The Best Of G.I. Joe
The Best Of G.I. Joe – Larry Hama, Herb Trimpe, Steve Leiahola – Graphic Novel (Panini / IDW)
Like a lot of ‘adults’ (a term that I use very loosely, and have no intention of conforming to), I love a good old fashioned war story that involves lots of machine guns, tanks, jet fighters, action and things being blown up in all kinds of different ways, one that brings my not-so-inner child eagerly to the surface and suspends any sense of disbelief that I may once have firmly clung to. So, it was with a sense of unsuppressed joy that I dived headlong into this collection of ‘G.I. Joe’ issues from the late eighties and early nineties, and didn’t emerge for the next three hours. Even though I was unfamiliar with the original US comic, I immediately felt a sense of nostalgia, as some of the characters crossed over to the UK published ‘Action Force’ (and later ‘Battle Action Force’), designed to supplement a series of action figures during the mid eighties that my little brother was, at the time, obsessed with, and as such I may have, on occasion, picked up and read the ‘odd issue’ that happened to be lying around the house. Ahem. It was this sense of familiarity that propelled me straight through all the issues collected in this volume of proper good old fashioned boys own tales without stopping or even pausing for a coffee break, and when I emerged, my head was spinning from trying to remember the multitude of characters and their code names. The set up itself is straight forward enough, an International Force known as the ‘Joes’ collects the best of the best that the military has to offer in order to combat and fight the threat posed by international terrorist and criminal organisations, in this case, Cobra. What makes the story slightly complicated is the sheer volume of characters involved. Unless you’re already familiar with the story, you’ll have difficulty connecting with any one (or more) of the characters in this volume, because there are far too many of them, and we never spend enough time with any of them to make any kind of connection, which takes a little of the punch out of each of the tales on offer. There’s also a lack of continuity between the stories, and loose ends and cliff-hangers are left dangling, which can be slightly confusing as you have to try and figure out how the overall story has progressed without having the full picture. I understand why this has happened, as it’s a ‘Best Of’, it’s necessary to feature the best issues, and to do so, you often have to leave a big gap between the stories that you feature, but this fact coupled with the lack of emotional connection, makes some of the stories that comprise ‘The Best Of G.I. Joe’ feel a little…well, a little flat. It was always going to be a tough call, trying to get this book right, as there’s so much to chose from, and for the most part it works, but I’m not sure how much of that is due to the fact that I sort of know some of the back story and have fond memories of the UK tie-in’s of the decade that time forgot, the nineteen eighties. If you’re a completist, already a fan or remember the New Romantics, Hair Metal and the original wave of Arnie action flicks, then you’re probably gonna love ‘The Best Of G.I. Joe’. If not, recommend that your big brother or dad to pick it up and then maybe sneak a peek when they’ve finished reading it…. Tim Mass Movement
