By Larry Hama
IDW, $24.99, 236 pages
Sometimes you just need some good old-fashioned cheese. Classic G.I. Joe #13 is the collected G.I. Joe comic (issues #124-#134), and it has everything you would expect from an 80’s comic: ninjas, robot soldiers, megalomaniacal villians and large-caliber weapons. G.I. Joe starts with a simultaneous drug bust and ecological alert crackdown and must deal with Firefly, who has taken over Cobra Island and brainwashed every Joe and Cobra ninja. This is a fun roller-coaster ride, and must be read to be believed.
This is not a straight re-print; it has been re-mastered and re-colored, making for an interesting trip down memory lane. Although there are some minor artwork quibbles, such as the heavy linework in the last half, this should be looked at by anyone wanting to see great 80’s artwork techniques. The story gets a little weird at times (how can it not when you have mystical techniques in a hard-tech fantasy?), but the characters are part of that millieu and come off as actually realistic. This is an afternoon read, and something cool for the ten-year-old boy inside all of us.
Reviewed by Jamais Jochim
[amazon asin=1613770820&text=Buy On Amazon&template=carousel]