It’s time to slither your way into a new era of Cobra and G.I. Joe!
Cobra Commander #1
Joshua Williamson (W)
Andrea Milana (A)
Annalisa Leoni (C)
Skybound/Image
Now, I’m sure you could go back to the couple of pieces I wrote about Skybound’s Void Rivalshttps://biffbampop.com/?s=void+rivals book and read about me poo-pooing our current collective obsession about shared universes (so hot right now!) and use that as a data point to extrapolate how I’m going to feel about this week’s Cobra Commander book…but you’d be wrong.
Admittedly, I didn’t stick with Void Rivals too long, but Daniel Warren John’s Transformers book is currently one of the best I’m reading. So when I had the change to take an advance look at Joshua Williamson and Andrea Milana’s Cobra Commander miniseries, I went for it. I sat down to read the book and then I went right back to the first page and read it again.
At this point, I could get deep into the weeds of spoilers but that’s just lazy, clickbait-y writing and I don’t want to rob you of the experience of reading the book. What I can say is that you are not prepared for how hard this book goes right out of the gate. I mean, I certainly wasn’t.
Going back 40- plus years or so, I tended to skew more towards Transformers. A lot of that had to do with the inherent coolness of giant alien robots that changed into vehicles, which resulted in an immediate lock-on from me. G.I. Joe was also cool but I never had any of those figures until late in the game due to my mom being broadly against “war” toys.
Giant robots fighting in a civil war that’s been going on for millions of years? Totally cool. Star WARS? Aces.
I get it, however. Part of being a parent IS parenting and lines have to be drawn somewhere. With hindsight being what it is, it was the right call to make. Plus, there was a kid on the next street over from mine that got everything he demanded and things…did not turn out well for him.
By now, if you’ve been reading the Energon Universe books from Skybound, you’ve no doubt seen the preview pages for this issue and they almost feel like a bit of clever misdirect considering where the issue ends up going. I haven’t read a lot of G.I. Joe books; in fact my history begins and ends with a smattering of the Marvel titles from way back when, but this is one of the more exiting Joe adjacent offerings that I’ve had the pleasure of reading.
Williamson’s Cobra Commander is at odds with the cartoon depiction that we all remember from way back when. Gone is the bumbling failure that routinely got his ass kicked every week and in his place is a competent and outright menacing villain that just may have what it takes to conquer the world. Circling back to what I wrote up top, the Energon Universe so far has excelled in building excitement for its shared universe and outside of its initial offering in Void Rivals I don’t feel like I’m being beaten over the head with its interconnectivity.
While continuing to be maddeningly vague my reactions while reading the book went from, “Wow, they really went there…” to, “Dammit, I’m going to have to add another book to my pull-list.”
Here’s the blurb:
The COBRA Threat begins HERE. In a world where Cobra doesn’t exist, one man’s sinister plans to utilize the mysterious alien substance known as Energon will send shockwaves across the globe. Who is Cobra Commander? Where does he come from? And what horrors is he planning to unleash that will rock the world – and maybe the universe – to its core?
Cobra Commander #1 is in comic shops Wednesday, January 17! Go and check it out.
