BETTER

This series got off to a damned shaky start. The first issue was bland, tired, and more than a little derivative. But as the book has progressed, each issue has gotten a little better. Issue five continues that trend.

SNAKE EYES: DECLASSIFIED #5
Written by Brandon Jerwa and Drawn by Emiliano Santalucia
Published by Devil’s Due

The credits page in each issue has been offering up a nod to the story being based upon the work of Larry Hama (in the original Marvel series), and that’s never been truer than in this installment. For those of us who were diehard JOE fans as a kid, we finally get the expanded version of the death of the Hard Master and Snake Eyes’ falling out with Storm Shadow and leaving behind his ninja training. Even though you know (if you were there the first time around) how it all plays out in the basic sense, Jerwa still manages to create a sense of tension, which genuinely surprised me.

What really gets you is how well Jerwa manages to tie together other elements, such as the real beginnings of what Cobra was meant to be. If the whopper of a reveal late in the story was covered in the classic series, it was after I stopped reading. On the surface, it seemed like a bit of a stretch, but after I mulled it over, I found that it worked for me, and fit perfectly with the soap opera underpinnings that G.I.JOE has always been constructed upon.

Unlike ORIGIN, another series that laid bare the background of a beloved character, DECLASSIFIED has played things a lot closer to the vest and been much more involved in delivering what the fans would want and be expecting. I wasn’t sure this would ultimately be the case, but the creative team has really come through with solid work. Throw in an outstanding cover, and this makes for a very good comic.

/Mason