Last week, the second half of IDW’s “Infestation” event began. While things are over for the Transformers and Star Trek universes, the assault is just getting started in the worlds of G.I. Joe and Ghostbusters.
“Infestation: G.I. Joe” issue 1 hit stands last week. I’ve never been a particular fan of G.I. Joe. Nothing wrong with it, just not my cup of tea. Having said that, I will say that the artwork was nice and the story was somewhat interesting, and I am curious to see what happens next week. However, I cannot honestly say if this story really captures the style and characterization of the franchise.
The threat to the G.I. Joe universe is once again from the artillica, which is a natural fit given the weapons and technology used by both the Joes and the Cobras. As an animal lover, I’m not entirely thrilled with the fact that the artillica chose the lab animals to turn into attack bots, but it makes for a good story device, and from what little I know of G.I. Joe, animal experiments are something that one would expect from Cobra.
Over in New York City, that’s a different story entirely. As a Ghostbusters fan for over 25 years, I can say that part one of their story, released this week, was great. The humor is just right, and the characterizations are perfect. I can hear each actor in my head saying the words on the page, and that does not always happen with licensed works.
Naturally, the team has to face off against zombies, and that of course helps lead to some great humor. I loved the creative decision of the writer to have all of the “scientists” dance around the word “zombie” and then Winston simply tosses the word out there like they deal with it every day. Plus I think zombie guts give a whole new meaning to the term “slimed.”
Turning the zombie situation into a development that will help them solve another crisis is an interesting twist, and one I was not expecting. The only slight disappointment I had was…wait, perhaps I should not give it away entirely. Let’s just say that they are dealing with more than just the zombies, and it is something familiar, but I think it might have been better if they had made it a new entity. However, I might change my mind with the second half of the story, depending on how they deal with the entity.
G.I. Joe wraps up next week, followed by Ghostbusters the last week of March. If these first issues are any indication, the closing chapters will be great reads. Then, the series wraps the following week with “Infestation” issue 2, where everything should be tied up into a nice neat package. Well, with zombies around, maybe not so neat. I highly recommend the existing issues, and am definitely looking forward to seeing how everything ends.
