When he was introduced in 1984, the character of Zartan has a villainous mercenary who led a gang known as the Dreadnoks. He was an ally to Cobra. What happens when Cobra takes over the U.S.? In the fifth issue of Paul Allor’s G.I. Joe, Zartan isn’t exactly a villain, but he and his Dreadnoks aren’t heroes either. Artist Chris Evenhuis’ clean art style dives into some pretty murky territory. The dystopia of the new series gains a little depth in its latest outing. The lack of sophistication is beginning to show in Allor’s otherwise clever mutation of traditional G.I. Joe cannon. In the long run, Allor’s latest iteration of the franchise may prove to be as simplistic as the original stories from the ‘80s. Still, his exploration is turning out to be an interesting update on an old narrative.

Stalker and Jinx stumble into what appears to be the execution of a defenseless old man. Naturally, they’re going to want to save his life. This is a dystopian American Cobra hellscape, though, and nothing is quite what it appears. Before they can react, Jinx and Stalker become prisoners of the brutal community of the Dreadnoks. To survive, they must get in touch with raw animal instincts before it’s too late. Cobra’s on the move, though. A possible assault on the community could complicate things.

Allor puts the heroes in a strange land of animalistic humans with a fierce loyalty to each other. There’s extreme selflessness about the Dreadnoks in their connection that Allor defines in clear, brutal tones that carry a kind of ominous utilitarian simplicity about them. It makes for an entertaining and thought-provoking journey into a society in the shadow of totalitarianism. The interpersonal politics of individual Dreadnoks are ignored in favor of a clean look at the weird composite organism of small micro-culture. It’s not terribly deep, but it’s a fun, dark, little fantasy to roll through for a little under 20 pages.

These pages are given a very straightforward life by Evenhuis, who puts exactly enough lines on the page to deliver the brutality of the culture being explored in the story. The menace doesn’t quite make it to the page, but it doesn’t need to. Evenhuis’ minimalist economy of line renders the simple drama of a simple story with respectable efficiency. The artist’s simplicity faithfully brings Allor’s simple story to the page with a casually unflinching approach that dispenses with unnecessary details.

Allor’s tour through Cobra totalitarianism continues to remain thoughtful as it reaches the end of its first half-year. With the fifth issue, he introduces a revamped group of Dreadnoks that have animalistic valor about them appealing enough to carry a title all their own. Allor’s crafted a fun tour through a mutation of the decades-old G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero property pioneered by Lara Hama in the ‘80s. Nearly every character he’s introduced would work well in his or her own series. The challenge moving forward is going to lie in keeping the overall rhythm of the serial from getting lost in so many individual characters.

Grade: B