Well, that's what I get out of it, at least. It's a double agent/espionage book featuring Hawaiian shirt afficienado Chuckles infiltrating Cobra. How in the hell does that work?

Pretty well, I'd say. Sims has been talking this book up a bit, and since I buy pretty much anything he reccomends (well, except for Sabrina), I decided to give it a look. It's first G.I. Joe comic I've bought since picking up a ragged copy of the famous "Silent Interlude" issue from the Larry Hama days on ebay. I generally make it a rule to not buy '80s toy comics, despite having some fondness for the properties, because I just don't want to go there. But a GI Joe version of Sleeper was just too much of a novelty to pass up.

Thankfully, it lives up to Sims' hype. I wasn't surprised, since Christos Gage is co-writing it. I haven't read all of the man's work, but what I have has been rock solid, and this has been no different. It's very much in the Sleeper vein of being a tense espionage/noir story set in a world where something as ridiculous as Cobra exists and is a huge threat. Chuckles is an engaging protagonist, and it's going to be interesting to see how he'll deal with the inevitable moral dilemmas as he gets deeper in the mission (he does go through a tough one in the second issue). Antonio Fuso's art is appropriately gritty, and Chris Chuckry's color palette fits the tone of the book perfectly.

Beyond that, well, it's a GI Joe comic with a scene that takes place in a strip club. Never thought I'd see that. Also, it has Baroness without her glasses, so that's something. Full dislcosure; Jinx is a supporting character, and since she shares my mom's name, she's always been a favorite, so that may be throwing my critical equilibrium off a bit (well, beyond how usually skewed it is). That said, if the high concept I threw out in the title of the post appeals to you at all, give it a look. It's $4 a pop, but that's quickly becoming the industry standard, and the IDW comics at least always have nice production values and stick the ads in the back. The second issue also has news that Bob Fingerman's apparently doing his take on Fallout for them, so that's another selling point.