G.I.Joe: Hearts & Minds #1 is certainly an interesting read, albeit a short one. In this new series from IDW, writer Max Brooks who is known for his best-selling novel, ‘World War Z’ has taken characters from the G.I.Joe Universe and given us a glimpse of their past lives that have influenced them to become the characters we know today. In this first issue we get a look at Major Bludd and Spirit.

For Bludd we get to see that family played a large part of who he is today, and aspects of his life outside of Cobra are revealed that I would have never imagined for such a character as the Major, which honestly as I write this review I am mixed on whether that is a good thing or not?

I am conflicted because these new elements certainly add more dimension to these characters and make for interesting reading, in fact they leave you wanting more since the stories are very short. On the other hand I somewhat get the feel that Max Brooks is taking fairly well known characters that already have a lot of established history, and re-writing history as such to mold the characters into how he sees them, as opposed to how the fandom sees them. After some thought, I have decided that good writing, and anything that makes you take a greater interest in these characters is likely more of a good thing than bad, though again I wish more time, or more specifically more pages were dedicated to these stories as I would like to see more. Perhaps instead of dividing the issue up between two different characters they should dedicate a whole issue.

The Spirit story is also interesting, though the revelations revealed in it aren’t quit as surprising. Again the basis of the story is very good, but there just weren’t enough pages dedicated to it to go into as much detail as I would have liked. Seeing the two sides of Spirit and how he faces the different aspects of his Indian heritage and the life he has chosen in the white man’s military is certainly an interesting take, but one that needs more time devoted to it. I can only hope that the storylines that began in this issue are picked up in more detail somewhere down the road.

As for the art in this issue, I enjoyed Howard Chaykin’s work on the Bludd story a bit more than I did for Antonio Fuso’s on the Spirit one. Both artists manage to do a fair job, but I thought the details and facial expressions on some of the characters in the Spirit story felt a little rushed at times.
If you are interested in seeing little snippets from the lives of these characters in the G.I.Joe Universe that might make you go hmmm, then this is a title you will definitely want to check out. However if you are looking for in-depth character background, then you may find this title a little lacking.


Writer: Max Brooks
Artist: Howard Chaykin, Antonio Fuso
Publisher: IDW
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale: 05/26/10