REVIEW: Danger Girl/G.I.Joe

Far over an unidentified country, the G.I. JOES are safeguarding an air transport to make sure it reaches its destination safely.  As expected, the JOES are attacked by Cobra. Then 11 pages of plane to plane combat ensue, before Flint and Scarlett are forced down behind enemy lines. As with most military failures, the government looks for someone to poke a finger at, and instead of singling out any one member of the JOES, the President suspends the entire G.I. JOE operation. To make matters worse, Madame President has prohibited the JOES from going after their downed teammates until after an initial investigation has been started. What are the JOES to do?

If you are "Courtney" Cover Girl, you ring up a handsome stranger you met on a C-130 transport some years ago - Jonny Barracuda, International Badass.
It's at this point the two universes collide with one another, as Johnny agrees to get his friend "Courtney" the help she needs in tracking down her missing pals. It's a scene that happens so quickly in the book that little time is given to the Danger Girl side of the crossover. Considering how long was spent on a dogfight it seems odd to jump so quickly into the whole reason for the crossover.  The final page does have reveal that will make you sit up and say, "No Way!" followed quickly by a, "Oh! I see what you did there!"

Andy Hartnell, who has written with J. Scott Campbell, is on board to bring just the right bits of both series together. He does a great job at making sure you know who each character is, which is great for new readers, and readers who may be from one camp or the other. My biggest complaint with the first issue is a large amount of time is spent in the plane to plane combat sequence that downs the JOES and not enough time focused on the Danger Girl team.

I really had to do a triple take while reading this issue to make sure J. Scott Campbell wasn't the artist. John Royle really nails Campbell's style. I don't know if it is easy to mimic this particular style or not to be honest; perhaps one only needs to figure out the J. Scott Campbell eyes, nose, and extremely thin waist on female characters to make it all work.
Though there are some points in the story where everything feels relaxed, the art keeps the story interesting, and the way Royle uses the page to reveal the important moment's works well to keep the reader turning the page.

I've always been a fan of the Danger Girl franchise, and though I still enjoy reading the adventures of Abbey, Sydney, Silicon, Deuce, Johnny and Agent Zero, it's not a title that usually finds its way to the top of my reading stack. I know a lot of people like G.I. JOE, but I've never been enthusiast. That being said, there are some winning and interesting moments that Hartnell and Royle bring that may make me pick up a JOE book in the future. The two properties are merged in a believable way, and I think Danger Girl/G.I. JOE #1 is definitely worth checking out.

3.5  Downed COBRA jets out of 5.

Nic Shaw