The Childlike Wonder Of Youth… Evoked In The Most Twisted Way — Reviewing ‘Cobra Commander’ #1

Welcome to the table,

When I was younger, I loved Cobra Commander in the way I assume normal children loved Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. He was a  cartoonish, larger-than-life character who captivated my imagination, alongside other favorite personalities like Skeletor, Hordak, Starscream, and the ever-living and always amazing Mumm-Ra. Cobra Commander had the unique honor of being the most human of all of them though and thus became a subject of endless fascination as that fact made him seem more relatable than the others.

Now, I know full well that there is a vast lore around this character and I was, and probably still am, bringing my brand of childlike wonder to things. This is probably because, at the ripe old age of 8, I don’t think I had much more than dime store novels and Saturday morning cartoons to go off of. To me, in those early years, Cobra Commander was this unapologetic unshakable force of wonder that landed somewhere between Pop Star and God King.

Destro or some other advisor would want to enact a normal plan along the lines of”Send our new super tanks against one of our enemy’s bases.” Cobra Commander would fire back with a plan along the lines of “Let’s kidnap their leaders and make them fight our roided out football barbarian in this giant Area of Sport I built in the mountains!”

The laser-wielding Willy Wonka level of forethought it would take to build a whole Superdome Arena of Sport just in case it was needed is why Cobra Commander is such a great character to me.

All of this is the leadup to me telling you that I loved this new Cobra Commander book. You knew I was going to love it, I knew I was going to love it, and now I’m going to tell you all the reasons why you need to read it because holy hell, this is one of the most enjoyable comics I have read in recent years… and practically nothing of consequence even happens!

The first issue of Image/Skybound’s Cobra Commander could have started anywhere. This is a franchise that has had ninja warriors, toxic monsters, battle android troopers, and a guy who can change is face around pretty much at will. There are space stations, arenas of sport, mountain castles, and jungle strongholds that could serve as set pieces for what is set to be a fantastic story of the leader of the greatest adversary organization known to mankind.

With all of these wonders being an easy pull for this series, it could have started anywhere, and yet, it picks what honestly is the most perfect of places, a hole-in-the-wall dive bar in some snow covered landscape that looks like it could be a shoot location for The Last Alaskans or Ice Road Truckers.

Cobra Commander, in a stylish yet subtle jacket and an Oden-esque (The actual depiction of the traveling god, not the Marvel Comics version) hat wanders in looking for a ride. A local jackass picks on him, and then violent hilarity ensues, mostly off-panel.

The moment takes place over five pages, is brilliantly paced, and honestly took me right back to those Saturday morning feelings of my childhood. In those five pages, the talented team of Joshua Williamson, Andrea Milana, Russ Wooton, and Annalisa Leoni show us exactly why he is the leader of Cobra, worthy of your worry at worst and respect at best. It’s such a perfect tone-setting moment for what I hope is going to be a very long-running series.

And then it gets better! We are treated to a flashback of years past in Cobra-La, the homeland of Cobra and the birthplace of an ancient civilization that once ruled the Earth, but in recent history has retreated from the eyes of mankind to hideaway in a secret cave kingdom in the Himalayas.

Cobra-La is a beautiful set piece as it thrives on organic technologies giving the entire setting this alien and yet somehow familiar feel. Andrea Milana on lines and Annalisa Leoni on colors is nothing short of a perfect paring to capture the strangeness of this place and the people who inhabit it. I would buy a weekly book about Cobra-La if these two stayed on it just to see what kind of fantastic biotech they would come up with.

Once we are caught up with some of the origins of Cobra Commander and why he is at least in some part the way he is, we get some brilliant insight into the expanded Hasbro universe that I wont dive too deep into in this review, but will hopefully get to explore more down the road.

We then flash back to present, encounter a stranger at a rest stop, and find out where Cobra Commander is heading next. The very mention of who he is planning on meeting up with brought a smile to my already grinning face.

Cobra Commander reads like an adventure that I would have had in the backyard of some kid’s house who was trying to convince me that the G.I. Joes were somehow cooler than Cobra. This book feels like every bit of the wonder and imagination that fueled me as a kid has been filtered through a team of talented people and presented on the page for all to enjoy.

Until next time, this book is a ton of fun and I mean that. I am honestly super scared that when it starts to dive into the plot it is going to get messy or lose it’s edge but right now, this first issue is such a killer standout for me and I am hopefully for what comes next.