Review: Recon With ‘G.I. Joe’ #10

Cover A by artist Chris Evenhuis is arguably the most visually appealing cover. At least in terms of its design, and the clean line work. However, Cover B by artist Freddie E. Williams II and colorist Jeremy Colwell is also engaging. Mainly this is due to how characters are displaying actions that suggest an adventurous tale. Also the art and colors create a pathway drawing the eye to Dr. Mindbender (real name Moti Maurya). Unfortunately the Retailer Incentive Cover is just sort of there to exist. This is despite the relatively high quality skills of artist Davide Tinto and colorist Brittany Peer.

Writer Paul Allor provides a script that causes the narrative to feel short and too tight. The shortness is mostly due to how the pages Evenhuis draws are easy to mentally digest visuals. While the plot and limiting of locales are the reasons for the tightness. However, the characterization is exemplary due in part to this minimalism. The other part is cause of Allor and Evenhuis being a good combination to have on a creative team. Their work on this issue, and their previous work on past issues, suggests that both greatly understand this visual medium.

Brittany Peer’s choice of color palette is arguably better on the Retailer Incentive Cover than the interiors. With the cover Peer uses selects hues that create a more natural type of lighting. While the interiors use a lot of unnatural feeling hues, particularly a lot of greens. Nevertheless, both palettes Peer uses create the proper atmospheres for their locales. Also the lettering by letterer Neil Uyetake slightly distracts from this suggestion of unnatural lighting. Though Uyetake does have to use more care when positioning some bits of text due to some visuals. In conclusion this issue is either going to be a hit or a miss depending on the person reading it.