Yo Joe! Classic Volume 2.

We should just go ahead and do a G.I. Joe week/month.

I was WAY too into G.I. Joe when I was a kid; I watched the cartoons, had the action figures and read the comics. So I pretty excited when I got G.I. Joe Classic Volume 2 in the mail last week and it took me about three nights to rip through the thing, and I had to force myself to slow down to try not to read it all in one night. I was excited because while I was reading the first trade, I realized that I have about half of the issues that were collected in that book. In Volume 2, I think I have one issue. So it was a pretty fun read, and it covered a lot of holes because I have roughly 95% of issues #20-60 that will be collected in the next four trades. So it was good to bone up on the series and fill in a lot of the gaps that I had missed.

Issues #11-20 are still pretty rough around the edges, but they are not a rough as the first 10 issues. Larry Hama finally gets a story arc introduced into the series, and it is a rather long one; it lasts for most of the trade. There are repercussions of this run that lead into the next 10+ issues. This major arc ends with issue #19, and I found issue #20 very interesting, and not because it was a good issue. It was interesting because it's basically a throw-away story that does nothing to sum up the events from the last seven or so issues and does nothing to set up issue #21, which is easily one of the best issues of the series. I have a beat-up copy of the silent issue and it starts out with Storm Shadow delivering Scarlett to Cobra Commander. I always figured that she was kidnapped in issue #20, and in reading the series in order, there seems to be a lot of one-shot issues thrown in. I don't know if that was because the creative team was adjusting to producing a monthly book, but it is kind of jarring to really get into the series because it had an intense story-arc and then read an issue that basically has no importance whatsoever. Issue #21 itself is pretty much a throw-away story as well, but it's an excellent issue and it has ramifications that effect the series for a long time.

As I said before, I hope they are going to be reprinting the entire series, it would be a shame if they just stopped where Marvel did with the fifth trade; I want the whole series. I've always had a fondness for the series, like a lot guys my age do; it's a fun, strange and goofy series, and I really wish I hadn't dropped it all those years ago. But now I guess I can just continue to support IDW's effort to get it back into circulation. Seriously, pick these up if you have the money/chance, you won't be disappointed.