After an impressive start, the creative team of the weekly "History Repeating" stumbles a little on chapter two, losing some of the storytelling clarity that I appreciated in the first chapter and coming to something of an anti-climactic ending, rather than continuing on with the cliffhanger tradition that I was hoping would continue throughout the weekly installments. That said, this is still an intriguing story that Joe fans will probably like, especially those who are fans of the five characters starring in this mission, as there's some fun characterization and some solid action. Jerwa tips his hand a little too early, but the escape of one of the villains means that all the cards aren't on the table just yet, and I'm still hopeful for a more exciting last two parts of the weekly story.
Given that the clarity of storytelling was one of the selling points of the Jerwa/Barrows collaboration, I was disappointed to find that this issue opens with a big action scene that is anything but clear. In trying to convey the chaos of a car ramming into the midst of a tense situation and a gunfight breaking out, Barrows completely loses focus, and the result is a frenetic mess that eventually becomes clear but which takes a good couple of read-throughs to really follow. Some of his choices of "camera angle" are also quite strange, both here and later, as we're given close-ups where a longer shot might have established more, or (in the case of someone handing the kidnapped doctor a gun) a scene is shot from a strange angle so that only those who are really, really paying attention will figure out who the characters were just talking to. This is a shame, because in general, I still find Barrows's work to be pretty good. His detailed work on the Cobra troops looks great, the countdown sequence that cuts between three different sets of events is very clever and the splash page of Flash's successful intervention in the missile launch is a great climactic moment.
Which brings me to one of the other failings of the issue, at least from my point-of-view. This story started out as a sort of suspense story about hijacked biological weapons, undercover agents and terrorist organizations, but given the complexity that Jerwa set up so effectively in the first issue, I was surprised and disappointed to see that he wrapped it all up pretty quickly in just one issue as well. Sure, one of the villains has escaped and will no doubt make for an exciting two-parter to finish out the weekly run, but I was hoping for a series of cliffhangers ala Alias or 24 rather than what amounts to two tentatively linked two-part stories. Jerwa tips his hand on the woman working with Wingfield, the true nature of the CIA's involvement and the plans that Wingfield has for the chemical weapons, way too soon. It's admirable that he's able to bring all this stuff to a boil so quickly and yet so effectively, but this is one of those cases where a longer plot line with more complications seemed in order.
Nevertheless, the same solid characterization that I liked in the first part of this story continues throughout the second part. I'm particularly pleased that Jerwa has made Chuckles into such a cool character, summing up exactly how brave he is in doing his undercover work as well as just having him act like someone smart enough and quick enough on his feet to keep up with undercover work. There are also great moments for Flash, a founding Joe who has been an also-ran besides flashier characters like Stalker, Hawk, Snake-Eyes and Scarlett, and I like the development of Tyler Wingfield as a dangerous but smart crazy not unlike his father.
Though this issue brought with it some disappointments, I'm still eager to see the rest of the story play out and to see what direction Jerwa will take the main title. Some of the confusing layouts and rushed pacing that has plagued the main G.I. Joe series makes its way into Frontline with this issue, but there's still a pretty high level of quality and plenty of potential, and that combined with the strong opener will bring me back for more.
