Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow #19 is the next chapter of the "Target: Snake Eyes" storyline running through this title as well as G.I. Joe. To catch you up quickly, while falsely being believed to be dead, Snake Eyes returned to his clan, the Arashikage. Upon discovering he was very much alive, the Joes think he abandoned them and Storm Shadow believed his sword-brother to have truly rejoined him and their clan. The events of the last issue as well as this one call both of those notions into question.
Chuck Dixon has proven himself capable of handling the G.I. Joe franchise for IDW Publishing. Here however, there are several bits of the overall story tied together that don't mesh well. The ending set up something we should have gotten in this issue. Scarlett stating that she believes Snake Eyes is working deep cover and Helix's progress on the tail of the silent ninja are the only redeeming elements of the issue.
Alex Cal and Romulo Fajardo Jr., artist and colorist, respectively, give the book a look that resembles the work of Mike Deodato Jr. That aspect fits this title because it is about two of the most popular ninja in fiction and their clan. There's a lot of secrecy involved, so the use of shadows is fitting. Beyond that, there aren't many remarkable visuals.
I recommend staying away from this issue. You won't miss a beat by skipping this book. My primary complaint is that it doesn't add much to the crossover. For a book about two highly-efficient ninja, this book doesn't work well. Each issue of a story may not have complete focus on the main character, and there's nothing wrong with that. But in those cases, the books tend to add significant elements to the overall story. So pick this up at your own risk.
Dixon hasn't proven himself with G.I. Joe at all. Dixon ruined this whole series with such Mary Sue characters like Agent Helix, killing off characters before we even start to like or hate them. Snake and Scarlett hardly having any interaction, she became nothing more than a background character though half the series, they’ve barely teamed-up, they’ve hardly spend any time with each other. Some of the covers have been pretty misleading when it not only comes to their relationship but to the whole storyline.
ReplyDeleteIn Vol. 2, issue #13, it showed that Snake Eyes left Scarlett and the team… again… Chuck Dixon is just writing a dumb uninteresting love triangle, as if the storyline needed another one, it came out of nowhere and it makes no sense. This doesn’t really say a whole lot for Scarlett as a female character if she’s won over this easily. Dixon has failed to explain why G.I. Joe and Scarlett are going after Snake since he hasn’t done anything wrong. Scarlett wants payback? Revenge?? For what!?!?!? What did Snake do that was so bad????? And now she thinks he's working undercover.... give me the RAH Scarlett from Larry Hama any day!!!
Dixon shows Snake Eyes just being a one-note heartless superhuman Ninja killing machine. People like Larry Hama know better. He gave him character development, depth, emotion and that was seen when he was around Scarlett and not that blonde Mary Sue…
Dixon's Joe work has not been without its flaws, but I've enjoyed it for the most part. I definitely don't recommend this issue though. I don't recall at the moment what issue it was, but the Joes said something about Snakes going back to the Arashikage and having Joe secrets or something like that. But Scarlett's angle was just finding just for the sake of it I believe.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually still working on my ARAH back issue collection. I never really read any of it until they started it back up. The continuation has had its ups and downs.
Of the Joe titles running right now, I prefer what Costa is doing with Cobra. But nothing will really matter when they re-boot the franchise...again. I know Fred Van Lente will be writing at least one of the three titles.