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shanecdavis · Last edited by shanecdavis on Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:41 pm; edited 1 time in total

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COBRA #16

Mike Costa (w) • Antonio Fuso (a) • Antonio Fuso (c)

THE HUNT IS ON! The key to all of Cobra’s secrets is in the crossfire as FLINT’s secret G.I. Joe squad converges on FIREFLY and BLACKLIGHT! Everyone has their own agenda—and everybody has a lot of guns! It’s not-stop action and betrayal as secrets come to light and bodies hit the floor!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:
Variant Joe Eisma & Juan Castro cover!

Bullet points:
¥ NEW CHARACTERS! NEW MISSION!
¥ SAME CUTTING-EDGE STORYTELLING!

Preview:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=13338

Mamu_Nestor · Transforumer Joined: 23 Feb 2011 Posts: 1011 Location: TX

I'm not a fan of either cover....
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Blanco · Comic Book Guy Joined: 15 Feb 2011 Posts: 33

Looking forward to this, I couldn't wait so read the preview.

Am I the only one colouring in the rest of Flint's hair with a sharpie in my books? Wink

The guy's meant to be on a covert op and he sticks out like a sore thumb Very Happy

Joking aside, I'm loving the current arc, great book.

shanecdavis · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:35 pm Post subject:

VERY happy I don't have to drop the COBRA title!! Well, not yet anyway. Is it just me or are Fuso's covers getting as bad as his interiors? All the covers so far this month have been below average, with the main title and now COBRA being just awful. I ended up voting for Cover B mainly on the coolness of the premise, even though the finished product doesn't look as great as it could have been.

Mamu_Nestor · Transforumer Joined: 23 Feb 2011 Posts: 1011 Location: TX

cashel · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:07 pm Post subject:

I've given up on the revamp but I might still buy this. I love Costa and the characters involved. I'll have to -at least- check it out. Geek-thing: I hope firefly wears his camo! Favorite of the original figures. Have we heard any plans for cobra in 2013- yet?
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Thank-you IDW for supporting G.I. Joe: the revamp and ARAH. Here's to forty-nine years of adventure!

cashel · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:16 pm Post subject:

I like fuso!
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Thank-you IDW for supporting G.I. Joe: the revamp and ARAH. Here's to forty-nine years of adventure!

edhellman · I'm kind of a big deal Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 125

I really liked this issue. It was total action. It is getting really hard to tell the difference between Dell'Edera and Fuso which makes it a smooth read.

The solicitations show the Oktober Guard are the main adversaries in the next arc against Flint's team. Going by the covers, it looks like they have some involvement with Bludd, too.

SPOILERS

The cover is a bit of a fake out because Firefly doesn't go up against Chameleon and never wears his camo. I'm guessing that is coming, though. Instead, we finally see Lady Jaye kick some ass and totally owns Blacklight. Blacklight became one of my favorite new characters by IDW but if anyone were to take him out, I'm glad it was Jaye and the way she did. Really cool. I'm a bit confused with why Billy was introduced only to be put in a coma right away. I trust Costa so I'll just have to wait and see.

Eagleyes · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject:

Id buy 4 Costa issues a month, instead I buy one.

This one issue has more action than an entire Dix arc.

I still loathe the art and love the script.

This proves Costa can write Action and Intrigue.

Please drop the Saturday morning cartoon stories of Dix

Mamu_Nestor · Transforumer Joined: 23 Feb 2011 Posts: 1011 Location: TX

Man I love Costa's writing. This was a good issue. I loved Firefly's plan. Loved the action with Ronin Lady Jaye and Blackout. But I Didn't know it was blackout until you guys said it was... I did catch the lines at the end, but it didn't sink in. I also like that they bring Tomax back as a possible player. And the cover for next month is major Bludd. I can't wait to see what Costa is going to do with that situation. Also it took me a bit to realize that was Billy (William Kessler-Latta) now in a coma... The Arashikage mindset is the only thing that can save him... LOL... But I do want to see where Costa goes with this. How long will he stay in a coma, how much damage was done by the coma... Will he lose the eye and leg because of it Wink

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shanecdavis · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 6:44 am Post subject:

ARGH!!!!!!! Please IDW, for the love of all things holy, PLEASE get an artist on this title that can properly portray an action scene!!!! Each month I look forward to the ARAH title to see the detail and spot-on portrayals of the characters and vehicles by Shannon. Each month I also look forward to the COBRA title, but on the other hand dread to see how awful the characters are portrayed and whether I will have to suffer through another action scene that takes at least three read-throughs to decipher exactly what has happened. Getting fed up with this.

Aside from the art, this was yet another wonderful read by Costa. The characterization was just so good. Erika haunted by ghosts, and I am totally digging IDW Firefly. Once again, Costa proves he can handle a suspenseful action scene. He did a solid job with Blackout vs. Joe women back in #7 and he does it again here, despite being handicapped by the art. Again. Sadly though, there was like an 8-page stretch where there was limited dialogue which made it a faster read than I wanted, and made the issue rely on the weak art. At this point I would welcome back Padilla with open arms. It's just frustrating thinking how much better this title could be.

edhellman · I'm kind of a big deal Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 125

DUDE! It would all make sense if this is where Billy gets his robo leg. Not sure about the eye though.. He didn't really get hit in the head or face. Still, I like what you are thinking.

Torpedo · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:20 am Post subject:

I agree with your complaint, shane, about the quickness of the read. I'm a pretty slow reader and I think it took me less than three minutes to get through this issue. This is one of the reasons I don't want Costa writing all of the reboot titles. I like his work on the smaller-scale espionage-based Cobra title. But his work on Transformers and DC's Blackhawks was really inconsistent. I don't think he'd be a good fit for the main G.I. Joe book unless they really, really narrowed the cast and focus.
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edhellman · I'm kind of a big deal Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 125

not to beat a dead horse, but I don't get the hate for fuso and dell'edera's art. I thought the issue was beautiful and very cinematic. The way they use light and dark felt right for that showdown - especially with the goggles and flash bomb. I guess it comes down to personal preference so I appreciate what you are saying, just into the style myself.

Also, regarding the quickness of the read: to me, this was a fast issue, but there were so many neat little details during the fight that I ended up rereading each page a few times before moving on. Even with a quick pace, I feel that Costa jams in a ton of character development and nuance. When I read Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow it actually feels long to me because a good portion just isn't very interesting.

I've been coming down on Dixon lately so I will say that he has done some cool things with the title and I'm loving what Will Rosado is doing whenever he takes on the Joe Ongoing art.

shanecdavis · Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 11:05 am Post subject:

I have no problem beating the dead horse. I don't like Fuso's (or Dell'Edera's for that matter) style of art because it is too stylistic and doesn't have the feel of a Joe comic. At all. The only way I know this is a Joe comic is because of the great dialogue provided by Costa. If you took all that out of any COBRA issue and then asked a random Joe fan to identify all the characters, chances are they would fail miserably. Do the same thing with an ARAH issue and I guarantee you it's a different story, even if you only look at the faces. In this issue, there is NO WAY I would be able to say that was Flint if there wasn't dialogue telling me it was. On the other hand, there are many many panels in ARAH where I can identify about 95% of the characters on their facial features alone.

Don't get me started on the action scenes either. Shannon's panels are highly detailed and flow easily from one to another. Fuso, on the other hand, requires some detective work to determine what has happened, usually requiring me to look through the scene again. And again. The fight between Lady Jaye and Blacklight is a perfect example. How exactly did Billy get up from a prone position, tied to a freaking chair, in order to get in the way of Lady Jaye? Also, did we really need SIX panels of her hand and one of Blacklight's? Little things like this just make the entire scene a jumbled mess.