Writer & Penciler: Phil Hester
Inker: Travis Hymel
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Cover Artists: Phil Hester & Lee Loughridge; Jorge Fornés; Jimbo Salgado; Peter Smith; Sajad Shah; Tiago Da Silva; Karen S Darboe
Editor: Alex Antone
Publication Design: Jillian Crab
Creative Consultant: Diana Davis
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 2, 2025
While a girl tends to a pigeon coup, her younger brother plays with his slingshot. A helicopter clipping a nearby roof grabs their attention. They see soldiers tumble through the air as the helicopter spins out of control. After the men crash on the roof of their apartment building, the two Cobra troopers batter a man in a torn uniform. What do the children think of the armored soldiers beating the prisoner with bound hands? Who is the green-clad man hiding his features behind a balaclava? Let’s grab our weapons, leap into G I Joe: A Real American Hero: Beach Head #1, and find out!
Story
Amid the fighting, the green-clad soldier manages to get his bound hands in front of him. He charges the nearest trooper. The boy shouts when the other Cobra soldier raises his gun. The prisoner grabs the trooper’s neck with his bound hands and uses him as a shield. Then, the balaclava-wearing man dives behind a chimney on the tower block roof. The surviving Cobra soldier, enraged at being tricked into shooting his comrade, grabs the boy and holds a gun to his head. Will the man escape and allow the boy to die? Or will he sacrifice himself to save the kid who saved him?
In G I Joe: A Real American Hero: Beach Head #1, the abandoned children inhabit a warzone. The girl tries to call the shots. With his world torn apart by war, the boy reaches for weapons, eager to join the fighting. His sister knows the costs of war. She struggles to keep him in check and protect her brother from his instincts.
Phil Hester's unlettered story shows how people forge connections even in the worst times. It's a reminder that war strips away the necessities and comforts we rely on and often take for granted. Those who live on a farm or in small towns may be more insulated from the devastation and limited resources. But when war ravages cities, every day becomes a struggle to survive.
Art
Phil Hester and Travis Hymel show the girl behind the metal mesh fronting the pigeon coup. The damaged buildings leave rubble strewn among the fallen bodies in G I Joe: A Real American Hero: Beach Head #1. Chucks of a damaged structure fill the air as the helicopter careers above the city. Smoke from the broken helicopter joins the trails of smoke rising from the buildings. The boy smiles, and the girl's mouth drops as they watch the fighting soldiers become silhouettes. An effective deployment of white space challenges the reader to follow the snow-bound action.
Lee Loughridge contributes muted colors that enhance the bleak urban warzone in G I Joe: A Real American Hero: Beach Head #1. The perspective changes along with the layouts. Red links the girl's headband, a First Aid box, and Beach Head's bleeding leg with a beige portrait showing a woman wearing a stethoscope. Yet it also links the Cobra symbol with an object that could benefit the children more than the scraps of food in their house or the guns strapped to the fallen soldiers in the streets. A panel becomes a montage, symbolizing the girl's silent mission to protect those she cares about. Thanks to Image Comics, Skybound, and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
G I Joe: A Real American Hero: Beach Head #1 shows how war pits some people against each other and brings others together. Beach Head rises as a beacon in a city darkened by war. His adventure is not a silent mission with tactics and objectives. Instead, this mission of the heart reminds us we never know our limits until we push against them.
Rating 9.5/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
No comments:
Post a Comment