G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero — Silent Missions

“G.I. Joe” #21, “Silent Interlude,” is the one issue from that series everyone remembers.  Snake Eyes’ infiltration of Cobra HQ to rescue Scarlett wasn’t just memorable for the fact that it was told entirely without dialogue.  It was also incredibly well-executed for pursuing that approach.  Regular series writer Larry Hama not only wrote this issue, but also provided breakdowns for the art, with Steve Leialoha delivering the finishes.  That resulted in a story that managed to cram a lot of character – further solidifying Snake Eyes, and Scarlett’s, badass credentials – some memorable action, and even some plot developments without any dialogue or thought bubbles.  What’s more is that it fit seamlessly into the ongoing story being told in the series, following on smoothly from the previous issue and setting things up in the ones that followed.

Hama and Leialoha may have made this look easy, but doing comics without dialogue is really hard.  Just ask most of the people who delivered a comic during Marvel’s “‘Nuff Said” month, or Simon Spurrier and Matais Bergara who had a lot more space to work with in their silent “Step by Bloody Step” and wound up disappointing in the end.  So you might be inclined to think that a group of other creators trying to emulate “Silent Interlude” with other “Joe” characters might be the comics equivalent of putting a “Kick Me” sign on their backs.  That’s not quite true here, even though none of these can really touch the original.

Beach Head by Phil Hester:  Here we’ve got a Joe who finds himself trapped in a war-torn urban environment, rescued by some kids and hidden while Cobra grunts search for him.  Hester’s wiry art tells the story well while delivering some decent action.  I don’t get a good feeling for who Beach Head is as a character, but this story also illustrates the two things holding most of these stories back.  The first is that they don’t get to enjoy the momentum “Silent Interlude” had as part of an ongoing series.  The second is that the coloring  here is really dark for no discernable reason.  I don’t know if that’s due to the rougher, non-glossy paper stock used for the pages of this volume, but it’s also an issue the reproduction of that singular issue didn’t have here.

Jinx by Dani & Dan Watters:  The red-garbed female ninja fights her way out of a Cobra base in 20 seconds which conveniently amounts to one second per page.  Dani’s art is quite striking to behold, but I never really got a sense of Jinx’s character here.  She’s just Red-Garbed Female Ninja to me who’s really good at what she does – but she’s also not Snake Eyes.  I also couldn’t stop thinking about how, after seeing the action on each page, that there’s no way everything on it could’ve taken place in the space of a second.  I know that’s what suspension of disbelief is for, but the story never really delivered that for me.

Spirit by Leonardo Romero:  There’s something hunting the wildlife in the woods and it turns out to be some bear-cyborg weapon cooked up by Cobra that has now gone rogue!  Silly as that premise may sound, Romero actually delivers a fairly tense story as the title character tracks it to its base and has to take it down using his wits, rifle, and eagle companion.  The execution is solid all around, even though I was left feeling that if Romero had let things get a little crazier the whole package would’ve been more memorable.

Roadblock by Andrew Krahnke:  I’ll admit that I was looking forward to this issue more than any of the others as it was coming from Andrew Krahnke, the creator of the best riffs on “Conan” that I’ve read in comics with “Bloodrik.”  This isn’t as over-the-top as his work there, but it’s still pretty damn crazy as Roadblock storms a Cobra patrol by himself to rescue a fellow Joe.  Krahnke convincingly sells the one-man-army aspect of this character extremely well with some memorable setpieces.  While none of the stories that preceded it were bad, I was ready to assume that “Silent Missions” had peaked with this issue…

Duke by Wes Craig:  Then I read this and found that they had saved the best for last.  Craig doesn’t dial back any of the intensity or craziness that characterized his work on “Deadly Class” with this story that initially comes off as Duke looking to avenge an old friend as he works to take down a Cobra chemical weapons plant on a remote island.  What actually happens is the one instance of the storytelling in these issues actually upending my expectations in this volume.  That the art can be brutal, ruthless, and even really trippy at one point is really just the gravy here.

So if you’re not like me and don’t already own a copy of “Silent Interlude” in your copies of “Classic G.I. Joe,” then you should definitely pick this up to see what everyone’s been talking about for the past three decades.  You’ll also get some decent-to-good comics along with it.  No, none of these are as good as their inspiration, but that a single comic can inspire a tribute this strong is still pretty impressive in itself.  Enough to make that “1” on the side of the cover feel more like a promise than a threat.