G.I. Joe: Origins Issue 1

Writer: Larry Hama
Artists: Mike Hawthorne and Tom Feister
Colourists:Mike Hawthorne and Tom Feister
Cover: Andrea Divito
Publisher: IDW


All of my friends know I love the Transformers and I don't exactly hide this fact either. Whilst I'm not an expert on Transformers, I do know quite a bit of information about them and when ever I can I will sing their praises. Another property that has close ties with Transformers is G.I. Joe. Over here in the UK it was called Action Force way back in the 80s and I vaguely remember having a few of the toys. Over in America it seems like G.I. Joe was hugely popular and the comic seems quite well respected, whilst over here I don't ever remember seeing that much of it.
So when it was announced that IDW had recently acquired the license (From Devil's Due Publishing)to produce G.I. Joe comics, I thought I would give the series a shot to see what its like, as ive been more than impressed with how IDW have dealt with the Transformers comics. The first issue they released featured 3 preview stories, all of which would spin off in to 3 separate titles, these being G.I. Joe,G.I. Joe Origins and G.I. Joe Cobra.
Now I've tried the main G.I. Joe title and so far I am enjoying it but that seems to have a much larger story being built around it so the story is slowly building up. G.I. Joe Origins on the other hand seems to be moving at such a fast pace I don't know if I can keep up! I had heard the issue was good from the 11 O'Clock Comics podcast and from my local comic shop manager but really I did not expect this good of a comic.
The main story of the comic is the origins of a few of the of the members of the G.I. Joe unit. Whilst I did not really know too much about the characters, it did not bother me in the slightest because I felt that whilst the characters are being thrown together, they are learning about one another and the reader get to see this first hand. I am sure this is a lot of fun old time G.I. Joe fans but for me its intriguing cause I don't know where the story is going to go next. If your dyslexic or just want to know more about G.I. Joe then I recommend you pick up this title. Sure I don't know who all these characters are but I'm looking forward to see how they develop. The one character I do know a little about is Snake Eyes and whilst he's only in this book for a few pages I am very curious to see how he becomes a ninja. Also the possible appearance of Cobra Commander, who seems to be absolutely insane, make me want to come back to the next issue to see how his story progresses.
Larry Hama has written a great comic and the only work of his that I had read previously was a few of his Wolverine issues, but I had heard he was the best writer for G.I. Joe and after reading this issue I can see why he receives so much praise. In all honesty when I had read that he was the writer it did make me a little nervous, as I was concerned that he would write the book for the hardcore G.I. Joe fans but as a laymen to the property, I found the book really enjoyable and cant wait to read more. Mike Hawthorne and Tom Feister have done a great job on the art and colour duties. At times I did think I could see some similarities to Phil Noto's art but it was great and the colouring was spot on too. I really liked the opening pages too, I thought it was great the colours that were used to present night time and the red light from with in the plane. Really had that military feel to it and reminded me of when my Dad would tell me of his parachute jumps and what the situation was like on the plane.

A great comic and introduction to a property that has years of back story behind it. I went into this book only knowing that Snake Eyes is a ninja but left feeling like I had just seen a great action film and wanting to know more. For dyslexic and/or new readers this is a great series to pick up if you don't know anything about G.I. Joe but are interested in it.