Only one man on our staff has the courage to wade through this wave of nostalgia. That man, of course, is Mish'al Samman.

Why is he the one? Because he once lit his bike on fire in order to play Battle of the Planets.

Occasionally, Mish'al breaks from his reverie to gather his thoughts and share them with you.

G.I.JOE #14
Mutt, Bazooka, Alpine, and Rock N Roll have casually selected to meet up for some R&R, which happens to be a secret Cobra town; they eventually are caught just as they discover what they have stumbled onto.

This issue explores an aspect often left uncharted by some books, or they do so in just skimming the surface of the possibilities, and that's the personal life of a Joe. Although they don't do that entirely in this issue, they do touch upon it quite a bit, and for the majority of the pages keep it in line with the action soon to come.

As it is a hard thing to do in one book to cover all 100+ of everyone's favorite Joe or Cobra agent… You will have to make due with these four guys, and they won't disappoint. Bust out those Yo-Jo Cola fans.

G.I.JOE #15
Now Cobra Commander himself makes his appearance to see what the Joes know, and brings back big bad Boa to do the interrogations.

Once you get over the initial "Oh no not again! didn't we get enough of places like Springfield, and BAROCA Beach?" You are left to ponder why haven't the Joe team figured out the ARBCO mystery yet.

For the world's most trained special forces unit you'd think they would start looking into anything that would spell COBRA in a different way. Then again, for the world's most notorious terrorist group, you might think they could be original.

But it really doesn't matter, for this issue truly has what it takes for the good ol' adventure to continue. The big bad guy to show, the Joes in another helpless situation, and then there is the original comedy Joe style. Maybe the secret Cobra towns and lairs are part of what bring a little of that imaginary world into our own… Good job.

G.I.JOE Frontline #4
Snake Eyes and Scarlet get caught in a showdown with Destro and the Commander. With the rest of the group trying to hold out in the Citadel computer room, this issue does the series justice.

Welcome back the good ol' Joe style of telling the story. Filled with that classic dialog, action, humor and twists that we all came to love. This issue in particular flows and gives you the bang for the buck.

As the final mission (from last we left this flashback tale) comes to a close, the last two or three pages are pretty sentimental, but don't tie in to what we expected as the story told to us in the beginning of the other JOE title by Image. Nonetheless it is a good read, and enjoyable to the last page.

G.I.JOE Frontline #5
We aren't even into October and we have some freaky issues with the Joes coming out. This issue is a great one to actually have. Yes, our Joes are suddenly into the horror genre, when Duke gets called into Hawk's office to discuss the next mission. Mind you this takes place in the current timeline, and is 7 years after the Joes have been decommissioned.

It is relevant to Duke's first Black-Op mission after his days as a Joe. Where he was sent to a genetic lab in Norway and something terribly went wrong. Duke was the only survivor and the place was out of order, until now…

Without saying anymore about this issue, I recommend you enjoy it for yourself, because it's not your average Joe story concept, but it could be for this title.

Mish'al Samman