Shin Densetsu
07-01-2009, 11:01 AM
G.I. Joe Movie Adaptation #1 Review
First off, I have not read any of the scripts for the movie, so I am not sure how accurate this adaptation is. All I have to go by are the trailers and images of the action figures. Bear in mind that some things could have changed during filming, that we won’t be privy to until the premiere on August 7th.
There are 2 covers, the regular one with a drawn collage, the other with a photo of Snake Eyes. The regular cover in my opinion, would have looked better if it was more asymmetrical, and didn’t have Snake Eyes smack dab in the middle with his katana visually dividing the page in half.
The issue starts off with the trial of Sir James McCullen IX, the ancestor of Destro. At the end of the trial. He becomes a man with an iron mask, as punishment for his war profiteering, in which he played both sides.
After this flashback, we see his modern day descendant, Destro trying to sell potential buyers on his nanomite technology, perfected by MARS Industries. MARS has manipulated the nanomites so that innocent casualties can be avoided.
The nanomite technology sounds too good to be true. It sounds over the top, and brings in a sci-fi element to the story that readers may or may not like.
After the first few pages I noticed that the characters are all drawn in a more cartoon-like style. The characters are recognizable but for a movie comic, I was expecting something more realistic. I’m not sure if IDW was able to secure the rights to use likenesses of the cast, so this might explain the style used for the characters.
General Hawk and Cover Girl are shown. They talk with Destro and a man who is able to mimic others. Hawk and Cover Girl show an immediate distrust of Destro and his associate and are obviously suspicious.
Afterwards, we are given a hint at the humor between Ripcord and Duke. They are supposed to escort the shipment of nanomites. Ripcord’s humor is something a lot of people are worried about. Yes Ripcord jokes around, but thankfully, some his jokes are actually funny. Yet their conversation actually reveals quite a bit about their aspirations. We find that Duke wants to stay in the Army but Ripcord wants to fly.
One thing that stuck out, is that Duke and Ripcord are not in the desert camo fatigues shown in the trailer(and I think they are supposed to be). Before they set off to protect the convoy with nanomites, Duke is seen with his desert scarf(and the uniform shown in the trailers). Yet during the operation, he and Ripcord are seen in black uniforms. I’m not sure why this was done(*EDIT: I found out that the black suits were from the references given to IDW*).
While the joking ensues, the convoy is ambushed by a black gunship, the Apache escort helicopters are destroyed, and the convoy is surrounded. The Baroness emerged with Neo-Vipers and proceed to steal the nanomites. The Baroness and Duke recognize each other, with Duke visibly shocked.
The G.I. Joe team shows up, Snake Eyes kills a few Neo-Vipers and Duke continues to go after The Baroness and briefcase full of nanomites. The connection between Duke and The Baroness hasn’t been explained, but he knows her real name.
This issue does a good job of introducing characters that play pivotal roles in the movie. It also does a good job of introducing the G.I. Joe team and showing them in action. I wasn’t expecting to see them in action this soon, but I’m glad I did. This is a good way to introduce new readers to G.I. Joe, or to give a fan an idea of what the movie might be like.
The artwork could have benefited ink. It seems like the penciled pages were just scanned in and darkened up, then colored over digitally(I later found out that this issue was not inked, and that it was colored directly from pencils. This was Andy Schmidt's call as he thought it looked different and more life-like with fewer harder edges). While this technique has been done to great effect before, in this issue it washes out a lot of the pencil detail. Ink would have definitely aided in separating the colors from foreground and background, and made details more distinct.
Overall, I recommend the issue. I hope the future issues improve just the movie prequel comics did over time.
First off, I have not read any of the scripts for the movie, so I am not sure how accurate this adaptation is. All I have to go by are the trailers and images of the action figures. Bear in mind that some things could have changed during filming, that we won’t be privy to until the premiere on August 7th.
There are 2 covers, the regular one with a drawn collage, the other with a photo of Snake Eyes. The regular cover in my opinion, would have looked better if it was more asymmetrical, and didn’t have Snake Eyes smack dab in the middle with his katana visually dividing the page in half.
The issue starts off with the trial of Sir James McCullen IX, the ancestor of Destro. At the end of the trial. He becomes a man with an iron mask, as punishment for his war profiteering, in which he played both sides.
After this flashback, we see his modern day descendant, Destro trying to sell potential buyers on his nanomite technology, perfected by MARS Industries. MARS has manipulated the nanomites so that innocent casualties can be avoided.
The nanomite technology sounds too good to be true. It sounds over the top, and brings in a sci-fi element to the story that readers may or may not like.
After the first few pages I noticed that the characters are all drawn in a more cartoon-like style. The characters are recognizable but for a movie comic, I was expecting something more realistic. I’m not sure if IDW was able to secure the rights to use likenesses of the cast, so this might explain the style used for the characters.
General Hawk and Cover Girl are shown. They talk with Destro and a man who is able to mimic others. Hawk and Cover Girl show an immediate distrust of Destro and his associate and are obviously suspicious.
Afterwards, we are given a hint at the humor between Ripcord and Duke. They are supposed to escort the shipment of nanomites. Ripcord’s humor is something a lot of people are worried about. Yes Ripcord jokes around, but thankfully, some his jokes are actually funny. Yet their conversation actually reveals quite a bit about their aspirations. We find that Duke wants to stay in the Army but Ripcord wants to fly.
One thing that stuck out, is that Duke and Ripcord are not in the desert camo fatigues shown in the trailer(and I think they are supposed to be). Before they set off to protect the convoy with nanomites, Duke is seen with his desert scarf(and the uniform shown in the trailers). Yet during the operation, he and Ripcord are seen in black uniforms. I’m not sure why this was done(*EDIT: I found out that the black suits were from the references given to IDW*).
While the joking ensues, the convoy is ambushed by a black gunship, the Apache escort helicopters are destroyed, and the convoy is surrounded. The Baroness emerged with Neo-Vipers and proceed to steal the nanomites. The Baroness and Duke recognize each other, with Duke visibly shocked.
The G.I. Joe team shows up, Snake Eyes kills a few Neo-Vipers and Duke continues to go after The Baroness and briefcase full of nanomites. The connection between Duke and The Baroness hasn’t been explained, but he knows her real name.
This issue does a good job of introducing characters that play pivotal roles in the movie. It also does a good job of introducing the G.I. Joe team and showing them in action. I wasn’t expecting to see them in action this soon, but I’m glad I did. This is a good way to introduce new readers to G.I. Joe, or to give a fan an idea of what the movie might be like.
The artwork could have benefited ink. It seems like the penciled pages were just scanned in and darkened up, then colored over digitally(I later found out that this issue was not inked, and that it was colored directly from pencils. This was Andy Schmidt's call as he thought it looked different and more life-like with fewer harder edges). While this technique has been done to great effect before, in this issue it washes out a lot of the pencil detail. Ink would have definitely aided in separating the colors from foreground and background, and made details more distinct.
Overall, I recommend the issue. I hope the future issues improve just the movie prequel comics did over time.