TransFormers/G.I. Joe (2003 Series) #3

November 28, 2003

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Trial By Fire

The Autobots and G.I. Joe rejoin the fray.

Writer: John Ney Rieber
Art: Jae Lee
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Benjamin Lee
Editor-in-Chief: Pat Lee
Cover Art: Jae Lee
Publisher: Dreamwave

The World War II-era alternate universe crossover continues. The G.I. Joe team believes Snake Eyes dead in battle, but in reality everyone’s favorite All-American Ninja is locked in deadly combat with Storm Shadow and Ravage. Meanwhile, the G.I. Joe team and the Autobots finally take the initiative in the battle while Megatron and Cobra Commander get locked in a power struggle of their own.

This is another good issue of this crossover event, but it’s starting to wear a little thin. It feels like an example of the “decompressed” storytelling Marvel is putting to such use right now. G.I. Joe and the Autobots have been preparing for battle for two issues now, and the Snake Eyes/ Storm Shadow/ Ravage fight is starting to feel a bit padded and stretched out. Also, it makes perfect sense and is perfectly in character for Megatron and Cobra Commander to get locked in a power struggle, but that doesn’t make it any fresher. I feel like I’ve read the scene with them a dozen times already.

What we get works well, though. We get introduced to a couple more villains (well… re-introduced, since they’re longtime bad guys from both of these properties), and Rieber has these characters down pat. I particularly enjoyed the scene with Roadblock and Grimlock rolling into battle together. They make a pretty well-matched pair, I must say.

On the art front, Jae Lee continues to prove he is the perfect choice for this project. His dark, gritty style is well-suited to what is essentially a war story. Pages in this book are like reading “Saving Private Ryan”. He’s also fantastic at drawing the TransFormers characters in their World War II forms – but again, I have to complain a little about the fact that we still haven’t gotten really good looks at most of the redesigned forms. There’s a nice shot at the beginning of the issue of one of the Aerialbots with Stalker, and I still think making Grimlock a tank in this incarnation instead of trying to explain a tyrannosaurus rex was a stroke of genius, but we’re halfway through this series and most of the shots we’ve gotten of the big guns — Optimus Prime, Megatron, etc. – have been in the shadows. This is done, I presume, to have some “big reveal” moments later in the series, but the audience is still itching for more of what they paid admission for – great big robots.

On just a side tangent, I hate the title of this issue. “Trial of Fire” is one of those titles that has been overused so much I think it should be retired permanently.

This is a good series, but it’s getting stretched out too much. The hand-to-hand with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow is getting old. We need some big action, and we need it soon. Hopefully, we’ll get it in the next issue.

Rating: 7/10

TransFormers/G.I. Joe #4

December 20, 2003

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Wolves

The World War II era battle of man and machine heats up.

Writer: John Ney Rieber
Art: Jae Lee
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Benjamin Lee
Editor: Roger Lee
Cover Art: Jae Lee
Publisher: Dreamwave

With two issues to go in this miniseries, I must admit, my enthusiasm is beginning to dwindle. John Ney Rieber is still serving up a good script, but it’s beginning to feel quite padded. The battle scenes are getting more drawn out and, while there is some development of the plot in this issue, it’s starting to feel like it’s taking too long.

This is not to say that the battle scenes aren’t good. The battle with Scarlett and Bumblebee versus Rumble was one the best bits in this issue – particularly the part where the robot begins to develop a little crush on the human woman – and the bits showing the friendship between Roadblock and Grimlock also worked very well. The scheming between Starscream and Destro makes for a very good use of the characters, and there’s a good spotlight in this issue on the two “combined” robots, Superion and Bruticus.

Other things aren’t working as well. The Storm Shadow/Snake Eyes fight has been going on for four issues now, and it feels like it could have been wrapped up in one. Lee’s art isn’t quite top-notch here either. While one appreciates the style he is attempting, there are simply too many shadows and sometimes it makes it difficult to tell one character from another. Particularly with the redesigns of the characters for the World War II-era, this is bad. You can get away with more of this if the characters were in their classic costumes and configurations — in unfamiliar ones, it’s more important to differentiate between them. In the aforementioned Storm Shadow/Snake Eyes battle, where there is no dialogue to differentiate one combatant from the other, the shadows make it hard to figure out who is who, and I found myself needing to look back at earlier issues to remind myself so that I even knew who won the fight. (Hopefully, it’s over.)

Zartan and Bumblebee are the standouts in this issue, with Zartan posing as a Joe leading up to his battle with Flint. Bumblebee is not only developed well, but we also get a great look at his new form in this alternate world, a clever alternate shape that suits the story well.

Like a lot of comics this days, this book seems to suffer from a desire to stretch out a story that could be told quicker. People may criticize earlier writers, but Stan Lee could tell more story in one issue than a lot of today’s crop can in four. This is a book that will almost certainly read better in a collected edition, where you won’t have to wait a month (or longer) between installments only to read a book where not much has happened.

Rating: 7/10

TransFormers/G.I. Joe (2003 Series) #2

October 25, 2003

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Transformed

An alliance of heroes is formed while an alliance of villains is strained.

Writer: John Ney Rieber
Pencils: Jae Lee
Inks: Jae Lee
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Benjamin Lee
Editor: Roger Lee
Cover Art: Jae Lee
Publisher: Dreamwave

First, the basic premise for those who came in late: Rieber’s take on the Joes and TransFormers is an “Elseworlds” viewpoint, set during World War II. When the terrorist nation of Cobra enters the war, allied with powerful robots from the stars, the Decepticons, America’s greatest mission force is assembled to combat the threat. In this issue, the Joes find more of the giant alien robots, but this group, dubbing themselves Autobots, claims to be on their side. As the Autobots and the Joe team form an uneasy alliance, the Joe named Snake Eyes is forced into bitter combat with his arch enemy, the Cobra warrior named Storm Shadow.

The initial draw for this series, for many people, was the chance to see Jae Lee reimagining these two classic properties in a World War II context. Joe. Cobra. Autobots, Decepticons… Lee has found new designs for these characters that all fit in perfect with the 1940s time frame, yet are still respective of the classic looks that the readership has grown up with. If anything about this issue can be said to be a disappointment, it’s that we don’t’ really get a good look at the new designs for the Autobots, with the robots spending most of their time in the shadows. We get our best look at Grimlock, the Dinobot reimagined as a tank, which is quite clever and appropriate. One can only hope for a “big reveal” moment for the new forms of Optimus Prime and the others in the next issue.

Speaking of Grimlock, Rieber has nailed the character perfectly, writing a far truer version of him than we’re presently seeing in the regular TransFormers: Generation One comic book. (Or am I the only one who thinks that Grimlock is being written a bit too intelligently these days?) Rieber writes this title like he’s having the time of his life, taking the pieces of the characters we all know, blending them with the proper set pieces and historical pieces for the setting he has chosen, and putting them all together.

It was odd, however, that he chose to give Snake Eyes a running interior monologue. Throughout nearly every incarnation of G.I. Joe, Snake Eyes has been utterly silent – no words, no thoughts, no captions. His characterization has always been handled through his actions and through the respect afforded him by friend and enemy alike. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it was surprising and unsettling to read it. Of course, Snake Eyes gives us a great cliffhanger, so it’s a bit easier to forgive.

Rating: 8/10