The ‘Dreadnok War’ arc of G.I. Joe has managed to pack plenty of action, character development and intrigue into its pages, but G.I. Joe #17 proves the old adage that you should always save the best for last. After the events of G.I. Joe #16, the Dreadnoks seemingly have Cobra Commander cornered…only for him to wreak bloody havoc upon them, and offer them a deal they can’t possibly refuse. Meanwhile, Duke reunites with G.I. Joe, leading to a battle with the Dreadnoks that forever changes the team’s dynamic.
You might be asking, “What’s this big change?” For anyone who’s been following the series prior to ‘Dreadnok War,’ G.I. Joe has introduced the Autobot Hound, who’s struck up an odd friendship with Duke’s fellow G.I. Joe and close friend Clutch. Those readers will also remember that Duke’s long held a distrust of the Transformers since Starscream killed another one of his comrades in battle. Joshua Williamson does a great job of building up to Hound’s eventual reveal and handling its fallout as well. You can sense that things have fundamentally changed between Duke and Clutch, not to mention the battle between G.I. Joe and Cobra.
Williamson’s script also gives Tom Reilly plenty of moments to deliver incredible artwork, and Reilly more than delivers. A massive shootout between the Joes and the Dreadnoks is split into four different segments: a split screen of Duke and the Dreadnoks bellowing out commands, a massive panel of both armies rushing into battle, a series of panels with plenty of gunfire and bloodshed to fill two issues’ worth of story, and finally a sequence of Hound transforming, leading to an incredible splash page where the Autobot slams his fist into the ground and sends Dreadnok flying.
This is far from the only standout moment, as Reilly opens the issue with a page that criss-crosses between the Dreadnoks stumbling around in a cave and Cobra Commander picking them off one by one. It pops thanks to Jordie Bellaire’s coloring, which keeps the Dreadnok panels in regular colors before shifting to a bright blood red for the Cobra Commander ones. While Reilly manages to keep the more grisly parts out of the screen, that red hue implies that the Commander’s shed plenty of blood – and so does the gore-soaked chainsaw that he’s attached to his stump of a hand.
If that wasn’t enough, G.I. Joe #17 ends with a massive reveal that completely reshapes how fans will look at the series. You’ll have to pick up the book and see for yourself what this reveal is, but it brings in a G.I. Joe character that fans have been wanting to see in the comic for a long time, and it indicates that Willliamson and Reilly are about to put the Joes through yet another upheaval – and considering that Hound’s reveal already fractured the bedrock of their team dynamic, this could completely shatter it.
G.I. Joe #17 brings the Dreadnok War to an end, while also fundamentally shaking the series to its core. So many comic storylines promise that “nothing will be the same” by the time they end, but this is one of the few times where it actually happens!
