Cobra Annual 2012: Origin Of Cobra Commander
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by S L Gallant
Inks by Gary Erskine
Colors by J Brown
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Covers by menton3 and Robert Atkins
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 11, 2012
Cover Price: $7.99

I was very nervous about reading Cobra Annual 2012. Wasn’t looking forward to it at all. I’m a big fan of non-origin origins. I liked that in the Marvel Comics’ G.I. Joe series, all you knew about Cobra Commander was that at some point in his life, he was a used car salesman who went off the deep end. Another great non-origin was that of He-Man. All we needed to know about him, he told us in the cartoon’s opening. In the back of my mind, I was really worried that the new Cobra Commander would be a tortured soul who’s mother never loved him, his father beat him, and on and on.

Then, scribe Chuck Dixon does what he always does — he surprised his audience by taking a potentially run of the mill origin story and turning it on its ear!!! Yes, we do get a bit of standard childhood origin, and there’s an act of terror in his childhood, but instead of turning Cobra Commander into a anti-hero, he’s turned into a full-on, all-out villain. That’s a refreshing change of pace in today’s comic market. What we get is a very satisfying, honest, surprisingly violent and kick ass origin for the new Cobra Commander. Dixon, with this one issue, takes away all doubt that anyone has about Cobra Commander being a joke, incompetent villain that he’s been portrayed as in the past.

While I’m not the biggest S L Gallant fan in the world, he certainly stepped up his game with this issue. He fills pages with lush, exotic locations, highly detailed characters and weapons, and he has a great talent for conveying action in this issue. The mood of this book put across by the art is amazing. There’s always a constant sense of danger threatening at the turn of each page, and that’s 90 percent due to the art. Job well done!!!

Even if you don’t think you want to know the origin of the new Cobra Commander, pick this one up. It’s a very pleasant surprise and a story that you never know you wanted to hear. It’s going to tie into the current Cobra Command story running through all the G.I. Joe titles currently, and while you don’t HAVE to read this story to get the full effect of the crossover, you’ll be a lot happier if you do. Pick it up!!