Gary Collinson reviews G.I. Joe: The Cobra Files #6…
“After being captured by the enemy and seeing the team’s mission fall apart, FLINT’s faith in his leadership abilities has been shaken. Can FLINT keep things together and help the team get past their mistakes… or have the cracks begun to show?“
Last month The Cobra Files took a break from its main story arc to delve into the backstory of Clockspring, a lowly Fobbit who’s gradually been pushed towards the edge of his sanity by the manipulative Cobra defector Tomax, and with issue #6 it’s the turn of the Joes’ field commander Flint, a character who – along with Clockspring – looks set to be an integral part of the next major arc.
Flint has always been one of my favourite Joes, but the version of the character here in The Cobra Files is far removed from his A Real American Hero portrayal, and not just because this is an entirely new continuity. As leader of G.I. Joe’s super top secret black ops team, he’s found himself sucked deep into the murky world of his enemies, and the cracks have been showing for several issues now. He’s taking risks, making mistakes, and putting himself, his team and the entire G.I. Joe operation at risk – and that’s before we get to his nocturnal activities with former Cobra agent Chameleon. By the end of this issue, Flint has finally come to admit that the entire operation is doomed to failure, but we’re left with an ominous feeling that things are soon set to go from bad to worse.
While I wasn’t overly impressed by Werther Dell’edra’s art in the previous issue, he does a solid enough job here and it definitely blends in well with the look established by regular artist Antonio Fuso. But for me, it’s the writing that makes The Cobra Files and this issue is no exception, with Mike Costa continuing the fantastic slow-build towards the next story arc, which has been simmering away in the background from the very first issue. My expectations for ‘The House Always Wins’ are high and I can’t wait to see how this storyline plays out…
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.