G.I. Joe: Cobra-Oktober Guard is enjoyable noir Spy

This month is turning into all Joe all the time.  What with the movie (a sequel has already been green lit!) and me reading G.I. Joe: Cobra-Oktober Guard I’m all but casting my left hand into a kung fu grip.  Oktober Guard is a different kind of Joe graphic novel, which is a great thing, especially after my last experience.

In G.I. Joe: Cobra-Oktober Guard you’re not really sure what’s going on to an extent.  Most of the Joes are out looking for Snake Eyes.  The remaining Joes encounter a Cobra villain and then meet the Oktober Guard.  Cobra fears the Oktober Guard, the Joes aren’t sure what to make of them and their allegiance could go either way.

The panels are drawn in a noir spy style, with lots of shadow, hazy backgrounds and not too much detail.  Given that the story deals more with intrigue than action oriented mission specifics it works well with the story.   There is a fair amount of action, which is good because at times the characters kind of blended together.

That’s my one big problem with the book; the artwork doesn’t distinguish the characters enough.  I would sometimes lose track of who was who, until I saw them with someone who I knew and then I knew what they were up to.

Having said that, I liked this book, it’s quick enough and lays out a nice story that doesn’t directly involve the main Joes.  The action is more realistic and less cartoonish then I had previously read in G.I. Joe books.

Because most of the well known characters aren’t in this book the only one I recognized was Lady Jaye.  A couple of the Cobra folks come in to mix things up and wreak havoc.  This is a good book, but fans of G.I. Joe will certainly like it more than casual fans.

G.I. Joe: Cobra-Oktober Guard will be released on April 23.  We received a promotional copy for review.  All thoughts are our own.