G.I. Joe: America's Elite: Disavowed #2

Every patriot's favorite team of elite soldiers is on the hunt for their fallen teammate in an exciting new adventure. G.I. Joe America's Elite Disavowed: The Ties That Bind is about the Joes' ability to cope with the loss of their greatest teammate, Sanke-Eyes, and what they do when his body goes missing. The G.I. Joe America's Elite Disavowed run is IDW's collection of the Devil's Due G.I. Joe America's Elite run. G.I. Joe America's Elite Disavowed: The Ties That Bind is an exciting adventure with a great story, a cast of characters, and amazing artwork.

Story

G.I. Joe America's Elite Disavowed: The Ties That Bind picks up where G.I. Joe America's Elite Disavowed: America's Newest War left of Scarlett has been captured by Destro and the Joes have to save her. Snake-Eyes sacrifices himself to save Scarlett and the Joes. While the team mourns the loss of their fallen ally Snake-Eyes' body is stolen. The Joes then start searching for Snake-Eyes to figure out what happened to him. The Joes go from stopping Major Bludd from killing Vice-President Dick Cheney to being captured by the Red Shadows in their journey to find Snake-Eyes. Meanwhile. Duke is a prisoner of Colenal Calvin, a Crimson Guardsman, and he must stop Calvin from starting a nuclear war. The Red Shadows has Snake-Eyes and they brainwash him into being their assassin. All the while the Cobra Commander is advising President George W. Bush and planning World War III. What I really liked about this is that it has a death of Superman feel to it, you have the Joes mourning Snake-Eyes in the same way the Justice League mourned Superman. Each member had their own ways of coping with their loss, and Snake-Eyes' death hit some members harder than others. I will say the impact of death is ruined by Snake-Eyes not actually being dead, then again that happens too much in comics.

Characters

G.I. Joe America's Elite Disavowed: The Ties That Bind has a good character cast and in this situation, the characters are truly fleshed out. The toll that Snake-Eyes takes on the team is placed on full display. Scarlett is the most affected by Snake's death because they were romantically involved. We see her go through various forms of grieving from depression to anger and denial. Storm Shadow has survivor's guilt over what happened because he was ex-COBRA and believes he was more deserving of death. Kamakura is in a straight stage of denial because Snake-Eyes was his mentor. Flint tries to keep everyone together and comfort the team. Roadblock, Shipwreck, and Stalker are shown as being saddened by the death of Snake. Flint makes a concerted effort to comfort Scarlett given that he's undergoing a similar phase with the death of his wife Lady Jaye. While we see the team in a dark time, we still see them being badasses. Scarlett frees herself from Destro's captivity and is reunited with Roadblock and Flint. Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow are showcased as being master assassins and work well as a team when they are a team. We also see how well Storm Shadow knows Snake-Eyes. When the team learns that Sanke's alive, Storm Shadow threatens Scarlett in order to undo the brainwashing Snake-Eyes underwent. Duke is the Captain America archetype, he's the patriotic hero who always tries to see the good in everyone. This is shown while Duke's in captivity as captivity and he empathizes with Calvin and tries to talk him out of waging a nuclear war. Duke like Scarlett frees himself in a badass fashion. Joseph Colton is the Nick Fury type, whose main concern is stopping the bad guys. The villains are also great. Destro is shown as being a megalomaniac with a soft spot for his son, Laird Destro. Major Bludd is a skilled assassin who loves his job, so long as it is not foiled by the likes of Storm Shadow. Calvin is actually an interesting character for a goon, he was once a businessman who felt betrayed by his country and that's why he joined COBRA. Cobra Commander is the typical behind-the-scenes mastermind that he's always been, but this time he schemed inside the White House as Chief-of-Staff Garrett Freedlowe (I guess in the G.I. Joe universe Bush fired Karl Rove). The point being Joe Casey did a great job with the characters.

Artwork

The artwork throughout the book the artwork is great. Stefano Caselli does most of the artwork in this collection, and his character designs are great. Roadblock looks just like the Rock (this was written before G.I. Joe's Retaliation). Duke looks like he could pass off as Captain America and Scarlett looks like she could pass off as Black Widow. I loved Caselli's design for an Arashikage. That being said when the artist changes it's very noticeable. For one, Snake-Eyes' visor changes when the artist changes. Also, the understudy artwork isn't as good as Caselli's. It's okay artwork and the characters still look good, I just prefer Caselli's. Nelson Blake II in particular stands out as a strong artist compared to Caselli, I particularly like the nature of the fight with Storm Shadow and Major Bludd to save Dick Cheney in Sidney. Josh Medors has a unique art style and it stands out as being drastically different than Caselli & Blake. All artists make it clear that Bush and Cheney were the presidents and vice presidents. All in all the artwork was fine.

So with that being said G.I. Joe America's Elite Disavowed: The Ties That Bind is a fun time. Fans of G.I. Joe, comics, and even Captain America will enjoy this read. The story, character, and artwork make this worth the read. Definitely check this one out patriots.