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G.I. Joe #14 (2024) review



Creators: Joshua Williamson (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Jodie Bellaire (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer)

Story: Cobra Command and Duke continue to run from the horde of Dreadnoks chasing them in a high-speed desert chase.  Duke releases Cobra Commander so that he can help him fight back.  Meanwhile, back at Cobra HQ, Destro begins his takeover and offers Cobra as open for business with many of his former clients while at the Joe base General Hawk reveals he his off to talk with General Flagg about what's going on and wants to be told when Duke checks in.  Through some clever fighting and driving, Duke and Cobra Commander make it to an almost-abandoned town with one tough resident. 

Writing:  Williamson keeps the action going on this issue.  A few pages are devoted to other things but the bulk of the issue is the running chase/battle between Duke with Cobra Commander vs. the Dreadnoks.  Cobra Commander also nicely points out how similar he and Duke are in personalities.  We get to see some classic Destro too, looking to be the arms dealer.

Art:  Reilly does an excellent job with the chase and keeping it going, even working some side-by-side pages that spread the action all out over a bunch of smaller panels.  Then a "two-fer" at the end with Cobra Commander getting his and the introduction of the new character (Dreadnok Road Pig).  All well done.  The colors really work here too.  Reilly puts a lot of oranges and reds, which work for a desert chase scene as the afternoon winds down into the evening.  

Overall: A good second instalment to the Dreadnok War saga that keeps the action going and leaves us wanting to know what happens in the next issue.  We also get a bit of what's going on back at the Cobra and Joe HQ (with hints to the larger EU at play) but it doesn't detract from the main story at all. 


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