G.I. Joe #16
Written by Chuck Dixon
Artist Will Rosado
Colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Editors John Barber & Carlos Guzman
Cover by Tommy Lee Edwards
IDW Publishing
Release Date: August 15, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

After a somewhat mediocre last issue, G.I. Joe #16 fires back with a vengeance. This issue moves the story forward quite a bit, advancing MANY storylines and overall, manages to entertain the reader.

Chuck Dixon turns in a great story this issue. It’s a classic G.I. Joe tale, with all the trademarks of what makes G.I. Joe so much fun to read. You’ve got several split up groups of Joes each fighting their own battles, and some of them aren’t actually fighting Cobra; in fact, only half of them are. Between the main story pieces are one to two page little stories that remind you about what some characters are up to and others that set things up for future issues, which is always a nice touch, especially when the payoff is going to be big. There’s some great dialouge between the characters, and I really feel that Dixon is finally making these characters his own instead of writing them how he thinks they need to be written. There’s a couple of different endings, all great, but there’s one involving the immediate future of the G.I. Joe team that will have you impatiently waiting for this book to come out next month.

Will Rosado is really hit or miss with me. This issue, is a definite hit. As I took the time to look over these pages again, I am finally beginning to “get” his art style, and I think going forward I’m going to enjoy him a lot more. In G.I. Joe books, traditionally, there have been artists who excel at attention to detail. Just pick up any of the G.I. Joe titles drawn by artist Robert Atkins and you can see just how much attention that he pays to whatever he draws. You can literally go out and buy the weapons that Snake Eyes uses as drawn by Atkins in any given issue….but please, don’t do that. Rosado isn’t that artist. Guns are guns, tanks are tanks, and so on. Now, that doesn’t mean that EVERY gun or tank or knife looks the same as every other one, but he focuses his storytelling elsewhere, like in the characters postures, their facial expressions, and general layout of the page. Now that I’ve grasped that, I’m really looking forward to enjoying more art from him in the future.

Frankly, I’m scared for the Joe team after reading this issue. They’ve got their backs up against a pretty big wall, and I honestly don’t know where they’re going to go with this, but I can’t wait to see. This issue is really great, and I hope to see more great issues in a row, rather than thrown in every third issue or so. But, you’re definitely going to want to get this issue, and fast – NO TRADE WAITING!!!