GI Joe: Deviations
IDW
Writer: Paul Allor
Artist: Corey Lewis
As is read during the post-comic essay, this comic is a goofy love letter to the GI Joe franchise. For a moment, just
think back to all the advanced tech Cobra has used; weather machines, lasers and earthquake doomsday devices, just to name a few. Every step of the way, the Joes have stopped Cobra left and right. Sure an arc will leave us with a cliffhanger that just maybe this once, just maybe Cobra actually wins. Only to be foiled an issue later. There have been universe where Cobra has won before but each of them shows us a destroyed and ruined world in the wake of the GI Joe/Cobra war. This one-shot shows us the world where the superior tech of Cobra wins the war and sets up an infrastructure to run a co-existing and competent society governed by Cobra. That is the world Cobra envisions right? Well as the story unfolds here, it turns out not everyone in Cobra wanted to just rule the world. To borrow a phrase, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
The story is goofy as admitted by the writer Allor. But it’s clearly being scripted and illustrated to make sure the reader has no illusions of this one-shot being anything but a deviation from what the main story. For a comic series based on warfare and strong iconic call signs, the artwork in GI: Joe Deviations is fun and colorful. It goes along well with the dialogue of the “villains” about how tacky and hideous their uniforms are, the colors and art really accentuate what they invoke. The models for the characters are all perfect, while having the flare and relaxed lines to keep the mindset that this is just a “What if” book.
The book comes full circle starting with the end of the feud between Cobra and the GI Joes, to showing how the advanced communications systems are making the world actually a great place to live in. Of course this is the problem, as Cobra Commander narrates how this wasn’t his intended purpose for leading Cobra. Fans of the GI Joe property should get a kick out of this book, including a clear head nod with emphasis to a fan favorite villain. Once again IDW has impressed me with their Deviation titles, and I can’t wait to read more! This book makes sense, dumb and goofy sense.