G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Sierra Muerte

G.I. Joe: Sierra Muerte #1-3

by Michel Fiffe

Visionary creator Michel Fiffe unleashes his imagination on the thrilling, amazing, and wonderful world of G.I. JOE! Eccentric soldiers battling bizarre terrorists take center stage in this bombastic account of G.I. Joe’s quintessential mission against Cobra! Through a beachside ambush, a compromised manhunt, and a revenge plan that backfires, America’s fighting elite risk life, love, and honor in this brutal globe-spanning adventure. Also contains back-up material featuring an in-depth exploration of the classic comic book series, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

Genres: Comics

107 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 28, 2019

About the author

Michel Fiffe is the creator of the action series COPRA, published by Bergen Street Press, and the intimately surreal Zegas, collected by Fantagraphics. He's worked with Marvel, Valiant, and BOOM! and continues to serialize COPRA when he's not writing massive essays on comics of note. Fiffe has produced Bloodstrike: Brutalists (Image Comics) and G.I. Joe: Sierra Muerte (IDW) in their entirety and has recently launched a new title, Negativeland.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michel Fiffe takes his dynamic storytelling and off-kilter banter of COPRA and applies it to G.I. Joe. It's a match made in heaven (or at least Cobra-La) as far as I'm concerned. While COPRA is Fiffe's ode to John Ostrander's Suicide Squad, this is his ode to the G.I. Joe cartoon. It's pretty straight forward and quick at only 3 issues. I really liked how he portrayed the Baroness and Destro's relationship. Fiffe's art is still as inventive as ever.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art is painfully bad, and - in a first for me, I think - the lettering is noticeable - noticeable because it is shaky and (hardly possible to believe, but still) worse than the artwork. Letterers are like baseball umps that way, I guess, you only notice them when they f*ck up.
On top of that the story is short and boring, and the volume is artificially plumped with a pair of barely-wiki-level info dumps and a host of splash artwork and covers that only accentuates how poor the work in the issues themselves is.

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to think about this book. I wanted to read some GI Joe comics while I wait (indefinitely) for IDW to release GI Joe Omnibus vol. 2. I was not familiar with Michel Fiffe or his work. This comic reads more like an episode of the 1980s GI Joe cartoon show (which the writer admits in an included interview). But to me it felt like GI Joe via MAD Magazine. Cobra Commander is especially buffoonish. If you're looking for something akin to the Larry Hama comics, this isn't it. I will say the artwork is interesting - it's just not GI Joe to me. There are a couple of good essays included at the back though, detailing the history of Snake Eyes as well as the various locations that appeared throughout Hama's original Joe comic (Sierra Muerte comes from a country Hama mentioned but never explored). Wasn't really what I expected but it's short enough I may give it a second read now that I know... and knowing is half the battle.

[Adam Stone · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book, not as a fan of GI Joe comics (though I read a few about a decade ago that were interesting) but as a fan of Michel Fiffe's Copra: Round One. I really enjoyed the colored pencil-like art and bizarre X-Force parody of it.

Between not caring in the least about GI Joe characters, and the flatness of the colors in this book, I couldn't keep reading it. The humor didn't land. The colors felt off. I'm sure this is for someone, but I am not that person.

I ended up returning this to the store.

[Rex Hurst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally I’m skeptical of anything G. I. Joe not written by Larry Hama. There’s been a lot of mediocre material printed in the past, by people wanting to “put their stamp” on the material, or who just didn’t know how to write the Joes - a team fantasy of a small tactical force of highly trained personally fighting the good fight over seemingly overwhelming odds, where each member plays their part. Rather than the unstoppable individual fighting against everyone. We see this when the writers focus of Snake Eyes, who when done properly is about subterfuge and demolitions, rather than running at people with swords. Or the current Mary Sue they keep shoving down everyone’s throat, Agent Helix.

However, I was more than pleasantly surprised by this three issue mini-series. It isn’t canon to the Real American Hero series, but maybe it should become so. What I appreciate much is that the series has absolute respect for the original series. Each issue has a history portion of what had come before in the A Real American History, including one of Snake eyes, and the fictional geography of the countries the Joes have had conflicts in, and an interview with Larry Hama. This story takes place in the fictional South American country of Sierra Muerte, which translates roughly to Death Mountain. A place mentioned several times in G. I. Joe, but never actually seen.

Some people didn’t like the art, which is not really indicative of a war comic. The technical details are realistic, the combat can look bombastic at times, and the story varies wildly away from pervious Joe stories, yet for me it works out well. While it looks different, the interplay between Joes and Cobra, and the internal politics of both are exactly on point. It’s fast and fun. Just what you want.

[David Intramuros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfecto compendio de la esencia G.I.Joe pasada por el filtro gráfico/narrativo del gran Michel Fiffe. Increíble que fuese capaz de meter tantos tropos de dicho universo en tan solo 3 comic books, se nota que el tío lo vivió en su día.

Me encanta el tratamiento que IDW está dando a buena parte de sus franquicias jugueteras: Mientras continúa el flujo incesante de material más o menos de derribo, de vez en cuando nos regalan estas joyitas "de autor".

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

My expectations were high after reading Fiffe's three-issue Bloodstrike run, which was both gorgeous and witty and inventive. This, though, is much more incoherent and loaded with too many events for a three-issue story about a bunch of gung-ho commandos. It still has the trademark Fiffe style and some panels here are just amazing, especially ones where Michel gets playful with sound effects, but it's definitely a lesser work overall.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite all the reviews, I decided to read this anyways because hey I am a huge G.I. Joe fan. Well the reviews weren’t wrong. I would have given this two stars but the story wrapped up in a very clean and good ending that was not obvious would come because the beginning parts were not very good. And also the artwork was horrible. If you make it to the end, the special articles at the end about The Story of Snake Eyes and GI Joe Locations were excellent. Glad I read it all the way through.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this a 4 for the well written 1980s summation at the end. I grew up with the comics/animation in the 80s and there was a lot of confusion and loose threads that were summed up in the conclusion. As far as the story/art of this particular book are concerned, I liked it. It should always be fairly simplistic and straightforward and it was. I hope Fiffe continues to write Joe stories.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty shallow unless there's a lot of in-world info that I'm not familiar with. It was kinda fun but the characters needed to be fleshed out more. The essays and info after the comics was actually the best part, sharing Snake Eyes' story and other interesting bits of info about the GI Joe universe.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this but it didn't quite work for me. The art works, and the story and action are solid. It's a really humorous book though, and unfortunately the jokes never really landed for me.

[James Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so confused by this. It felt like I was on drugs reading it. Can't tell if I liked it or not, but I think other people might.

[Anubhav · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5
Michel Fiffe is a terrific storyteller, enjoyed this very much.

[Flora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully fun and humorous, you can really tell the creators enjoy the franchise.

[vk chompooming · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love almost EVERYTHING G.I. Joe but I could not finish this due to the laughable artwork.

[Bill Doughty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slight-but-fun tribute to G.I. Joe: ARAH, in all its 1980s glory, nestled somewhere in between the comics, the cartoon, and just playing with the toys on your bedroom floor. Maybe not everyone's thing, but a nice bowl of nostalgia chow if that's what you're looking for.