Bombstrike’s mission wraps up, but are all the Joes coming home? Your Major Spoilers review of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Silent Option #4 awaits!

G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO – SILENT OPTION #4

Writer: Larry Hama/Ryan Ferrier
Penciler: Netho Diaz/Kenneth Loh
Inker: Jagdish Kumar
Colorist: Vinicius Townsend
Letterer: Neil Uyetake
Editor: Tom Waltz
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: March 13, 2019

Previously in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Silent Option: The mission is off the books and off the hook for Bombstrike and her covert team of G.I. JOE special operators (including new Snake Eyes, Dawn Moreno) as they battle human traffickers that have taken the enigmatic Agent Helix hostage.

THE SECRETS OF AGENT HELIX

It’s a desperate race as this issue opens, with Bombstrike, Snake-Eyes and Agent Helix racing down the New Jersey Turnpike (in a dump truck) to stop a terrorist squad from assassinating Helix’ parents. They are remarkably savvy, with a solar-powered panic room, but a joint Cobra/Darklonian squad figures out where they’re hiding soon enough, just in time for a big fire-fight! Helix makes short work of ninjas, with a little help from her own ninja friend and Bombstrike’s heavy artillery (and, of course, a healthy dose of Larry Hama’s terse combat dialogue.) When the tide turns, though, the bad guy alliance crumbles, with Firefly delivering a disturbingly graphic shot to the face of Ilsa, leaving our trio to clean up what mess they can. Helix even saves Ilsa’s life with a makeshift tracheostomy, and Mama and Papa Helix are even skilled enough to cover tracks with the police, hiding the Joe team’s involvement. Our backup story finally fills in some of the background on Agent Helix, including how she ended up with “Bob and Carla” in the suburbs in the first place, a question that I’ve been wondering about…

SHE’S HAD AN ACTION FIGURE FOR YEARS NOW

Take it from a kid who was there back in ’82, half the fun of G.I. Joe came in the filecards with their biography and backstory of each character and how they came to be, and this mini has been like a four-issue filecard for Helix. It also serves as a vehicle for Hama and Diaz to really open ‘er up, metaphorically speaking, with a battle sequence that takes up much of the issue. The distinctive dialogue keeps it from being “just another fight scene” and Diaz has a flair for drawing ninja combat and firefights, especially in the use of the new Snake-Eyes. The IDW RAH books are considered a continuation of the Marvel continuity from my youth, and Hama hasn’t lost a step in his methodical plotting, making for an exciting issue and some unexpectedly touching moments as we learn about Helix’ life in the suburbs.

BOTTOM LINE: I WANT MORE HELIX (AND SNAKE-EYES)

I haven’t been following this miniseries since (I think) the first issue, but G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Silent Option #4 works not only as a climax to the action but as a solid, stand-alone issue with solid art in both stories and a lot of much-appreciated background for the new cool-looking undercover Joe, earning a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars overall. It’s a good reminder of why this property has lasted so long: Talented creators working on an ever-expanding cast of fascinating characters.

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