G.I. Joe: Retaliation #1
Official Movie Prequel
Written by John Barber
Art by Salvador Navarro
Colors by Esther Sans
Letters by Chris Mowry
Covers by Salavador Navarro
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 15, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Even though many movie tie-ins are generally not thought of too highly or are dismissed by most retailers, there are exceptions to that rule and G.I. Joe: Retaliation #1: Official Movie Prequel is one of them. Why? Let me explain.

John Barber gives us exactly what we want in this comic: an awesome summer movie in comic form. It’s everything you want to see in a G.I. Joe movie — ninjas, gun fights, action, conflict, drama, and more.

The only thing that confused me is exactly WHEN this comic takes place. There’s things in there to suggest that it’s actually set BEFORE the first G.I. Joe film, yet most things point to it being set between the first movie and this summer’s G.I. Joe Retaliation film. The story focuses mainly on Roadblock, which is expected, as it looks like he’s the main character for the upcoming film, and Barber does a nice job of laying out his character and letting the reader know just who he is.

I think artist Salvador Navarro tried a little TOO hard here. He tried to really make this look like it takes place in the G.I. Joe movie universe and while he succeeds, sometimes it’s a little off putting. I would’ve rather him take some artistic freedom with it and concentrate less on making Roadblock look like The Rock and Hawk look like Dennis Quaid and just drawn them a little more kinetic, rather than like he drew them from pictures in magazines.

If you’re as excited for this movie as I am (and you’re not), you’re gonna love this book. If you’re just a G.I. Joe fan looking to pick something up this week, you’re also gonna love this book. You want to know what I think of this book? It’s great, it’s fun, it’s well worth the cover price. And now you know…