G I Joe: A Real American Hero: Beach Head #1 Review

 

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.

The Lost Carnival TP Review

 

Writer: Michael Moreci

Artist: Sas Milledge with Phil Hester

Colorist: David Calderon

Letterer: Steve Wands

Publisher: DC

Price: $16.99

Release Date: May 20, 2020

 

Have you heard? Haly’s circus set up their tents outside Cheyenne, Wyoming! The clowns are selling balloons! I can’t wait to see the lions! We can watch Lotz and his niece Willow perform magic. Wait! First, let’s see the starring attraction: The Flying Graysons! I wonder what it’s like to grow up in a traveling circus. Do you think Dick Grayson enjoys his life as an acrobat? Let's leap and somersault into The Lost Carnival TP and find out!

 

Story

High up in the big top, Dick and his parents swing through the air. Far below, the audience cheers as they watch the family defy gravity. Yet after the show, Haly chews Dick out. How dare he change their established routine with some impromptu moves? The crowd wants to be awed, not horror-struck by an unnecessary death!

 

Like any teen, Dick looks to the future. He wonders what possibilities life might offer him. Despite his abilities, circus life doesn't satisfy him. He doesn't know what he wants, but he needs something more.

 

When Dick talks his friend Willow into attending a party, a chance encounter provides the excitement he hungers for. The townies make fun of a burned Carnie. Luciana, the girl who accompanied him, pulls Quinn away, but the bullies won’t let them leave. When the guys push down Luciana, Dick helps Quinn fight off their attackers. Then Luciana gestures and the bullies start talking funny and fight each other instead of Dick and Quinn.

 

In The Lost Carnival TP, Haly’s Circus faces stiff competition. The performers depend on ticket sales for their livelihood. Yet, soon after they arrive outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, a carnival sets up camp a short walk away. After performing to a sparse crowd, Dick investigates. He discovers exciting new acts and amusement park rides. Dick watches their star attraction, the magician Caliban, performs strange, otherworldly magic. Yet Caliban is not invincible. One of the creatures he summons escapes his spell. Caliban calls on his niece Luciana to help him. Dick uses his acrobatic skills to help Luciana capture them. And so begins the most exciting summer of Dick Grayson’s life.

 

The Lost Carnival TP follows Dick's growing attraction to Luciana. The girl returns his affection. While Dick yearns to leave his old life behind, Luciana remains loyal to her friends. Dick's friendship with Luciana pits him against the crew who support the circus. As he spends more time with Luciana, his friend Willow falls under a strange spell. In Michael Moreci’s story, competition and magic endanger Dick’s heritage and friends. Despite the odds against them, Dick refuses to give up on Luciana. He wants her in his future. Can she ever leave The Lost Carnival?

 

Art

Sas Milledge and Phil Hester imbue The Lost Carnival TP with old-world appeal. Their imagery evokes the illustrations in children's series from half a century ago. Milledge and Hester transport us back to an era when trapeze artists performed without a safety net, and elephants were circus staples. Yet the carnival performers’ attire harkens back decades earlier.

 

Milledge and Hester capture the energy that fuels Dick's incredible abilities. He climbs and leaps about a Ferris wheel like a child at home on the monkey bars of his local park. Dick and Luciana’s mutual attraction is evident. The sky imparts majesty to this enchanting tale, as clouds stream across the sky during the day, and the stars glow at night. Yet, as the dangers to Dick’s friend and heritage mount, he’ll journey to an otherworldly realm, where people walk on ribbons, and the burn that covers half of Quinn’s face seems a minor blemish.

 

David Calderon tones the first chapter of The Lost Carnival TP in blues. Luciana’s magic grows evident when yellow and orange surround her hand. The latter enliven carnival life, and the night Dick and Luciana sneak off for some time alone. Blue occasionally intrudes into yellow and orange scenes, or vice versa. Calderon enhances Dick's otherworldly adventure with green and purple. His limited coloring approach enhances this classic-era adventure's energy, emotions, and storybook appeal.

 

Steve Wands conjures small, lowercase black lettering in white dialogue balloons. Words grow bold for inflection and enlarge as voices rise. Large, colored type provides locations in time and space. Sound effects help us hear Dick drive Willow off to the local's party, an erupting fire, and a bullet blasting through a spinning metal target. Despite their rarity, the sound effects are colorful, vibrant, and energetic.

 

Thanks to DC Comics for providing a copy of The Lost Carnival TP for review.

 

Final Thoughts

As young circus acrobat Dick Grayson looks toward the future, a mysterious girl and a magical carnival endanger his family and friends in The Lost Carnival TP.

 

Rating 8.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.