I am a ten year Navy vet who has been a big G.I. Joe fan dating back to the mid 80’s. While I loved both the comic and the cartoon I always preferred the comic. I was initially excited about Fred Van Lente taking over writing duties on a new G.I. Joe series. However, I am not crazy about G.I. Joe #1. I don't like the overall direction Van Lente seems to be taking the story. The idea of a top secret special operations team having its missions documented just to boost recruitment really bothers me. In addition, the idea of a character like Hashtag seems to be an attempt to be cool for cool's sake. I am not crazy about the uniform redesigns. I especially can't stand Shipwreck's uniform because it is at least thirteen years out of date and would not be worn by a Chief Petty Officer or a Navy SEAL. I would have preferred that the uniform designs were closer to real life. The line-up doesn't feel right without Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, and Stalker. Finally, the speech that General Colton (the original G.I. Joe) gives to Duke is just condescending. On the positive side Van Lente and Kurth do a good job of crafting the action scenes. They string together a couple of moments that I found quite touching (like Whirlwind's death). I also like the idea of putting characters like Cover Girl and Baroness front and center in the book. However, at the end of the day I think Van Lente needs to sit down with Warren Ellis or Nathan Edmondson and get tutorial on writing military action.