G.I. Joe #9
Written by Chuck Dixon
Art by Alex Cal
Colors by J. Brown
Letters by Shawn Lee
Covers by Dave Wilkins, Wil Rosada, and Nick Runge
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 4, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Cobra Command begins in G.I. Joe #9 and Cobra proves they are NOT something to dismiss easily! Finally, Cobra IS a ruthless, terrorist organization determined to rule the world — and I get the feeling they just might.

Chuck Dixon packs an awful lot of story into this first chapter of Cobra Command. He gives us a nice recap of the whole Cobra Civil War storyline in about three lines of dialogue, so the whole issue isn’t a recapping of what came before.

For the first time in a long time, this comic is about the G.I. Joe team. Sure, Cobra makes appearances, but only to let the reader know what they’re up to and why we should fear for the Joe team. One of the nicest things about this issue is that for the first time in a long time, the Joe team is a TEAM. Everyone’s here and it gives the whole story a sense of urgency that hasn’t been felt in this book for awhile.

Artist Alex Cal maybe better suited on another book. His art is OK, but nothing to write home about. It took me right out of the book several times, because while the story has a mood and atmosphere, the art in no way, shape or form reflects that. IDW should have put one of their A-List talents on this, but, unfortunately they didn’t.

All together, I have to give this issue a solid B. While the story was fantastic, the art just dragged the whole issue down. I would recommend that you pick this issue up and not wait for the trade. It’s a lot of fun and this kind of mega event inside the G.I. Joe universe reads better on a week to week basis.