GI Joe Vol III By Larry Hama

GI Joe Vol III

By Larry Hama

“Don't complain about our manners while I'm complaining about the food!” Roadblock

Another year and another volume of GI Joe, although I admit I sometimes feel the urge towards a month of Joe or three due to my enjoyment of the series (<Sniffs in Slavoj Žižek >). Volume III covers issues 21 to 30 all of which were published in 1984. Which means we're gonna get a big dose of the 80s, so brace yourselves (It’s so 80s, you’re all gonna become Snowflame.). Now I've covered Larry Hama in the review of Vol I, although I'd like to focus on Mr. Hama's life long practice of martial arts; mostly the arts from Japan, the homeland of his parents from what I can find. Mr. Hama himself was born in the United States so his homeland is America, I shouldn't have to say that for a man who not only served his nation in war but also enriched its culture but the news says otherwise (Because of Racism. I refuse to be in any way subtle about this, being actively and aggressively anti-racist.). Anyways, the reason I bring up Hama's practice of the martial arts is the impact that it had on his creations and writing; also because this is the volume where the ninjas really start showing up in GI Joe. Now Snake Eyes was here from the start in Issue 1, but this volume starts to dig into his backstory. It also introduces Storm Shadow, whose relationship to Snake Eyes ranges from sworn nemesis to blood brother. The martial arts and ninja clan drama that would, over time, become a big part of the GI Joe series, even at times threatening to overwhelm everything else and turn the series into the life and times of Ninjas and their soldier buddies (who fight crime/terrorism) but I'm jumping ahead of myself.

Storm Shadow, who like Mr. Hama is a Japanese-American, is introduced in issue 21, the first story in volume III. In these early days, Storm Shadow serves as a commander to the red ninjas, a secretive band of ninjas in service to Cobra and Cobra Commanders bodyguard (Ugh, they can do so much better.{Better than Storm Shadow?}). Cobra Commander views him as the most trustworthy of his commanders. Of course with Cobra being a pit of betrayal and conflicting agendas who knows how long that will last? This issue is as legendary as the silent interlude, the issue of GI Joe that told a complete story without a single word of dialogue. It's rightfully considered a classic, has been used as an argument that comics are both art and individual medium of storytelling with its own rules and was the very first issue of GI Joe that I ever read as a young boy of about eight (awwwwww), years after it was first released of course. I'm not entirely sure if this is the first comic book I ever read but it's the first one I remember and I'm pretty glad to say that it stands up to the memories. Even if you're not into comics or martial arts I would urge you to pick up a digital copy of issue 21 just to see what can be done with only sequential art. The rest of volume III made up of issues 22 through 30 are not as experimental and have spoken dialogue which is likely for the best, as I'm not sure you could run a comic series without a single word of dialogue, although I would love it if someone tried.

Now, Storm Shadow isn't the only character introduced in this volume, in fact, several fan favorites make their first appearance here. On the Cobra side, we see Firefly, the minor characters of Wild Weasel and Zartan, and his dim-witted gang of minions, the Dreadnoughts. I have to admit I really enjoy the Dreadnoughts, a bunch of Australian Bikers turned to evil, likely because they were to stupid to resist the temptation (Sounds about right for Australian donor-cyclists. Don’t @ me!). It is glorious watching them bumble through the story and through their wildly destructive antics causing as much damage to their “friends'' as they do to their foes. It honestly helps to lighten the mood without causing too much of a tonal shift in the storytelling, so you don't get exhausted or suffer whiplash. On the Joes' side, we see the introduction of Flint and Roadblock. I'll admit I like Roadblock better, who unlike the cartoon doesn't speak in rhymes but like a normal human being. Roadblock is also strong enough to carry around a 50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun and fire it standing. This thing is meant to be fired from a tripod and weighs 83 pounds by the way, and Roadblock swings it around like it's a standard M16 rifle. He is also a superb chef and really picky about what he eats, which means considering he's serving in the time of the C rat he is in fact living a special brand of hell (The poor benighted soul. If you want to know what a C rat is, head on over to the youtube channel MREinfo. It’s a surprisingly cute dude who taste tests and reviews antique military rations he digs up from various places.). We also met Cutter from the coast guard (So he’s a...Coast Guard Cutter? Eh? Eh!?) proving that GI Joe doesn't just recruit from the normal military services; and Deep Six, a diver who might honestly be autistic given his super focus on his job, lack of emotional cues, and inability to socialize with the people around him (Yay!). I'm pretty sure that's not what Mr. Hama meant to write but that's what I read.

Besides the introductions, the issue is mostly focused mainly on two things. First, an escalating battle between the Joes and Cobra when the Joes manage to take Cobra Commander prisoner in a successful operation and Storm Shadow stops at nothing to break Cobra Commander out. What occurs is a brutal volley of chases as both sides push for the win in a series of fights ranging from the Rocky Mountains to the Florida Everglades. There's a good deal of internal Cobra power plays going on here, as Major Bludd attempts to become a power broker in Cobra and Destro continues to gather people to his faction (Ah the infighting of villainy… They should learn from the Rule of Two era Sith.{That would make it hard to be an international terrorist organization I think}). Second is the beginning of the series-long storyline of Ninja drama. I don't call it that to demean it, Mr. Hama was decades ahead of his time as a lot of the intrigue here would make the heads of Game of Thrones fans spin. It also is the first time we unspool Snake Eyes origin story which is important because he becomes one of the central characters of the GI Joe team. We learn about his service in Vietnam, how he met Storm Shadow here, the death of his family and twin sister. We also learn that when Storm Shadow found out about this, he brought Snake Eyes into the family business. That family business being... you know... Ninjas. Snake Eyes as is the tradition was super good at being a ninja, so good that it caused some friction between him and Storm Shadow. I understand completely where Storm Shadow is coming from here though, imagine training at something your whole damn life only to have a buddy you bring in waltz in and start becoming your equal or even superior in a couple of years (That would, in fact, be extremely frustrating.). That would be more than a little galling. That's not the center of the drama though, the big issue is when the leader of the ninja clan is assassinated by an arrow. While using ninja powers to perfectly imitate Snake Eyes. Storm Shadow is spotting running from the scene of the crime and the clan spins itself apart. We learn more about Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes but I'm going to encourage you to go read the comic for yourself because I honestly think it's a good storyline.

That said, I can see some people being of two minds over this volume. The ninjas of GI Joe are rather polarizing in some parts of the fandom. Some see the ninja characters as not really belonging and preferring to focus on straight soldiers vs fascist terrorist story elements (Look, I don’t care as long as fascists die horribly.). Some are pretty much all about the ninjas, all the time. That said I think most fans are like me, who enjoy and appreciate the flavor that the ninja characters bring to GI Joe as long as they don't hijack the entire series. It’s like mixing peanut butter and chocolate, you need a balance of the two flavors to make it work. So if you break out into hives upon seeing or hearing the nin-word, you're not gonna like this volume seeing it as the genesis of everything you dislike in the series. On the flip side, if you really enjoy this stuff, this is the volume where GI Joe starts to fly for you. For me, this is a good volume and a great read, with interesting characters, although I could understand if some felt it was a bit too 80s for them as we watch Australian Bikers attack an airbase and ninjas duel on trains (Too much cocaine and Ronald Reagan was president.{It was a weird decade}). There are also some realistic parts that I could have lived without, like several male Joes constantly hitting on Cover Girl, mainly because at this point Scarlet has terrified them into submission (Ugh. Straight men.{I’m right here!}). That said, I'm giving GI Joe Vol III by Larry Hama an A-. There's good character conflict, action, and a lot of fun banter to had here if you don't mind some of the dated elements.

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Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen
Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders