G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #313 // Review
Destro has business with Cobra Commander. They’ve got something of an appointment to keep with each other. Cobra Commander has fully prepared by fully equipping himself with highly advanced Mark VII battle armor. He’s going to have some time to prepare as well. Destro has a few people to meet with before he can get to Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #313. Writer Lara Hama continues one of the longest writer/title relationships in comic book history in yet another chapter in his long and winding saga. The story is brought to page and panel by artist Chris Mooneyham and colorist Francesco Segala.
The meeting between the two men is set to take place in the Springfield Community Center. Not exactly the type of thing that would normally be taking place inside a facility like that what with all of the smoek grenades, gunfire and infrared scanning that’s going on, but this IS a really important meeting between two really important people and they can’t exactly wait for a more appropriate venue to open-up. Cobra Commander might be defending a home base territory from one guy, but somehow it really looks like Destro has the upper hand.
Hama sets-up a really sharp single-unit infiltration of a heavily-guarded facility. It’s pretty obvious what the outcome is going to be from the first page of the issue, but that doens’t mean that it isn’t going to be fun watching Destro do what he’s going to do in order to haul-in the arch-villain due to a personal vendetta. One might expect Cobra to be a bit better at handling someone that they’ve been working so closely with over the years, but Hama gives the terrorists just enough expertise to keep them from coming across as complete incompetents.
Mooneyham’s sketchiness lends toughness and grit to the page as two men enter a big showdown with each other. Some of Mooneyham’s framing can be quite beautiful as a total badass eners a facility where he is clearly outnumbered and goes to work. All of the visuals are clearly defined. The overall composition of each page feels like it’s firly centered as the action moves with slow determination across the page. The execution of the action feels well-realized and atmospheric. All too often there might be some sort of major combat in an issue like this that takes place at night, but the visuals might make it feel like the middle of the day. Mooneyham casts heavy shadows ver everything that make it feel every bit as dark as it needs to feel. Sagala’s muted colors fit the lighting perfectly.
It’s a pretty dark issue of the series that has the Joes simply waiting outside the community center on Destro’s warning to stay the hell out of his way. Not particularly heroic of them to just...wait it out like that when they have no idea what Destro’s planning, but it DOES make for a memorable issue in a long-running series.
