[vxc961]

I love the cover, as it’s just the right amount of nostalgia mixed modern comic-art techniques.

The “aqua-battle” is still fun, and I like Cutter getting a chance to shine. I still wish the Eels were a little tougher, but that’s a minor quibble.

I didn’t know much about Bomstrike, and I’m liking her, but I’m also feeling like this “she’s in control...now she’s behind the eight-ball...now she’s in control” thing is a bit boring. I remember vaguely liking Dr Biggles-Jones, but I was disappointed to see her dressed like a trashy baroness.

I really, really like the use of the black major and the red shadows. I have some of the old Battle Action Force and loved their take on the bad guys, so just seeing them here is enough to get me amped up.

I really want to like the Homeland/Dukes wife thing...but I’m not there yet. I can’t help but think that I wish Hama could have handed this off to the COBRA series or something.

I kind of feel sorry for Hama on the Dawn stuff. Very one loves Snake-Eyes, but how many SEcstories can he tell? He finally finishes the arc, kills him off, but either on his own or through encouragement brings SE back in Dawn. I’m not totally disinterested, but in these few panels my interest lies more with Zartan and what he’s thinking as he’s sort of reliving the past. Instead, Hama seems to use the panels to show us that Dawn is a bad-a$$. Did anyone have any doubts the second they started yelling “the brainwave scanner IMPLANTED SE’s memories and skills in her!”? I feel like Hama can still write the military well, and push the tech to just a few years in the future; I wish he’d focus on some other Joe’s and give SE or his clones a rest.

[Mainframe77]

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[J James]

issue 229

Glad to see this aquatic team out on a mission. Confused by and skeptical of Cutter's line about Broca Beach being "abandoned years ago." Larry's timeline is getting worse.

Worth remembering that Broca Beach held a large secret submarine base. Hey where is Wet-Suit? They sure could use him during this fight.

Bombstrike is pretty wild. Perhaps suicidal? I guess that given the choice between giving up and dying, and potentially dying falling down a hole that the best survival option is worth taking. Good with a rope.

Brainwash scanner again. Never goes away. Honestly worse than a Blue Ninja to me. No surprise that Baroness and Zartan would want to spare a person from it. This line though: "The scanner is downloading all the knowledge of an Arashikage ninja and seasoned combat vet into the mind of a highly conditioned and athletic teenager who already displays uncanny skills!" Said a mouthful there Zartan.

I have to admit that I remembered Dawn having a much longer build up to her reveal as a character before she got the memories. She will continue to change and evolve a lot before being brought onto the Joe team but we're only about five issues into her, so I am surprised by the speed of it this time.

I'll avoid the mistake of Stalker's home city. But Uncle Wing talking about double-dutch and hopscotch makes me wonder what era he is actually trying to recall. This whole scene with Stalker threatening the bad landlord is pretty great. Not concerned about the gentrification argument. The opposite of gentrification is ghetto-fication, not good for anyone.

The subplot with Claire is really clever. It brings one of the long running minor villains up to a whole new level while adding a long spy subplot. I didn't like it before but I do on reread.

[J James]

issue 230

Good underwater fight. Gallant's attention to detail is mesmerizing. Cutter makes for good cavalry.

The new BAT is the best looking since the first? Is it really sixth generation? Who can even count them? The family tree of BATs and Blue Ninjas is a blur to me. Black Major is back for his third appearance. He's developing a bit of personality. Oh so he is vying for a leadership role in Cobra as well. Kind of an Overkill position it sounds like.

Cousin Farik is a funny recurring line. Faoud is one of the better fictional country enemies. No surprise in hindsight that he is making terrorism phone calls from a hospital. Also no surprise that Mainframe is tracking the activities of Claire.

Good old Zartan bringing a bow to a ninja hunt. Pretty smooth move chopping an arrow in half with the Arashikage mindset hands... much better than (for instance) manifesting nebulous glowing ninja magic in the air for a shoriuken special attack.

So this suggests that Snake-Eyes always knew Zartan's identity. I wonder if that knowledge changes the earlier issues rereads?

Letters page: Much ado about all girls issue.

[J James]

The Cover Girl line "it's never enough" is pretty hardcore. She's a relentless soldier. It says way more to me about Cover Girl's personality than the "it's hot" line.

About that line: it appears to have caused some controversy on the forum. When I read it, it feels primarily that Jaye is trying to boost her teammate's ego. For better or worse Cover Girl is cast in the mold of a fragile sex object, some sort of a make-up covered mascot or bunny, who is easy to underestimate because of her gender and looks. That is inherent to the character since her introduction in the 80s and self-evident due to her codename and her filecard background. So when she cries on the plane because the little girl calls her a monster we can see that Larry is writing a series of events meant to bring down Courtney's ego. It is for that reason that I see Lady Jaye's line as an esteem-boosting comment.

That said, two things can be true. It doesn't have to be a joke. Women aren't like men, they're already a lot more emotionally fluid and I think prone to some mild attraction between one another. Maybe "attraction" isn't even the word I should use, might mean more like "comfortable with" each other in a way men are not. If any female Joe on the team were going to randomly throw an attraction-based comment past another character then I could expect it to be Lady Jaye. Not to stereotype too hard but she is prominently a "tom-boy" in the opposite way that Cover Girl is not. Likewise if any female on the Joe team were going to be scripted to receive a compliment from a same-sex member of the team then I would say it would be appropriate for it to be Cover Girl who is constantly receiving cat calls from her teammates.

For that matter it could be Lady Jaye intentionally hitting on Courtney as a joke against their male team members and without meaning more than that. So I can see that as a third option.

Ultimately I don't think it matters. Lady Jaye is in one of the longest relationships in the title. Whatever Larry intended, she's not making a pass at Courtney or coming out of the closet or something. I don't think that line was intended as anything other than a counterpoint to the little girl making Courtney feel bad.

Sean, please come rejoin us. We are doing good on this reread! It's fun.

[J James]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vxc961

The “aqua-battle” is still fun, and I like Cutter getting a chance to shine. I still wish the Eels were a little tougher, but that’s a minor quibble.

I didn’t know much about Bomstrike, and I’m liking her, but I’m also feeling like this “she’s in control...now she’s behind the eight-ball...now she’s in control” thing is a bit boring. I remember vaguely liking Dr Biggles-Jones, but I was disappointed to see her dressed like a trashy baroness.

Yeah seeing Cutter fighting is great. I've always liked the character but rarely had a reason to hold on to him beyond a momentary impression. I'd like to see Topside and Wet-Suit with this team as well.

These are still the best Joe stories, the focused team revolving around a lot of minor characters getting a chance to shine.

Dr. Biggles-Jones is strange here since her motives seem to have changed. However, we don't know what happened to her after the strange events at the Silent Castle. Maybe she's been brainwashed into a Cobra agent.

As far as her dressing like a cheap Baroness, I believe you're looking at Dr. Knox. I just noticed that she has some of the same leather gear. I don't remember what she wore in her first appearance but this feels like a small redesign to me.

[vxc961]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J James

Yeah seeing Cutter fighting is great. I've always liked the character but rarely had a reason to hold on to him beyond a momentary impression. I'd like to see Topside and Wet-Suit with this team as well.

These are still the best Joe stories, the focused team revolving around a lot of minor characters

As far as her dressing like a cheap Baroness, I believe you're looking at Dr. Knox. I just noticed that she has some of the same leather gear. I don't remember what she wore in her first appearance but this feels like a small redesign to me.

Yup, I realized my mistake but didn’t bother to correct it—thanks for catching it and a good discussion.

[Mainframe77]

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[Mainframe77]

Issue #231 is live to discuss. Yo Joe!

Snake in the Grass.

[FunkyBunch]

We discuss 230-232 in episode 92 of the Talking Joe podcast. ww.talkingjoe.co.uk

A few little things we noticed / liked

-The team is Juggling 4 main story lines with some great momentum, cliffhangers, locations – underwater action in broca beach, bombstrike in oliastan , Claire's benzene trip and Dawn
-Red shadows are clearly meant to be English “bob;s my uncle”, “mates”, “luv”, “grub”, “gor” (gor blimey)
-Black Major reveals he is to be given control of the BATS in the new cobra infrastructure.
-Baron Iron Blood teased as a good suggestion in the letters page
-Roadblock gets his ma deuce through airport security in a diplomatic pouch again
-The nautical joes entirely miss tieing up loose ends. Just vanish in the whale, leaving behind remains of the brand new BAT design.
-Bombstrike grabbing a chicken drumstick on way out of jail cell, and then later she chucks the half eaten drumstick at Black Major.

'Favourite Line of Dialogue' –
Black major to Bombstrike – “why aren’t you the obstreperous one! We shall have to give you a proper thrashing when you’re conscious enough to appreciate it”
and
Deep Six “if we have the same calibre I can scrounge your ammo if you get killed”