The Good
This is my first time reading this series, and all this issue made me want to do was read the first 12 issues. I feel like I missed out on a lot of good stuff. This issue establishes the new world and story line after the events of the last story line. It's a lot of explanation because so many things have changed, but it's satisfying and enjoyable.
I loved the opening with Ronin taking down some baddies. She's an awesome character, and that's a great way to start off a new story line with a bang! Antonio Fuso has some fantastic art in this opening, and more so in this opening sequence. The panel set-up is dynamic, interesting, and has a great flow to it as Ronin jumps over the aggressor's heads and proceeds to stab them. There's a beautiful balance of negative and positive space as your eye flows over each panel, much like the movement contained within.
From there, Fuso's art has a minimalist feel to it in the line work with a lot of sharper edges giving this book a hardened feeling to it. He uses a lot of heavy shadows, and there's many great looking splash pages here.
I really liked how this issue played out, especially with Tomax becoming the new benefactor to this new G.I. Joe black ops section. This little addition to the book not only mixes things up, but it opens the doors for what these characters will be doing in the future since they all have a common goal. This was, for me, the coolest moment of the issue.
Great reveal page here as we find that the Joes new mission is to find out everything about Cobra they can from the person who knows the most about the terrorist organization: the former Cobra Commander's son. I'm very excited to see how this plays out.
The Bad
As a new reader, it was a bit tough to jump on here, even though this seems like a god place to jump onto the series. The little paragraph at the beginning of the issue caught me up to a point, but I felt like as a new reader, I could have used a bit more. Any issue of a comic can be a jump on point for a reader, and while this is the start of a new story, I felt it could have done a little better getting me caught up.
The Verdict
My first dive into this series was worth it, and it had a great pay off in the end. I loved the set-up in this issue for the new story. It flows incredibly well and it's very interesting. Antonio Fuso's art really stands out here, especially the opening with Ronin kicking all sorts of butt. Great opening scene. I loved the new benefactor for this team, and I think it's going to play out extremely well.
On the down side of things, I was a bit confused because I didn't read the first 12 issues. Really, this will only be a problem with new readers and no one else. However, I still think this is a great jumping on point for new readers.
Overall, I highly recommend this issue, and I can't wait to read the first 12 issues to catch up.