to my knowledge, makes his debut in IDW GI Joe continuity, and is a pretty big deal. You do NOT want to miss this issue!

Comics You Should Buy-2/6/13

A decent sized week this week. Not as big as the previous weeks, but there's still some REALLY good stuff out. Let's take a look:

GI Joe: A Real American Hero #187: I can't begin to tell you how much I love this book. 25 years after this story "ended", it's continuing and is as fun, action packed and relevant today as it was back then. Plus-NINJAS!!

Fearless Defenders #1: This series gets off to a slow-ish start, but there's some really great dialouge and some FANTASTIC art by Will Sliney. This book is only going to get better!

Earth 2 #9: Just a great, fun super hero book.

All New X-Men #7: A lot of people are less than thrilled with the art change, but, the story is still incredibly good.

Superior Spider-Man #3: Another great issue. This is the most interesting Spider-Man has been in years.

Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #21: The end of an era for GI Joe. This wraps up the Dixon/Atkins era of GI Joe. Don't be upset, next month-a brand new fresh start!!

Green Arrow #17: BOOK OF THE WEEK!!! Brand new creative team,writer JEFF LEMIRE and artist ANDREA SORRENTINO take over this title and spin it in a brand new direction!!! If you haven't read Green Arrow before, this is the PERFECT place to jump on!!

Well, there you go. There's PLENTY of other comics out this week, but these are just a few that I think you'll really enjoy. As always, if you're in Chicago, come visit Challengers Comics and see me! Seriously, I mean it!!

The List-December 19, 2012

What a HUGE week for comics!!!! It's almost like 2 weeks combined into one, because almost NOTHING is shipping next week on the 26th(except the all ready spoiled Amazing Spider-Man #700). Anyway, here's just a FEW of the comics that I recommend picking up this week:

All New X-Men #4-I never imagined in a million years that this book would be as good as it has been.

Bionic Woman #6-THIS BOOK IS WAY BETTER THAN IT SHOULD BE!!!!

Avengers #2-A whole shit ton of people show up!!!! And it's awesome!!!

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #5-He-Man VERSUS Battle Cat!!!!!

Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow #20-THINGS ARE HEATING UP as the series is winding down!!

MacGyver: The Fugitive Gauntlet #3-I love this series so much!!!Buy it. Read it. Repeat. 

-There you have it!! Again, LOTS of great stuff to buy this week and isn't it a perfect time to buy a pile of comics and read them? A lot of you will be traveling, and that's the perfect time to read and not have to make awkward conversation with the weird person next to you! If you're in Chicago, I'll see you tomorrow at Challengers!!!

Snake Eyes #4 Review

After a slightly disappointing issue #3, Chuck Dixon and Robert Atkins decided to kick my ass with issue 4 of Snake Eyes. THIS is why I read GI Joe comics. Scratch that, this is why I read COMICS!!! Holy crap, this was awesome!!! First off, you have Snake Eyes vs Slice & Dice. That should be enough to sell you on the book right there. You have GOT to see(read)this fight to believe it. I will go to my grave saying that Atkins draws THE best fights in comics. It's like reading an action movie. Then, you've got the Alpine/Iceberg story line which actually has a decent amount of action and resolves very nicely.

-The part I'm most impressed about is that while the COBRA Civil War story is present, it never feels like it overtakes the issue or story at any point. It's in the background, keeping you up to date and giving you just what you need to know, but never too much or taking the focus off the ass-kicking ninjas. This is, without a doubt, my favorite issue of the series so far. Yo Joe!!

Snake Eyes #3 Review

First off, my apologies to everyone that this is a month behind. That said, Snake Eyes #3 was my least favorite issue of the series so far. Don't get me wrong, it's still a Snake Eyes comic, which makes it GREAT. But, I'm afraid this issue left me feeling like I was reading "Snake Eyes & His Amazing Friends". Chuck Dixon does a fine job with the story, I can't imagine how hard it is to write a character that doesn't speak. He does a good job of not falling into the "Lassie trap" of another character saying "What's that Snake Eyes? Cobra's put together a new weather dominater and we need to go Cobra Island?" but, because everyone ELSE has to do the talking to move the store forward, we're left with less Snake Eyes that we should have. The art, as always, is fantastic. At this point if Robert Atkins put out a book of blank pages, I'd probably buy it. Don't get me wrong, this WAS a good comic with a sold story that's heating up. It's just not a great SNAKE EYES comic.

Snake Eyes #1 Review

Who's the most bad-ass character in comic book history? Right. Wolverine. Who would somebody send to kill Wolverine? Snake Eyes. Yes, that's how formidalbe Snake Eyes is. So, why is it we're just getting a solo Snake Eyes series now, in 2011, almost 30 years after his action figure debut? I can't answer that. BUT, when I can tell you is that it's worth the wait.
-You get exactly what you'd expect and what you'd want from a Snake Eyes comic-ninja moves & awesomeness. I'm not sure time-line wise where this book fits in. It flashes back to Cobra Civil War #0, but I'm guessing it takes place before last week's GI Joe #1, due to spoilerish reasons that I won't get into. We join Snake Eyes, Helix, Alpine and Iceberg on a mission to find an enemy that is holed up in a really remote arctic area. And best of all? You get to see Snake Eyes being Snake Eyes. I really don't know if it was writer Chuck Dixon or artist Robert Atkins that choreographed the action, but whoever did, deserves a salute. It's never confusing, and always entertaining. The only thing I didn't really care for in this issue was the art in the flashback sequences. Yikes.
-I give this issue 4 out of 4 (ninja throwing)stars!