G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #182
Written by Larry Hama
Pencils by Ron Frenz
Inks by Sal Buscema
Colors by J. Brown
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Covers by Ron Frenz & Sal Buscema and Larry Hama
IDW Publishing
Release Date: September 26, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

As far as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #182 goes, it’s a pretty good comic. My only complaint is that despite having Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow on the cover, they are nowhere to be seen in the issue. Otherwise, the book is pretty great!

The Godfather of G.I. Joe, writer Larry Hama, still cranks out fantastic, believable, and militarily accurate stories today just like he did almost 20 years ago. This issue sees all the tracker specialist Joes go after the recently escaped Darklon. There’s a LOT more to that story, but for spoiler reasons, I won’t give anything away. Besides that you have Road Pig and Zarana dealing with a secret agent and Zartan looking to get back in the good graces of Cobra. What most impresses me about the story is the way Hama balances so many subplots so easily. You get just enough of each one to satisfy you, and each plot is moved along just enough to keep you looking forward to the next issue.

RON FRENZ EVERYBODY!!!!!! The man is as legendary as legends come in the comic book industry. What more do I need to say? Frenz really has the look of the characters down pat. Outfits, weapons, everything from soup to nuts, as the case may be. And, in classic Ron Frenz fashion, he gives the book a newness and keeps everything looking fresh while still giving the book a fantastic old school look and feel. PERFECT art for this book!

The G.I. Joe team is the best of the best. And so is this comic. It’s really like the series never stopped. What impresses me most is that everything is as fresh as it was in the ’80′s and ’90′s. It’s nice to see that Larry Hama hasn’t lost a step when it comes to writing these characters. Add in Ron Frenz and you’ve got something that’s as close to the perfect comic as you can get.