I wasn't going to pick this up, but since I read the main Joe series my LCS owner dropped this in my pull box and I decided to give it a shot. The only thing I really liked about this book was that it showed a darker side of the G.I. Joe organization, similar to what the Origins #0 story did. But the story elements were not very original; Helix is basically the Joe version of Taskmaster, learning a style of fighting just by watching others use it. She's also got a bit of Rain Man mixed in, such as knowing full details on any gun used against her and how many rounds it has left. It's an interesting mix but we've seen this kind of character so many times in other places that I was left saying "again? really?" And I was not a very big fan of the art. It's a Japanese style, and while it fits the story, it just didn't work for me. I especially didn't like the depiction of Hawk; it reminded me of the character Selma on HBO's "Big Love," and if you don't get the reference, then just know that Hawk doesn't come out well in the comparison. Also, many of the characters looked the same, and in a story with all but two characters being brand new, that's not a good thing from a storytelling standpoint. Finally, some of the figures had rather disproportionate looks; on the last page, the guy being interrogated looks like a little kid with no hands, which is not how he looked just a page or two before. While I like the insight that these specials are going to provide into the overall Joe story, I hope the quality gets better.
Story: 2 - Average
Art: 1 - Poor
lol seems like you have a taste issue with this story. At least it was a oneshot eh?
Posted by Mangaman on 08/16/09 at 05:14 AMBtw did your lcs owner give this book for free?