 Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here and it's time for a G.I. Joe comic book review I've been trying to do these comic book reviews every month, but I haven't been keeping up with them very well They've been kind of irregular, but since we don't have a full G.I. Joe toy review this weekend I thought this would be a good time to catch up on the comic book reviews We will be looking at issue number 25 this time just recapping issue number 24 after G.I. Joe captured Cobra Commander Storm Shadow came to his rescue Storm Shadow managed to spring Cobra Commander from captivity But then the G.I. Joe team captured Storm Shadow Cobra Commander returned to Cobra headquarters in Springfield to confront Destro the Baroness and Major Blood who had tried to take over the organization in his absence Major Blood had tried to keep tabs on the ninja Storm Shadow by placing a tracking device in Storm Shadow's sword But Storm Shadow had discovered the tracking device and mailed it to an address in Florida at the very end of issue number 24 two new characters Wild Weasel and Firefly were investigating the shack in Florida at that address Only to discover it is occupied by Zartan moving on to issue number 25 We have a cover that shows the dragonfly helicopters swooping down and attacking the water moccasin Cobra Commander is driving the water moccasin and Zartan is standing on top Nothing on this cover is quite toy accurate Everything just seems sort of distorted from how it ought to look But it is an exciting and energetic cover other than the fact that this issue does include these vehicles and these Characters it doesn't really reflect what happens in the issue the publishing date on this issue is July 1984 on the splash page we have a title Zartan But Zartan does not appear on this page instead We have short fuse driving a boat with roadblock and Storm Shadow and the boat is headed toward Alcatraz Island We have a creative team of Larry Hama script Frank Springer pencils and Mike Gustavish inks The Joes plan to use Alcatraz to imprison Storm Shadow Of course Alcatraz was used as a federal prison up until 1963 Storm Shadow announces his intent to escape and that would suit roadblock just fine because that would give roadblock another Opportunity to beat him up as they are locking Storm Shadow in his cell We see the same tattoo on his right arm that we saw in issue number 21 We cut now to the Florida Everglades where the water moccasin is speeding through the swampy water in the gun turret is Cobra Commander Destro and the Baroness and it is not driven by Copperhead It's driven by a generic Cobra trooper. This is all wrong This artwork totally distorts the proportions of the water moccasin It is possible to carry that many people on the boat But you cannot fit three people in the gun turret not even close Zartan then approaches on his swamp skier and does a jump over the water moccasin So this is our first look at Zartan in this issue Zartan and the swamp skier also don't look quite right And I have to say this about Frank Springer's artwork. His artwork has never been my favorite on GI Joe He doesn't make any attempt to make things accurate. The artwork seems unfinished in places There are some lines that are just missing and the colorist even has a hard time figuring out Where the coloring should start and stop on the uniforms on the one hand I like the energy and looseness of his style But on the other hand it just seems to lack effort Zartan brings Cobra commander Destro and the Baroness into his hideout Which is a shack in the swamp But he reveals that not all is as it seems as he transforms the interior of the shack from a Rustic setting into a high-tech headquarters We cut to the Gulf of Mexico where the Joes are aboard a freighter planning on sending a recon team to check out the shack in Florida this freighter the USS Jane was GI Joe's main water transport before they got the USS flag aircraft carrier We get some new characters deep six and mutt and junkyard So we are rounding out our 1984 lineup after Expositing about the mission zap and wild bill go to the mess where we get a larger panel with a bunch of the Joes Sitting around eating torpedo is eating lunch wearing his diving suit for some reason I feel like this panel is supposed to have more impact like this is the big reveal Of the team for this mission, but the panel is not big enough So the figures in the panel are still kind of small nothing quite looks right Nobody's uniform is drawn correctly and take a look at the flag on wild bill's arm It's got like three red stripes and that's when the artist decided that was good enough And so he just stopped before they leave on the reconnaissance mission Each of the characters shows his signature personality trait like junkyard is friendly and mutt is mean And tripwire is clumsy and deep six just isn't very friendly Meanwhile in Bethesda Naval Hospital snake eyes in his full commando gear is Visiting gung-ho gung-ho was injured in the capture of storm shadow gung-ho notices snake eyes has the same tattoo He saw on storm shadow when snake eyes hears the description of the tattoo He quickly disappears like Batman this scene is necessary for the narrative in issue number 21 We saw that snake eyes and storm shadow had the same tattoo, but we did not learn why that was a few issues ago So the reader needed to be reminded of that connection up to this point Snake eyes was unaware that he had a connection with the cobra ninja remember in issue number 21 He did not see storm shadows tattoo. This is the first. He's learned of it I also like that gung-ho is in the hospital He was injured in the previous issue and it's nice to see that the injuries have consequences The characters don't just magically heal by the next issue in the secret gi joe headquarters the pit hawk and scarlet Exposit more about the mission in Florida and hawk's uniform is not figure accurate But the holster on his chest does kind of foreshadow the version 2 figure hawk gets a coded message from gung-ho Gung-ho is the first to notice this connection between storm shadow and snake eyes and he immediately calls his boss hawk calls over to alcatraz and talks to Duke and Orders a check on storm shadow back in the Gulf Coast to dragonfly helicopters are taking off from the deck of the ship and The ground mission guys are riding on the skids. They even have the dog riding on a helicopter skid There's no way that would work deep six puts on the bubble helmet for his pressure suit and it is so awkwardly drawn I'm sorry. This artwork is just bad. I try to see the positive in it But this is just poorly drawn back as our tans headquarters He has the captured wild weasel and firefly brought up and Zartan reveals a little trick where he shakes firefly's hand and Absorbs his camouflage pattern. This is the first time we see Zartan's shape-shifting Disguise ability. It's not explained exactly how Zartan does this in later issues They try to explain it as holographic technology But holographic technology cannot explain everything that Zartan does in interviews Larry Hama has suggested that Zartan may have Mutant powers this goes much more deeply into the science fiction realm than this comic book has before these two pages also Give us our first look at the dread knocks the dread knocks do not get a grand entrance They're just sort of there they look more or less like they're supposed to but they're still a little off The coloring is off their uniforms are a little off their hair is off And I'm not sure if this is because these are early designs of the characters or if the artist was just lazy We jump back to the swamp where the dragonfly helicopters are sweeping and low to drop the team off the ground team jumps from the low-flying Helicopters into the shallow waters of the swamp and of course trip wire is clumsy So he falls face first the personnel on this mission is a little curious I'm not sure what trip wire is supposed to do on this mission Mud and junkyard could be used for tracking so that kind of makes sense Torpedo is a Navy SEAL so he would cut it but he is still equipped for diving Zap and airborne are aboard the helicopters and honestly either of them would make more sense for the ground mission than trip wire Firefly and wild weasel attack the dragonfly helicopters in the water moccasin And I am beyond confused by this artwork the dialogue suggests wild weasel is driving the water moccasin Firefly is in the gun turret but the artwork suggests that wild weasel is in the gun turret And then on the next page firefly is in the gun turret and wild weasel is definitely in the cockpit We have four pages of this battle in the swamp between the dragonfly and the water moccasin and interspersed in those pages We have random panels at the Alcatraz location and I do not understand this transition There's no parallel action between what's happening in Alcatraz and what's happening in the swamp There's no logical link between those panels and what we are seeing in Florida They're just out of place We get our first reveal of the shark flying submarine piloted by deep six and on the first two panels has drawn So small and with such choppy lines. It's hard to even tell what it is There's one panel where the water moccasin looks like it's been squished and deep six looks like he's driving with his foot up on the dashboard And the shark has a car steering wheel. There's that awkwardly drawn bubble helmet for deep six too. It's just a weird shape It's almost like the artist forgot he was supposed to draw it and then quickly sketched it on there This page that provides the conclusion to the swamp battle is the perfect illustration of my problems with the art on this issue Panel one the shark dives into the water under the water moccasin and then reemerges behind it Panel two the shark is somehow facing the opposite direction with no indication of when or how it turned around As now attacking the water moccasin directly from behind Panel three firefly and wild weasel jump from the badly drawn water moccasin which capsizes Panel four the shark fires a gun at the hull of the water moccasin as firefly and wild weasel swim away I don't know exactly what part of the shark we're looking at or where this gun is that it's firing Panel five the water moccasin blows up it's a small panel for what should be the grand conclusion to the battle Panel six we're back in Alcatraz I believe I can decipher how the storytelling is supposed to flow but I shouldn't have to decipher it The action and the motion of the vehicles does not flow from one panel to another The point of view jumps the line there's no special emphasis to what should be the great climax of the battle And then there's a random panel of Alcatraz thrown in there for no damn reason Back at Zartan's lair the Baroness's internal organs are being compressed by her leather corset And who is that female character sitting next to Ripper at that computer panel? I don't know who that's supposed to be if it's supposed to be buzzer then that is a very badly drawn buzzer There's some dialogue here about loyalty and betrayal you know super villain stuff It recaps some of the drama from the previous issues Back in the swamp junkyard has caught the scent of something and is running after it Mud is chasing him and ordering him to stop and the dog is ignoring all of the commands So exactly how did this improperly trained dog get selected for the team? Suddenly we're back at Alcatraz as Roadblock, Duke, and Steeler inspect Storm Shadow's cell to find it empty The ninja has escaped Back back in the swamp junkyard has led the Joes to Firefly and Wild Weasel who are captured again These guys are worthless Again junkyard runs into the swamp and ignores the dog handler's commands This dog needs to go back to doggy school The dragon flies safely make it back to the freighter and the shark is hoisted to the deck by Crane Deep Six passes on a handshake from Wild Bill because you know Deep Six is not a friendly guy Wild Bill's ready to fight over it, settle down cowboy Back at Zartan's lair there's a sound at the front door Zartan opens the door to see junkyard Junkyard has found his way all the way to the cabin Zartan pulls his pistol and aims it at the dog and that's where the issue ends That's our cliffhanger, will Zartan kill the dog? At the bottom of this narrow panel in tiny letters it says next, snake eyes the origin And that's something I'm really looking forward to I'm struggling to appreciate this issue In some respects it's an important issue But in other respects it is a major step down from issue number 24 The artwork has a, eh, that's good enough quality to it It lacks effort and I hate to say that about any artist because drawing a whole comic book is not an easy thing to do I don't pretend like I could do that But I have eyes and I can see that some of this stuff just ain't right The proportions of vehicles changes from panel to panel I understand that sometimes you can't translate the features of a toy perfectly into a comic book But that's not what I'm complaining about Within the comic book itself it's not consistent I want to like Frank Springer's artwork It has a looseness to it It is a casual style And in some parts it does have a lot of energy But mostly it just feels sloppy and unfinished Can I recommend this issue? Well, sort of I mean it's sort of an important issue It has early appearances of a few major characters First appearance of the shark It reestablishes the link between storm shadow and snake eyes It adds to the lore of Zartan And it shows us his ability to instantly change his appearance The artwork just isn't doing it for me And the rapid transition from one scene to another and then back again It is confusing and it breaks up the action And it's not necessary for the story Those random panels where we switch back to the Alcatraz scene I didn't describe to you what happened in those panels Because I didn't need to They're unnecessary You could have cut from the phone call from Hawk Directly to the team opening the empty cell And you would have missed nothing That real estate on those pages Could have been dedicated to the swamp battle That was raging at the time And maybe used to give us better views Of the vehicles and characters That was issue number 25 A sort of important issue But the next two issues are some of the most important issues In the entire series I can't wait to move on and show you what's next But that's all for this review I hope you liked it and found it informative I've been trying to do these comic book reviews once a month I haven't always been able to keep up with them But I do weekly G.I. Joe toy reviews And I've got another one coming up next week Next week's G.I. Joe toy review Will be the final review of 2019 The week after that We will have the answers video For the annual Q&A Thanks to my patrons for supporting the channel And thank you for watching 2019 has been an amazing year And 2020 is shaping up to be even better I'll see you next week With a vintage G.I. Joe toy review And until then remember Only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe