You know what I love, as a reviewer and a fan? I love being surprised. And one of the best kind of surprises for someone like me, who reads a lot of books every week, is when a completely new creative team on a book that isn't really one of my favorites just comes in and knocks me on my butt. That's pretty much what happened with G.I. Joe: Frontline, a title that continues to surpass the main title with its quality and which starts off a weekly four-part story this issue that feels in all the important ways like the G.I. Joe that I have such a nostalgic attachment to. Jerwa picks out a fun team of characters, sets up an interesting plot with a couple of twists, and Barrows and Hamscher deliver strong, clear artwork to keep the story moving. This is a good first chapter, and I look forward to seeing the rest of the story, and Brandon Jerwa's run on the main G.I. Joe title.
"History Repeating" is a love letter to the G.I. Joe franchise, with a nod back to continuity from the first ten issues of the G.I. Joe book, but it's also remarkably accessible. You don't need to know that Tyler Wingfield's father was a paramilitary nut who intended to start World War III, or that his mother shot his father during a G.I. Joe operation, to get the story, but if you do, it's a nice little Easter egg. (Although Tyler's age does make you start wondering how old some of the Joes must be now, but that's mostly a nitpick.) Hell, you don't even need to know that much about the G.I. Joe team setup, you just have to grasp the basic idea of military special ops and undercover work to get into the story.
What really impresses me about the story is that it's multi-layered, with a number of characters, but never confusing. Jerwa is playing around with characters who have several levels of loyalty: an undercover G.I. Joe agent, an undercover CIA agent (or is he?), Wingfield's lover who gives off a sense of certain loyalty issues herself (like father, like son in choosing partners, perhaps) and a villainous plot that involves not just the ubiquitous Cobra but a third force guided by a dangerous mercenary type. Despite all of these potential layers, the general flow of the story is very smooth, and it's easy to tell what the characters' goals and motivations are, except when they are purposely being kept in the dark.
Jerwa is a new writer, but artist Eddy Barrows is a new name to me as well. A quick look around the web shows me that he may have done at least one issue of Superboy or another DC book, but it's work that I've missed, so G.I. Joe: Frontline is my first exposure. His work here is very solid, with a straightforward approach that reminds me of someone like Dan Jurgens or Tom Grummett at their best, blending detailed and realistic character work with exciting storytelling. There's great attention to detail on the uniforms, weapons, vehicles and lairs that are a big part of the attraction of G.I. Joe, and his work on a few of the brief action scenes demonstrates a skill with that other important component as well.
In one of his interviews, Jerwa compared the weekly pace of this story to something like Alias or 24, and really, that's the feel I get from the book in general. This is a fast-paced thriller with plot twists and turns, and it certainly grabs the attention from the moment the Captain at McCord AFB's radar station says "Go to red alert. We have a problem" all the way to the end where Wingfield gives G.I. Joe agent "Chuckles"... well, that would be telling. But it's a nail-biter, with more real suspense than the G.I. Joe stories have had so far. As with most of the G.I. Joe books, if you're not a fan of the concept or if an undercover agent code-named "Chuckles" with a penchant for Hawaiian shirts is too goofy for you, this might not work, but those with an affection for G.I. Joe will definitely want to check this story out.
