G.I.Joe Sepcial Missions issue 1, by many different people, 2006, Devil's Due Press

Well, Devil's Due is taking that "one shot" approach with their new Special Missions series. This first issue contains 3 stories. The main one involves some of the old Joes getting activated, including Beach Head, Cover Girl, and Tunnel Rat. They don't fight Cobra necessarily, but an old Cobra member shows up, so that kind of counts. The second story is a short one about the Stall brothers, one of whom works for Cobra, and one of whom works for the Joe team. It's really not that interesting, outside of some minor character development. The last story is hilarious, harkening back as it does to the horrible "team-up" toys of the late '80s. And it includes Crystal Ball! The worst villain ever. Total comedy gold. All told, a pretty good book, though the $4.95 price tag is pushing it a little bit.

GI Joe Scarlett Declassified, by Mike O'Sullivan and Phil Noto, 2006, Devil's Due Publishing

Other than that, this book is great. Scarlett hasn't always gotten her due in past Joe stories, and here we get a good, realistic look into what makes Scarlett who she is. We get to see her childhood and her early army experiences, as well as how she meets Destro and thereby gets involved as one of the first GI Joe agents. Not earth-shattering stuff, but thoroughly fun, nonetheless. Good times, and totally worth your $5.

G.I.Joe America's Elite issue 18, by Joe Casey, Josh Medors, and Richard Zalac, 2006, Devil's Due Publishing

As you can probably tell from the cover, it turns out that not is all as it seems. Phoenix Guard is actually a group of Cobra operatives, and they seek to capture classified computer files from Joe computers, as well as freeing a captive who is held in the Rock. Many of their objectives are accomplished, and the big news in this issue is when all of the secrets come to light, the government decides to bring the Joe team back up to full status. Hopefully this means more straight-up action, as opposed to all of the sneaking around that has been this series' forte. I must admit that when this series first started I didn't like it that much. The plot development and writing, however, has proved to be top notch. Definitely good stuff, some of the best the Devil's Due guys have put out.

G.I.Joe: America's Elite issue 22, by Mark Powers, Mike Bear, and Jean-Francois Beaulieu, 2007, Devil's Due Publishing

The current story arc revolves around the Baroness, who is fulfilling the "woman scorned" role and going after anybody who has any connection to her near-death experience at the hands of Cobra Commander. There are many things going on here, but they all revolve in one way or another around the Baroness' quest for revenge. While I sometimes have trouble with stories that have half-a-dozen different story threads running at the same time, I have never had that problem with the G.I.Joe stories. While there are many plot threads, they all end up revolving around the same theme, and they usually come to delicious fruition at just the right time. With that in mind, I am eagerly looking forward to the next few issues in this arc. Will the Baroness get her revenge? Will she get her child back? When will Destro find out the Baroness isn't dead? Inquiring minds want to know!

On the art front, Mike Bear has been handling the duties for a few issues, now. At first I didn't like his style, though I think part of that was the non-standard coloring technique used. Once I got used to it, though, I have come to really like it. It is different from other styles, with less definition to the characters. It works, but I do wish some brighter colors would be used, from time to time. Granted, this is probably because all of the action is taking place in dark rooms and at night, so I really shouldn't complain. Good art and better writing make this a solid series.

Ghost in the Shell, by Masamune Shirow, 1995, Dark Horse Comics

I really liked this book. It has fantastic art (few artists do action scenes as well as Shirow), and the technical designs of all the equipment are excellent. One interesting touch in this book, as compared to other Japanese comics, is the use of color. The first chapter is in full color, and each succeeding chapter begins in color before "fading out," leaving you with the standard black-and-white pages. A nice touch, though people not used to black-and-white comics might be disappointed that they don't continue to use color throughout the book.

If you've seen the Ghost in the Shell movie, then some of the chapters in the comic will be familiar to you. As is usually the case with films based on comics, the movie changed some things, and tied some of the comic chapters in a different way to try to have one long story, rather than a number of unrelated episodes like the comic. The ending of the comic is a little more understated than the movie, too; I liked it better. As is usual for a Shirow work, you've got a lot of subtext to the stories, a lot of which requires repeated readings to really pick up on. The stories themselves are mostly covert ops missions, though, so you can ignore the subtext if you don't care about it. This is definitely one I'm gonna read again at some point.

Ghost In the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface issues 1 and 2 by Masamune Shirow, 2003, Dark Horse Comics

In this series, Motoko is still the star. She now goes by the name Motoko Aramaki, and she seems to be an independent investigator/mercenary/whatever. A very rich one, judging by her multiple bodies, ships, homes, offices, etc. What else differentiates this series from the first one? It is in full color, for one. Second, digital imagery totally infuses the entire story. You have to see it to really understand how much of an impact this has. In fact, I think that all of the coloring is digital, too.

Finally, the story seems much more complex than the stories in the first Ghost in the Shell series. While those stories were about special police operations and the like, it looks like we're dealing with fewer, longer stories this time around. It's hard to really tell just from the first couple issues, but it looks like the storytelling will be even deeper this time. Which is probably a good thing, though I have found that it is taking me longer to read these issues than it does for other comics. There's just so much to digest here. If you are a nerdy intellectual like me, though, you'll probably really enjoy it.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface issue 6, by Masamune Shirow, 2003, Dark Horse Comics

Story-wise, things are very convoluted, with assassinations and brain hacking and all sorts of stuff going on. I get the impression that this thing will make more sense once it has all been published and I can sit down and knock it all out in one or two readings. Having to wait a couple months between issues most of the time, it is easy to forget some of the story details. This specific issue mainly concerns a combat between "Chroma" (one of the main characters cyborg bodies) and some cyborgs out to get her for unknown reasons. That was cool. The balance of the issue is more plot stuff, with shady dealings and the introduction of a seemingly new force. I'd explain more about what it is, but that's all I really know; it shows up in the last 2 pages. If you are interested in this series but didn't get the first few issues, I would recommend tracking those down and starting from the beginning, as this story is very convoluted and probably won't make much sense to you, otherwise.

Grand Gestures, by Robert Ullman, 2003, Alternative Comics

I got this book at SPX mainly because I had $4 left in my wallet and, wouldn't you know it, this book was only $4. And the cover looked interesting. So, with only a quick flip-through, I decided to deep six the rest of my dough and buy the sucker. The story is about three guys, seemingly either recent college grads or upper-classmen, and their issues with women. One guy is a total horndog who will jump any women who lets her guard down. The second guy has a girlfriend that he doesn't really care for, and the third guy can't seem to find first base with a map, if you know what I mean. And so the guys go about life doing their thing. I could tell you everything that happens (the book is only 48 pages), but why would I do that? It's not the destination, it's the journey, right?

Well, maybe if the journey actually took you somewhere. See, the problem I had with this book was that nothing really happened. Here's a case in point. Ken has a girlfriend, Audrey. Problem is, he doesn't really like her. Well, he likes her, but not that much. And she wants him to go on a trip with her and some of her friends, but he doesn't really want to go, so they have a talk, and Ken wusses out and says some lies about how he's stupid and stuff, and she buys it, but he still doesn't go with her on the trip, so they'll probably break-up, but who knows, because the book ended. So after 48 pages for all these guys, nothing changes. They're still doing what they were doing. So what was the story, here? What was the point? If Mr. Ullman just wanted to draw pictures of people he could do that and put out an artbook. Why do a comic if you don't have a story? Or maybe there was a story and I completely missed it. The art was pretty good. The style is a little simplistic, but it works pretty well. The publisher should have used better paper, though; it's all yellow and doesn't look good.

If you want to see some samples from this book, you can visit the artist's website.

Gals! volume 1 by Fujii Mihona, CMX / DC Comics

If you are new to Gals!, however, the basic story revolves around Ran Kotobuki, a teenage girl who lives by the code of the kogal, but with a basic moral code that probably comes from growing up in a family of police officers. Ran's pal Miyu helps her live by the "Gal code," and soon enough beautiful Aya gets dragged into Ran's little group. Please note that not all kogals in Shibuya (the part of Tokyo where Ran hangs out) are as nice as Ran, though. At various times in the book Ran fights with other gals out to take her turf or mack on "her" men.

And the men are pretty funny, which is what really makes the story work well. The two main players, outside of Ran's older brother (who is also Miyu's beau) are Rei Otahata and Aso Yuya. According to teen magazines, these are the two hottest high school guys in all Japan, and through fate/bad luck/kismet/what have you, they end up getting sucked into Ran's vortex and becoming involved in her crazy adventures. The men are pretty well-written, and aren't just window dressing for the girls to hang on to. Overall, this is a well-written and lively piece of work, if you can appreciate the subject matter.

Gun Fu issue 1, by Howard Shum, Dave Sim, and Darryl Young, 2006, Image Comics

Green Arrow: the Longbow Hunters, by Mike Grell, Lurene Haines, and Julia Lacquement, 1989, DC Comics

How? Well, let's just say that the Arrow has some new competition in the Archery department. She isn't opposed to the Arrow, but she isn't his friend, either. There is a nice sub-story going on that the Green Arrow and his lover, Black Canary, get wrapped up in, and the pacing is good and things flow well. There are a couple "only in comics" moments where things work out a little too good, but that's OK. On the art front, things are good. The artist does his own inking, and in fact there isn't that much inking, which is nice. The coloring is used to define things, rather than lots of hard, black lines everywhere. I liked the approach.

In the end, I liked the book. It seemed a little short, but the story was good and the art was good. What more do you want?