..............and I have to say I was extremely underwhelmed by the whole storyline. Two double-size issues and at the end you're left thinking "This is it?" There were more dangling plot lines than you could shake a stick at, such as:

What happend to Cobra?
Who is General Rey? (cough, cough Serpentor, cough)
Where's Stormshadow?

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. This whole storyline really reminded me of the whole "Avengers Disassembled" storyline. Both seemed rushed with deaths thrown in for shock value only. In fact, both storylines did nothing more than rush to end a series so they could throw another #1 issue out there. Here's hoping America's Elite is better.

I was also a bit underwhelmed. Hundreds of Red Shadows suddenly appeared 2 mins from lauching armageddon and were suddenly thrown off by four soldiers... rather easilly... About as easilly as cobra was dismantled by a single Chopter attack and several bombs on a sea platform.... Why did't they just do that in Marvel #1?

That was a weak ending, simply to set the pawns for the next series, which will again start with another reinstating of the G.I.Joe team..... And issue 43 never answered some questions I expected it to (Rey, baronness...).

Still, I hope it will be good. I don't want G.I.Joe to go away. But having cobra out of the picture doesn't make it feel like G.I.Joe and shock value doesn't make good storytelling. NOt every issue has to be about cobra, Special Missions and Frontline proved it, but I want cobra to return in full glory and soon.

DD was at its best from issues 5 to 25. Therw was a storyline that could be followed and every plot and sub-plot was tied together. The following issues were also good but it went downhill starting from Wraith and Hawk's injury. They rushed everything way too fast and forgot that not every storyline has to be an epic. Maybe in the next series we will know what the story is about.

Please, bring back Frontline or something in the formula of Special Missions! Much like what Legends of the Dark Knight is to Batman: side stories, imaginary variations (occasionnal only), stories set in the past, present, future(?)... that would be great.

After reading issue #43 I said to myself "so what?" More than anything, in the end, we got more questions than answers. This storyline was over-hyped. Nothing major happened except the death of a certain Joe and the "disappearance" of Cobra, which you know won't take too long for them to resurface. Basically, this could have been just another story. It didn't feel like the end of a series. Hopefully, the new series will be good or else I'll be done with GI Joe.

After reading issue #43, I was already to post a long rant about being utterly disappointed. Seems lots of people have beaten me to the punch:)

As others have said on the boards, its wasn't necessarily a terrible from beginning to end, but it failed to do anything of things the hype said it would do. What's so special about the Red Shadows? Who is General Rey? Destro? Baroness? Crimson Twins?

I am a huge fan of GI Joe, so I will buy any monthly comic that comes close to capturing the characters & story of my youth. I just wish Devil's Due wouldn't promise so much just to give us the same old same old with this "last issue"

I understand that America's Elite is suppose to deal with a "smaller" group of Joes & be more of a Special Ops book. With the exception of adding Greenshirts & the invasion of Cobra Island, it seems DDP has always been focusing on small groups running around like secret agents ala X-Files. What I think would be best would be to direct the book in the direction of the early Marvel series with a regular team of about 25-30 operators. The latest detective style of the book is not to my liking, and from the preview pages of AE I fear that's what we are going to get.

That is one element of the old comic series that made it so addictive, that this one is starting to lose. And that it seems America's Elite is going to totally do away with. Yes, there are too many Joes to name them all, but look at how many factions they are fighting. You can't drop a 6 to 10 man team into a war with 20,000 enemies per enemie regiment and expect them to keep coming out on top. Not to mention, each story line did deal with just a small unit, but it was always a different set of characters than the last story line. That is what kept it interesting... it wasn't always the same people fighting the good fight, but rather different people fighting different aspects of the same war. And the question of, "Who's gonna be next in the field" was always a great reason to check out the next story line.

-Jim

I never realized this ingredient had been missing, but now that you speak about it, I notice it. Practically nobody from the JOEverse that is not one of the regular showed up in the series. They really missed something here.

The JOE cast is vast with multiple characters being capable to fil the same function, so WHY NOT USE THEM! Not every character needs to be develloped but catching them here and there is part of the fun. So many things were going on I just berelly noticed. Well, big boa's corpse showed up.
Oh, there was Gram Slam, we can't complain on this one.

No vehicle showed up either... vehicles are part of G.I.Joe almost as much as the characters. It's like Star Wars without Death Stars, X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Falcons or even Republic Gunships or Star Destroyers. There is something missing.

I always tought of G.I. Joe as a team that can undertake large millitary operations as well as special ops, they aren't Mission Impossible or James Bond or Batman & Familly type.

Dudes, what special ops team has an aircraft carrier at their dispossal? I guess they don't have that luxury anymore in the comics, and won't ever again. Now, at best they have a copter, some motorcycles, some vans and their personnal cars.

This raises serious concerns over what the next series will be. It will turn more and more into a superhero X-Men or whatever style. Ouch... But they can still count me in.

Cobra's vast millitary capabilities were critically defeated by a single copter... I just can't cope with it.... At least in Reloaded it took some massive bombings.

Yuppers! One thing that DDP has not been able to capture at all is Hama's ability to write vehicle battles. Read Marvel issues #8, #25, #28, #34, #36, #54, #68, #80 & you see how vehicles can be as exciting and important as characters. Hama was able to work in the technical talk while also keeping the story moving.

Though I have enjoyed the DDP series (especially Master & Apprentice I), I have always thought the creative teams has just glossed over the specifics of each vehicle & take no frames to develop a battle with them (#41 being the best example!)

Another big fear of mine that has keeps creeping into the new comic is every Joe's amazing ability to operate every vehicle in the Joe line-up. I don't know that much about flying a helicopter, but I understand that not everybody is able to do it. So far, Billy & Snake-Eyes, Budo, & Scarlett (in the AE preview) all jump in the driver's seat. I am worried.

I was kinda disappointed with the last few issues. They seemed to build up or hype up a lot of different things, and then suddenly ended in one issue. I agree with the others on this one; even though I've tried to hold out on this comic for a while...it just doesn't really deliver the good story I'm looking for.

I liked the Devil's Due title when it first started out and its had some good points but the last few issues were really lame especially 43. Even the way they killed Lady Jaye was stupid and anti-climatic. I mean she was a well-known character -- they could of at least had her shot on the battlefield or something heroic instead of gettin shanked in a ditch.


BTW, has anyone read Wanted -- I liked that series alot.

i was kinda disappointed by the holes myself i still onestly have no idea when cobra commander landed in the hospital. I have faith in casey however. I liked wildcats 3.0 and the intimates is just a weird book but enjoyable. i think single or 2, 3 part issue stories is something the comic companies should go back because thise writing for the trades is really annoying.
also i read wanted and liked it alot. what did anyone think of millars mk spidey and the wolverine story going on. oh for those people who are just going to complain about wolvie being in everybook dont post. he is popular deal with it and its all claremonts fault anyway. hahahaha.
is anyone reading the dc minis? all set up a post in the other topic branches but i wanna here peoples opinions.

Yeah, I've been reading Days of Vengeance and the OMAC Project. Identity Crisis was cool and am looking forward to Infinite Crisis. Superman Jim Lee storyline was garbage. Big fan of Y the Last Man. I liked the Wolvie story line. Lately, I've been liking the Ultimate stuff alot better than the regular titles. Also, huge fan of Blade of the Immortal and obviously Berserk :)

hi everybody
I started a other comic forum in the other subject stuff. I just want to hear about other peoples opinions about all of the other books out there. so it is in the other topic section
next week joe #0 comes out and i think chicago is biting the dust since that is where dd is located. :eek:

DISSSSSAAAAPOINTED!!!!!!

All that hype for this new kick butt group and what happens...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!! It was like one of those silly mini-comics that come with the toys. (No offense Larry)

I'm PO'd.:mad::confused:

Oh yeah, If DD gets their act together and come up with a good story and continue the Red Shadows, they WILL make great figures Hasbro!

i'd been defending the DD joe comics for a while, but after this i can't do it anymore. i was so let down by this crap. there are so many unanswered questions and everything was rushed. yes, i understand that jerwa was 'ordered' to do some things, like mentioning that colton is still alive...but come on....overall this was just terrible.

Well, I was just now able to buy issue #43 at one of the local comic shops today. I read all the previous posts & was pretty much geared to hate it. After reading it, I really didn't feel "let down." I actually kind of enjoyed it. Lots of action in it.

I'm kind of glad Tim Seeley is out of the picture as the artist. He did make everyone looked too much alike. I mean all the guys had sideburns & the same jaw structure. I liked Emiliano's work better because he varied peoples' faces. Plus he added a lot more detail in the art.

Anyway, that's my two cents. Hopefully we'll see Cobra Commander back with a vengeance.

Mr Rage

I have defended DDP from the beginning in multiple venues but I feel that they really let me down with this Red Shadows gig. I think the stories can be good (and many have been), and I don't mind some of the deaths (even Lady Jaye's), but I still think that we didn't really need to replace ARAH with a brand new series called "America's Elite." I mean, is the comic based on the '80's GI Joe: ARAH or not? I rest my case. You stick with a good thing or you suffer the consequences--can anyone say "Hey let's shoot Cobra Commander and replace him with an imposter!" or "Let's mutate Cobra Commander into a snake!" But I guess their sales went up, right? Sigh.

The Red Shadows are interesting--but they are far less interesting to me than Cobra, or even Destro's Iron Grenadiers, (who I found to be pretty silly in the '80's). Multiple terrorist threats are fine, but why don't we just focus on fewer characters with good stories and great art? Come on! They've got fantastic characters like Firefly and Zartan to utilize in comic stories. So use them already. There is just too much potential with the older characters to completely relaunch out into a new direction with new characters.

And while I'm still annoyed: Can anyone say loose ends? What about Firefly? What will become of Zartan and the Dreadnoks? Destro, Wraith, Baroness etc? Issue #43 actually left me wondering more about these questions than what horrible things the Red Shadows have been formulating for the last decade (or whatever).

And can we please see Snake-Eyes in his original v1 uniform again just once! (Cover art doesn't count)

Okay.

I'll shut up and keep buying the books as they come out. I know everyone here has their own opinion on this, too (and probably not in complete agreement with mine).

I'll just keep my fingers crossed and wait to see what happens next.

And can we please see Snake-Eyes in his original v1 uniform again just once! (Cover art doesn't count)

See issue #20, pages 3 and 4. A slightly modified version, but the v1 uniform all the same. :D

-Jim

I found the issue to be entertaining. I hate when they kill off characters I like. I found the whole series to be great. I hope Gijoe Elite is just as good or better.