Title: G.I. Joe Origins
Issue: Volume 1
Date: September 2009
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Larry Hama
Art: Mike Hawthorne, Tom Feister
Colorist: Erik Swanson
Letterer: Robbie Robbins, Chris Mowry, Neil Uyetake
Editor: Andy Schmidt, Justin Eisinger
Trade paperback collection covering the first mission of the G.I. Joe team. Duke and Scarlet get airdropped into the Nevada desert on a secret mission that is partly training, partly a test, and partly a real mission, in a way that really doesn't make any sense.
Meanwhile a villain named Chimera (who I guess might go on to eventually become one of the better-known villains like Cobra Commander? Maybe?) singlehandedly fights off a SWAT team, and generally make all of law enforcement look incompetent as he pulls of an escalating series of crimes, leading to the launching of a deadly plan from a secret base. The kind of plan with an unnecessary countdown and some monologuing to explain it. Clearly Chimera did not read The Watchmen.
I did like seeing the early formation of the bond between Scarlet and Snake Eyes.
I did not like Scarlet getting damseled. I was also not thrilled that the story introduced a character who was more interesting than anyone on the Joe team and proceeded to kill her about a fourth of the way through the book.
Rating: 3/10
