Reading – G.I. Joe: Tales from the Cobra Wars

IDW Publishing (website, Twitter) and Max Brooks, author of the zombie-packed World War Z*, have come together to bring G.I. Joe fans a fantastic collection of new short stories. Tales from the Cobra Wars* is over 300-pages of short fiction that all G.I. Joe fans need to checkout ASAP. Eight stories total, this is one of those anthologies that kept me happy from the first tale to the last. And if there’s only one complaint with the book it’s simply that there isn’t a second volume already on shelves.

And it’s not just fiction inside the book. Each story has a few full-page illustrations by Michael Montenat; see the photos, below, for some samples of the B&W artwork inside the book. (And please excuse my fingernails, I had been painting when I shot these and those black washes always get pretty deep under my nails.) The artwork is illustrative and atmospheric, breaking up the wall of text here and there and overall adding to the book’s enjoyability. According to the introduction Montenat is young, but with what we see here I fully expect he’ll be illustrating more works for IDW.

NOTE: What follows is not a blow-by-blow look at every scene in every story, but if you have not yet read the book then watch it because some of the comments in my review will giveaway bits of each story. Not so much that it will ruin the fun of reading the book, but if you’re opposed to spoilers in any manner then buy the book* and then come back to read this after you’ve finished every single story.

Snake Eyes

First up is, unsurprisingly, a tale of the G.I. Joe team’s mysterious ninja/commando. Written by Chuck Dixon, I mentiond “Snake Eyes” when first posting about the book (first mentioned here) but in the interest of completeness I’m gonna go over the basics once more.

“Snake Eyes” features the Baroness and Snake Eyes and a mathematician/economist, Dr. Averill Hanover, and a struggle for the man’s life and secrets. Hanover is captured by the Baroness and forced to work on an equation that will help Cobra completely destroy a target nation’s economy. It’s basically an excuse for Dixon to show Snake Eyes in action, but since the story is so much fun I’m completely fine with any excuse Dixon wants to devise.

There’s a very slight twist at the story’s end, but nothing that is especially shocking or undoes anything that happens throughout the story. This is a great start to the book.

Flint and Steel

Written by Jonathan Maberry, this story has Flint, Scarlett, and Doc run into trouble at a secret government research facility in Nevada. Other Joes appear in the story, but this is basically a Flint tale in which a corrupt scientist attempts to sell a special battlesuit to Cobra Commander. Destro also appears in the tale, but only in the role of victim as the Commander uses the entire situation to pit Destro against the “mad” scientist/traitor.

Maberry’s text flows fast and loose, the entire story moving at a fairly rapid pace as the Joe’s find themselves technologically out-gunned. The story’s end is frustrating for the Joe’s, but it wonderfully shows Cobra Commander’s nasty side so all in all it’s a good read.

Speed Trap

Little-known G.I. Joe driver Skidmark takes the lead in my favorite story in the book. Duane Swierczynski does a great job of pitting Skidmark against a ruthless Cobra driver; one driving a 1970 muscle car and the other driving a high-tech and weapon-heavy SUV.

The guns were meant to blow out enemy tires. You could manually adjust it for the type of vehicle you were pursuing. Although Three had once used it to slice through the shins of a dozen armed Mexican cartel thugs. The had been a sweet moment: the popping, the screams, the splattered blodd . . . then, goodbye.

Skidmark loses his ride and ends up taking a mother and son hostage as he races to complete his mission before the clock runs out. The combination of a little-used character and Swierczynski’s writing came together to make this the winner for me. It’s not that the other stories are bad, it’s just that I really enjoyed this one.

Just a Game

Author Matt Forbeck creates modern day P.A.C./R.A.T.S. in this story of the Joe team infiltrating a Cobra installation where the forces of evil use MMORPGs to launder money. Brainstorm (G.I. Joe wiki), Duke, Scarlett, and other members of the team infiltrate the facility in Russia . . . and then must combat their own Joe-Bots after Destro remotely seizes control of the robotic weapon platforms.

It’s tough for me to get too deep into the story because I know the author, but I’m confident in saying that this is quite different and fun. It’s G.I. Joe fighting a 21st century crime and Destro being as evil and manipulative as ever. The bits with the Joe-Bots is a blast, especially when the Joes work out a way to knock out their own machines.

Unfriendly Fire

Jonathan McGoran has the unfortunate luck of finding his story at exactly the spot where I decided I was getting tired of stories with Duke and Scarlett . . . and this is quite sad because Duke is the star this short story. The Joes are running supplies to refugees and their mission does not allow for engagement with anyone . . . unless they are fired on.

Duke, as is expected, eventually finds a way to aid the good guys in the conflict, and McGoran introduces a fairly nasty weapon system that’s just begging to make another appearance. But no matter how well-written the story is I’m still a bit bothered that with such a large number of G.I. Joe characters available we keep seeing the same ones. At least Chuckles shows up for a little while.

The Gun Show

Duke is back in this story by Dennis Tafoya. Opening with an extremist attack in New York City, even with another appearance by Duke this story starts off insanely strong and exciting. And we get some different Joes — including Shipwreck and Sneak Peek — involved which helps. But an editing error toward the middle of the story had me gritting my teeth and completely made the rest of the story difficult to enjoy.

On pages 244 and 245 Tafoya can’t decide if Dial Tone is male or female. More than once we get he/she written into the story; two examples from p. 245:

Dial Tone held up a finger. She rooted through a stack of printouts.
Dial Tone shook his head and brought up a screen with rows of transactions.

I am assuming that Dial Tone’s male/female issue comes from the fact that the character was originally male but appeared as a woman in G.I. Joe: Resolute* (and in the IDW comics). There’s no way of knowing where the error came in, but this really bothered me. I know that one error shouldn’t damage a story for me, but it did. Sorry.

Message in a Bottle

John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow bring Snake Eyes back (even if just for the opening of the story) and then show us a Cobra installation of hackers out to do anything they can to assist Cobra with causing chaos . . . and likely takeover the world. Scarlett and Baroness also return, but the story is really about one young hacker who soon learns that Cobra really isn’t interested in what’s best for him.

An excellent story, and it’s the tiny details that make it standout as a great addition to the G.I. Joe world:

Breaker. I’ve never met the man, but I’ve outbid him time and again on Lone Ranger merchandise on eBay, and I’ve clobbered his gimpy ass on Xbox Live more times than I can count. Kind of guy who stops at red lights when he’s playing GTA IV.

Tough words from a computer geek who . . . well, read the story and you’ll find out just how this guy goes from loving Cobra to being completely enslaved in a horrible facility for captured hackers.

Exorcist

Max Brooks’ contribution to Tales from the Cobra Wars* introduces us to — from what I can tell — a new member of the Joe team, a “combat shrink” who comes with a pretty involved background that involves a Vietnam vet and a very sad childhood.

It’s pretty short, but it’s also a great end to an incredible G.I. Joe anthology.

Closing Thoughts

Other than a couple of bumps, G.I. Joe: Tales from the Cobra Wars* is a blast to read and has me hoping that IDW is working on a second collection of short stories. I’m not sure exactly what editor Max Brooks did to put the book together, but other than the Dial Tone issue (and a few bizarre words that don’t belong whatever he did worked.

I just hope that the next book has more variety in the characters, because I’ve had enough of Duke, Scarlett, and Snake Eyes. At least until a third collection of short stories hits the market.

Recommended if you’re a G.I. Joe fan.