G.I. Joe: Retaliation #3
Official Movie Prequel
Written by John Barber
Art by Salvador Navarro and Atilio Rojo
Colors by Esther Sanz
Letters by Shawn Lee
Cover by Salvador Navarro
IDW Publishing
Release Date: March 28th, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Joe fans, you’re in for a treat! G.I. Joe Retaliation #3 is chock full of a story you’d never expect to read. And, it begs a LOT of questions about G.I. Joe Retaliation. I can honestly say, that reading this comic is getting me more excited for the movie.

Writer John Barber throws a wrench into the plan here. Normally movie prequels are stories like the 5 minutes leading up to the first scene or just some generic stories about the characters that appear in the film. But this book is a lot different. It’s actually really interesting to read and, as I stated earlier, is getting me more excited for G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation #2
Official Movie Prequel
Written by John Barber
Art by Salvador Navarro and Atilio Rojo
Colors by Esther Sanz
Letters by Chris Mowry
Covers by Salvador Navarro
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 29, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

With just four months to go until this summer’s biggest blockbuster (sorry, Avengers), it’s time to start getting EXCITED!!! And G.I. Joe: Retaliation #2 will get you excited. Although, I’m afraid that for the spoiler-free, this might come with a bit of a caution sign.

Writer John Barber does a fantastic job of giving you, largely, Roadblock’s origin. And an extra kudos for throwing in some great classic Roadblock traits and HEY! in this issue, you can LITERALLY smell what The Rock is cookin’!

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.

A few years ago I, like many, wouldn’t have thought a second G.I. Joe movie to be a likelihood. While G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was a spazztastic joy-bomb of a movie that bled pure, unadulterated fun from its pores, it wasn’t quite the moneymaker that Hasbro’s other big screen franchise brand, Transformers, had become. But after three years it looks like we’re getting a sequel to The Rise of Cobra, and not only does G.I. Joe: Retaliation look a lot better than its predecessor but it appears that director Jon M. Chu (Step Up 3D) and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland), along with a mighty cast, have made a real-as-rhubarb G.I. Joe movie.

The movie isn’t due in theaters until this summer but in the past two months the studio has released a teaser trailer and Super Bowl spot that both garnered positive reaction, something that the early trailers for The Rise of Cobra couldn’t quite accomplish and thus hurt its chances at the box office.

Today Paramount Pictures and MGM have released an international trailer for the movie. You can watch it here below.

With the Super Bowl set to kick off in just a matter of days, film studios are not wasting any time getting either their entire spots, or the buzz started surrounding their spots, for some of 2012’s most hyped projects.

Full spots have been released for Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming film The Dictator, as well as G.I. Joe: Retaliation. On top of that, teasers have been posted for The Avengers and John Carter, hinting at the spots which will premiere during the game on Sunday.

You can see the Super Bowl spots and teasers below.