Ted Bergendorf, a sleeper Crimson Guard member, has had enough of a world that's walked all over him, and he decides to take matters into his own hands by planting a bomb in an amusement park. The Dreadnoks and the Joes are looking to stop him.
The Good
This is my first issue of G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero, and I really enjoyed it. We get a solid 39 page story here that really kept my interest from start to finish. I hate to say it, but I didn't have high hopes for this book because I'm just not the biggest G.I. Joe comic fan, aside from the Image series from a few years back, but this Annual really got me hooked.
I love stories that take a bit of a break from the main bad guys and follow the henchmen. Ted Bergendorf is a disgruntled Crimson Guard member who's been off-the-grid for years. I really liked how Ted's plan slowly came together over the course of this issue. Of course, it failed because the Joes will foil any plan.
I enjoy little moments of comedy within comic books, as long as it's not too over-the-top. While the Drednoks are fighting the rogue Crimson Guards, a group of onlookers are watching the battle, thinking it's a part of the show. One little girl keeps mentioning she thinks the battle looks incredibly fake, even though it's not. It's little moments like that, in this book, that I really enjoyed. A bit of the tongue-and-cheek for a book filled with tongue-and-cheek characters.
You know what I like most about this book? Larry Hama wrote the original Marvel series (at least most of it) and now he's writing this series, which continues off of his last series. Sure, it may be almost 20 years later and at a different company, but I love the fact they brought him in to do this. It feels right.
The Bad
Why is Zartan taking people hostage and making them drive him around? There's numerous panels with him holding a gun to different people's head telling them to drive him around. I don't get it. Use your motorcycle.
At times, the art could be a tad rough around the edges. I had more of a problem with the inking than anything else. It was a bit shadow heavy and it times, it didn't match the light source.
The Verdict
This was a really fun issue and annual. I loved the story and I thought it was paced out very well. It was cool to see the story revolve around a member of the Crimson Guard. This book and story is everything I loved about the cartoon I watched when I was a kid. I enjoyed the fact that the writer of the original Marvel series is the writer of this book as well. I didn't like the fact that Zartan spends a bunch of time holding people hostage in automobiles and the inking on this issue was rough at times. Overall, I recommend this book. It's tons of fun, full of action, and has a great sense of humor.