Broken Frontier

G.I Joe and the Autobots team up against Cobra, unaware that a new threat is rising – one with ties to both Earth and Cybertron…

Picking up where the two previous Devil’s Due crossover miniseries left off, G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers: The Art of War opens with relative peace reigning on Cybertron, the Decepticons defeated and safely in the hands of G.I. Joe, and the Autobots on the way to pick of the pieces. Naturally, that doesn’t last for long as Cobra, armed with Cybertronian equipment, shows up for an all-out assault on the current G.I. Joe headquarters. Little do the Joes and Autobots suspect, the attack is merely a smokescreen, as a strike team consisting of Cobra Commander, Zartan and Zarana infiltrate a government research facility located below the battle. Their goal? To liberate Serpent O.R., a microfilament super computer housed in bio-organic humanoid form and possessing the combined tactics of history’s greatest conquerors.

While Marvel’s old Joe/TF crossovers occurred in a somewhat nebulous continuity, Devil’s Due started a separate "reality" for theirs. After two previous miniseries, this shared universe has begun to amass its own continuity that is concisely covered on the title page. Writer Tim Seeley hits the ground running and while he does not spend any time introducing the cast, they are iconic and distinct enough for readers to quickly understand what role they play (Hawk is the leader, Mainframe’s the computer guy, Perceptor is the scientist and so on). With the introduction of Serpent O.R., Seeley has re-created a villain with an origin similar enough to the source material to be recognizable, but now cleverly tied to both franchises. As the story progresses, Seeley offers a few quick fun scenes that are sure to please fans of both lines, including a teaming between Scarlet and Arcee (the two "girl" characters in these "boys" lines). Poor old Bumblebee is also quickly incapacitated, in what just might be a sly nod to the character’s poor track record back in the Marvel crossover. Overall, Seeley knows the audience he’s writing for – this comic won’t win any awards or move the art form forward, but provides a fun setup for Transformer or G.I. Joe fans.

Joe Ng’s pencils make for a good fit with the series concept. Just as The Art of War combines elements of G.I. Joe and Transformers, his pencils find an appropriate middle ground between North American and Japanese comic art. Ng keeps the characters true to their most iconic forms, while offering twists that are reminiscent of the younger, more modern interpretations in G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 or Transformers: Armada/Energon. The resulting pages are fun, fluid and should have something to appeal to any generation of Joe or TF fan.

G.I. Joe vs. Transformers: The Art of War #1 will not be a comic for every comic reader. It does however deliver a story that should appeal to fans of G.I. Joe and the Transformers, blending the two properties in a fun adventure.