Behind the Times: IDW Cobra Civil War: G.I.JOE

 Hello all,

Don't actually 'click', got this from Amazon.

From time to time I will put up reviews, relating to products I have purchased including comics, action figures, games and movies even. Cause, well why not? I will call this section 'Behind the times' because, well I'm usually just that, I buy games when they're on special, I get all my figures from the U.S.A so that by the time they arrive here they have been reviewed to death all over the net. So here I will express my opinion relating to these items, as always I appreciate comments through my e-mail g.i.jac0001@gmail.com, at Google+ or post below.

Cobra Civil War: G.I.Joe:Volume 1

Just got and then read IDW's Cobra Civil War: G.I.Joe Volume 1 and unlike with the last set of comics I got from Amazon, which included the whole set of G.I.Joe: Cobra Volumes 1 to 4 and  G.I.Joe Volumes 1 to 5. I am a bit frustrated that I can't read on. You can read a bit more about them here.

I don't really like reading comics an issue at a time, I always wait and buy them when they are collected in volumes. So that I can read the whole story arc all at once. Again I know that I am behind the times here but hey where else am I gonna express my views on a comic book?

R.I.P-C.C.

Anyway, I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed G.I.Joe: Cobra. However, there are some elements I enjoyed and there are some other elements that I didn't enjoy so much. I will list them all below, I don't know if I should write spoiler alert as, like I said before, most of you have read the comics already.

Likes:
-Blacklight's ambush of Stalker's Squad and his getaway in a trouble bubble
-Zartan's Raid of the PIT (Question: is Zartan African American now?)
-Zartan using Leatherneck's Defence Mech or what looks like one.
-Brainstorm's heroic sacrifice
-Mainframe's crush on Scarlett
-The panel on page 13 where the Crimson Guard are carrying the fallen Cobra Commander
-The fact that Storm Shadow works for a Japanese representative of Cobra and not the Commander (RIP) directly
-The way the crimson guard are used, not so much in this comic but more so in G.I.Joe: Cobra. Never really liked the identical accountant/lawyer deal.

Dislikes:

Don't like this guy

-Why is it called 'Cobra Civil War'? It should be more like 'The great Cobra Competition' or something! When I think civil war I expect IG's vs CG's
-The whole Duke got himself infected side story, well maybe we'll see airtight soon.
-Krake, not liking Krake or the way he massacred the Joe squad, oh and I'm no fan of BBQ so don't think it's that.
-The fact that Storm-Shadow and Jinx didn't have a showdown as depicted in the cover art

Anyways, I'm hoping that Cobra Civil War: Cobra Volume 1 and Cobra Civil War: Snake Eyes Volume 1 are better. Don't get me wrong it was very interesting and it was cool to see the Pit taken down as well as Zartan and Blacklight in action but I would actually like to see some Cobra infighting, not 80's cartoon squabbling but some real intrigue and outright  battles.

A lot of people are very negative about these comics, but I must say that I am enjoying them, I give this Volume 3/5 Behind the times. That's the best I could come up with, so for now that's the unit of measure.

IDW G.I.JOE and other stuff

Now you'll notice that I'm usually pretty behind on trends especially when it comes to comics and games. I usually buy comics when they come out in a collected volume and I don't buy games until they are on special or I get them as a gift. The reason being that my principal hobby takes up most of my time and money!

Anyway... I just finished reading IDW's Volume 1 G.I.JOE and Volume 1 G.I.JOE: Cobra comics and I have to say they are amazing. I never really had much of a connection to the original comics, instead I watched the cartoons and collected the toys. G.I.JOE is an amazing update to the cartoon in my opinion. It has a sci-fi feel and yet it's what I imagine a live action version of G.I.JOE would be actually like, with Joes dying and Cobra being a secretive and a realistic threat. This version of Cobra is very similar to that of G.I.JOE: Renegades, a cartoon I took a little while to get into but now I love it!

Just to go off topic for a sec and on the topic of G.I.JOE Renegades, I've ordered the figures from http://www.bigbadtoystore.com as well as the POC VAMP and POC Crimson HISS, just gonna let my pile of loot build up a little bit more and then I'll have them shipped.

Anyway... Of the two comics G.I.JOE: Cobra was my favorite and because of it Chuckles is now my favorite Joe. I have to get the G.I.JOE Attack on Cobra Island pack now! Hope I find a cheap one on eBay. This story is a very realistic story, well at least how I imagine a very realistic spy story might be.
It turns 'Chuckles' into an intriguing character who has a lot of depth and it provides an insight into just how difficult infiltrating a terrorist organization actually is. He has to make some very tough choices. Wish the Joe movie had been like this....

Out of all the character re-invented or re-imagined in the series Chuckles is the one that stands out the most in my opinion. However, Destro's origin story is pretty cool, I must say that I like all his origin stories including the ROC version at the beginning of the film. I can't wait to meet the Commander! Anyway.

Don't know if anyone is reading this, but either way I am really enjoying it for some reason. A couple of final things I finished Batman: Arkham Assylum last night and really enjoyed it particularly once I had all the Riddler Trophies thanks to a lot of help from Youtubes' OniBlackmage
When I get some more free time I'll play as the Joker.

CUSTOM UPDATES

Currently working on a Red Ghost and his Super Apes. I used a Smurf's Gargamel head the body from one of the Indiana Jone's and the temple of doom figures and a 'snow mission' or whatever coat and arms, I think it looks pretty good. I got a Gorilla Grod as the, well Gorilla and some hard plastic figures to represent the Apes including an anatomically correct Mandrill from Schleich.

For the Orangutan I wanted to make an articulated version so I got a Spidermonkey figure from Ben10 that I want to modify, I don't really want to cut up the Papo Orangutan which is hard plastic cause it costs a bit and I don't want to ruin the figure cause it looks cool. Anyway, I'll include photos at some point and then as per usual put them up on joecustoms. I got some pretty good feedback from my Cesspool and Che. Now I'm not big on making my figures look exactly like the original figure or character, rather I'm big on interpretation so I've added some reference pics for the Red Ghost and his super Apes, don't expect my ghost to be an exact representation.

You'll also see some pics of the hard plastic Apes I got on eBay, wait I think one is an Ape and the other is a Monkey?