Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

G.I. Joe #9GI Joe #9
IDW Comics
Dixon & Gallant

The slow burn continues in GI Joe and this issue really doesn't bring a whole lot to the overall story until the very end. The issue essentially contains a small skirmish with another robot, highlighting Cover Girl, and some interaction between Baroness and Destro while Mainframe and Snake Eyes find out the hard way what lies in Springfield. The issue is a lot like the previous ones. Not a ton happens, but it's a necessary link in a long, long chain. The artwork has its moments but it is uneven at times. It's a fair issue overall.


Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe comic opens with the Joes in the remains of Destro's castle. Some of the Joes find themselves cornered by a giant robot. You would think this gimmick would get old by now, but apparently not. In the crossfire the robot kills two Joes who have names, but are irrelevant. After Cover Girl is saved from the giant robot, a plot development opens up for Brainstorm to head to the castle meaning there will be further issues of the Joes hanging around Destro's abandoned lair, which is a tad unfortunate.

Destro and Baroness have some words en route to the hidden Cobra Artic base. The interaction seems odd because Destro is obviously reluctant to become a slave to Cobra, but Cobra is so wealthy and far-reaching why is it so essential that they keep Destro? They already have everything Destro owned, why is this man so irreplaceable? It doesn't really make a lot of sense.

Finally, Mainframe and Snake Eyes find themselves in Springfield. Little do they know that the entire town actually is Cobra. It's got some funny interaction and dialogue as Mainframe assumes he is just dealing with regular old town's folk. It's got an explosive conclusion.

This comic is still juggling a lot of threads and it feels like they are starting to lose steam with the exception of the Mainframe and Snake Eyes plot. Joes seem to be wandering around doing a whole lot of nothing considering how their base was just attacked and so many of them were killed. There just doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency in their actions except in the trial of Scarlett. It's hard to call this a military comic and I wouldn't even classify this as a spy comic book. It's sort of series of mistaken run-ins that will eventually lead to a battle (I hope) with Cobra.

The artwork has some great moments. The tension while Snake Eyes and Mainframe stalk around Springfield is great. Snake Eyes pulling out his ninja outfit in the pouring rain was excellent as well. The explosions and the attack at the end were also among the highlights. However, some of the characters felt very uneven. It doesn't help that there are no character identifiers, but when that Joe went to talk to Scarlett I had assumed it was Duke either returned from South America or in some sort of flashback. Whoever it wasn't given a name and is a dead ringer for Duke. There are a couple of panels where the Baroness appears to not even be wearing her glasses. It's a bit of an uneven comic.

As GI Joe continues through the discovery of Cobra the stories get more and more tense but when I look back at this issue there just isn't anything that happens that's memorable. In a recap box I'm not even sure this issue would warrant a sentence that wasn't already in there from the previous issues. That generally isn't a good thing. For the most part it's a good comic with some action and some nice artwork but there just isn't enough in here to jazz anyone up unless they are collecting the series already.

3 out of 5 geek goggles