The sister title of last month’s G.I Joe, G.I Joe: Special Missions follows in a similar trend. With modern artwork and a new out-look on the G.I Joe setting, what can Special Missions #1 bring to the table?

The official description from IDW:

A NEW BEGINNING! The legendary team of Chuck Dixon and Paul Gulacy lead the G.I. Joe team undercover and into action! The BARONESS tries to get back into COBRA’s good graces—and it’s up to SCARLETT to assemble a team to take the villainess down!

The title itself is interesting enough. As the first issue, a lot of this this is setting-up the first arc. That said, it bounces between the Baroness being typically evil and manipulative and the Joe’s in a state of action and gunfire. Its familiar ground, something many regular G.I Joe readers will instantly feel comfortable with.

The writing isn’t anything exceptionally new, either, although it is well penned. There’s the typical militaristic flair in Chuck Dixon‘s script. The dialogue is typical Joe stuff, although some of the scenes with the Baroness do capture the darker side of G.I Joe a little better. As a first issue, the writing wastes no time in making sure the various sides of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ are reasonably well defined.

What is new, however, is the art. Paul Gulacy‘s pencils update the G.I Joe aesthetic to the modern look. Its pretty clean, giving Aburtov & Grafikslava‘s colors plenty to work with. Special Missions #1 bounces between dark and gloomy atmosphere and open-air battle grounds, and the color splashed into each makes this clearly definable. The only minor problem with the art is Scarlett. I get that she had red hair, but its almost glowing and blowing the breeze. Its a bit too ‘Hollywood’ for G.I Joe, but its a minor fault at best.

Finally, you can’t ignore the full-art on each page. There is little to no white-space. With tight frames and decent paneling, you certainly get your money’s worth of art on each and every page. If this continues, G.I Joe: Special Missions could prove a very rewarding series.

4/5