REVIEW: G.I. Joe: ARAH #281

Summary

Never forget where you came from. That has been the motto for “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” for the past few issues. There was a story arc called untold tales that was giving the readers a great backstory to some of the classic G.I. Joe stories from the 1980’s. 

As much as I was enjoying the trips down memory lane with the Untold Tales story arc I was happy to get back into the present day storyline. With a story like this who wouldn’t be? You get the espionage that comes with a spy thriller, the action of a “Rambo” movie, and a few good one liners for comic relief. 

Even more notable, we get a new character. Her codename is Sherlock. She’s a member of the military police that makes things happen. Picture Gibbs from “NCIS” without being such a hardass on the crew. She’s smart, a good person, and best of all isn’t afraid to throw down with Cobra.

I say this is notable because after this many years in the game we don’t get to see a lot in the way of new faces on the Joe team. As a lifelong fan of all things G.I. Joe seeing a new character made me very happy. To me that means we’re going to be getting a whole lot of new content with her in it. The 12 year old in me hopes the writing team panders just once and has her say something dumb so Hawk or Duke can say “No shit, Sherlock”.

My optimism about the arrival of Sherlock could be misguided. Once upon a time (issue #48) Sgt. Slaughter joined the storyline. That lasted one issue. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing. The notion of a professional wrestler having a recurring role in a children’s army cartoon, as well as the cartoon format was a bit hard to take. Then again this was an era where we also got a G.I. Joe action figure of a professional football player (William “The Fridge” Perry). What can I say? The 80’s were a different time. 

With the exception of a few acronyms you don’t have to be a subject matter expert to appreciate the story. The artwork is well done. The coloring on it is what truly makes it pop though. The story appears to follow canon, but I’m withholding judgement until I know for certain who Alkawbra is. The nostalgic geek on a budget in me misses this title being seventy-five cents on the spinner racks from when I first started reading it. With a $3.99 cover price this one is a solid book in every category. I would recommend all day long. Will it blow your hair back? That depends on how willing you are to fall into the book. Will it disappoint? Not at all