G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO – BEACH HEAD, by Image Comics & Skybound on 4/2/25, presents a silent issue when Beach Head escapes capture from COBRA’s soldiers with the help of orphans in a war-torn country.
Credits:
- Writer: Phil Hester
- Artist: Phil Hester, Travis Hymel
- Colorist: Lee Loughridge
- Letterer: N/A (silent issue)
- Cover Artist: Phil Hester, Lee Loughridge (cover A)
- Publisher: Image Comics
- Release Date: April 2, 2025
- Comic Rating: Teen
- Cover Price: $3.99
- Page Count: 32
- Format: One-Shot
Covers:
Analysis of G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO – BEACH HEAD:
Plot Analysis:
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Beach Head follows the titular character during his bid to escape COBRA’s forces. On a snowy day in a war-torn, unnamed country, a damaged COBRA chopper is spotted by a group of children. The chopper nicks a rooftop, sending the occupants tumbling onto a rooftop. The chopper crashes nearby. The children, fascinated by the development, scale the stairs of the building to investigate.
On the rooftop, the children witness Beach Head from G.I. Joe defend himself against two armed COBRA soldiers. Despite his zip-tie bonds, Beach Head overcomes one of the soldiers and gets into a grappling match with the second. Beach Head is wounded by gunfire, but he charges his attacker and sends him over the roof’s edge to the street below. Beach Head is wounded in the battle, so the children create a makeshift stretcher and carry him to one of the apartments below.
The oldest child gathers gear from the fallen COBRA soldiers and heads to the nearest trader to exchange the goods for a communicator. Later, a new group of COBRA soldiers sees the trader has gear from one of their missing men and forces him to tell them where he got it, sending a new troop of COBRA soldiers to the apartment where the orphans are tending to Beach Head.
When the COBRA troop infiltrates the apartment, Beach Head, now partially recovered, sets a series of surprise attacks and ambushes to take out the soldiers. The issue ends with a Joe chopper arriving in the nick of time.
First Impressions:
Silent issues are tough to pull off because you have to communicate the story through pure visuals. On the whole, Phil Hester succeeds in communicating the story intended in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Beach Head, but the one down point is the part you’d least expect to be weak.
Artwork and Presentation:
Phil Hester’s blocky, stylized art makes the grade for depicting an escape adventure behind enemy lines during a gray winter day. Hester’s unique approach to anatomy lends itself extremely well to silhouettes and darkened rooms to capture the degraded conditions the poor orphans find themselves in.
That said, the weak spot in this silent issue is the sometimes good/sometimes clunky fight choreography. You get the general gist of what’s happening, but there are moments where the movement of the fighters doesn’t make sense. For an average comic, you could look past the inconsistent choreography. In a silent issue, where all eyes are on the visuals, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Art Samples:
Story Positives & Negatives:
The Positives:
Fans of classic G.I. Joe characters will enjoy Image and Skybound’s experiment in giving the less-spotlighted heroes a chance to shine in a one-and-done story. If you weren’t a fan of Beach Head before Phil Hester’s issue, this issue just might change your mind.
The Negatives:
Silent issues need to be visually perfect to communicate the story and keep the reader engaged all the way through. Therefore, it just won’t do to have an action-heavy, silent issue with stumbles in the fight choreography. Phil Hester’s gamble largely pays off but not completely.
Big Picture:
Series Continuity:
According to the afterword in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Beach Head, this issue is the first of a five-part weekly series, all of which will be silent issues. Next up? Readers will get a one-and-done adventure starring Jinx.
Final Thoughts:
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G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO – BEACH HEAD delivers an atmospheric, action-packed, silent issue recounting Beach Head’s escape from capture. Phil Hester’s story and art accomplish what so few creators have the talent to pull off, albeit with a few flaws in the fight choreography.
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