You guys,"The Unnamed" comics may be the most emotional ones I've ever read. I can't wait to see where Johns goes from here.
Junkyard Joe #1: Man, this issue is brutal. No matter how many war movies you've seen, the reality of what the civilians and soldiers in Vietnam experienced is almost impossible to process in any medium.
In 1972, "Joe" arrives in Vietnam to join a platoon but doesn't look like a robot — he has artificial skin that makes him look like a blandly handsome white guy. Morrie "Muddy" Davis is writing to his fiancée, Rita, and pines for her so much that I assume we're going to learn at some point that she leaves him. Joe is replacing a guy named Buzzard, who lost both his legs in a previous battle. Muddy introduces himself to Joe, who remains silent, which Muddy assumes is due to fear.
The platoon heads into the jungle on a mission but gets lost after going through a rice paddy instead of a path, where they would've been sitting ducks for Viet Cong snipers. As the platoon considers a map, a bullet suddenly rips through Band-Aid's jaw (in an amazing scene by Frank). Sarge orders everyone down, and Joe amazes the platoon by leaping into the jungle and taking out the snipers in the trees. A kamikaze Viet Cong runs their way, but Joe leaps on him, taking the brunt of the blast. With his artificial skin gone, Joe stands revealed as a robot and wordlessly puts on Band-Aid's uniform.
Though some of the men, particularly Green, balk, Sarge orders them to see Joe as an asset. He reminds them that their mission is to take out the Viet Cong hiding in a village before they can leave; the sooner they do it, the sooner he can "get back to [his] little girl." (Yes, I knew he was going to die then but hoped against it.)
Later, the platoon members are playing cards and Muddy invites Joe to play. He explains that he's waiting to get to Rita, whose father left her the farm when he died the previous September. Joe joints the men at cards and, over the next few panels, becomes part of the platoon. As they march, we learn more about them. Matches complains that he lost his cigarettes to Joe in the card game and they're his only joy. (He hilariously offers to trade oil to him.) Big Jack tells Joe that he and his brothers —the older deployed in the North, the younger in the South — are going to open a restaurant in Detroit when they return home. Green apologizes to Joe for responding so hostilely to him, and Sarge tells Joe all about his daughter.
As the troops are walking along a path, they encounter an ox, and, upon inspection, Matches realizes that it has a bomb attached to it. The explosion takes out Big Jack and Matches, and hidden Viet Cong snipers shoot Green and Sarge. Muddy is pinned under a tree from the explosion, and Bumbles —hiding behind another fallen tree — meets Muddy's gaze and tells him that he wants to go home. A Viet Cong soldier then brutally stabs him through the neck with his bayonet. Just as the solider is going to do the same to Muddy, Joe lifts the tree off him and punches off the soldier's face.
Joe carries Muddy to safety, and Muddy states with shock that the Viet Cong killed their friends. Muddy loses consciousness, and "Unit Beta" (i.e., Joe) receives a transmission to head South because the mission is complete. But Joe hears Muddy's words in his head about the Viet Cong killing their friends and heads to the village, where he kills the Viet Cong hiding there (their original mission). He sees a scared small boy staring at him who either dies from sustaining a wound in Joe's rampage or whom Joe kills then and there. Either way, the boy's mother runs from their hut wailing, and Joe rips up his gun and shuts down.
In Washington, Nixon and Kissinger watch this scene with some aides. We learn Joe's job was to analyze the war and report back. Kissinger realizes that, by shutting down, Joe concluded the war is unwinnable, and Nixon agrees, ordering him to end the war.
Later, in a field hospital tent, Muddy is telling his (Alan Alda-esque) doctor about Joe, and the doctor tells him to keep quiet about Joe or he'll have to have him committed rather than sent home. The doctor tells Muddy that he likely invented Joe to prevent him from thinking about his platoon members' deaths. Later, the mailman delivers a stack of letters to Muddy (hopefully Rita's!) and we see his sketchpad lying open, full of images of Joe.
Junkyard Joe #2: Holy fucking shit. This issue seems quiet until the end when suddenly it is very much not quiet.
We begin with a newspaper reporter announcing that Muddy has suddenly stopped writing "Junkyard Joe" — the last installment will appear in the paper that day. Muddy refuses to comment, issuing a terse statement through his editor. Happily, it appears that Muddy did marry Rita, who we see in pictures in his house, and still lives on the farm. But it's also clear that she's dead and his already pronounced reclusive tendencies have become more so as a result. The only interaction he has with anyone here is when a family moves into the house next door, and he's gruff to him. (The father suggests one of the kids, Emily, might want to talk to Muddy, as we later learn she's an artist.)
Muddy has dreams about Sarge's and Bumbles' deaths as well as Rita's and awakens to find Joe at his door! He's scared at first, but he eventually realizes that it's really Joe. Joe looks at the photo of Muddy and Rita, and Muddy confirms she died that summer. When Muddy asks if Joe understands, Muddy realizes Joe does as Joe takes off his helmet.
Later, a gas station attendant is describing to two cops that he saw Joe, without knowing that it was him. Suddenly, someone shoots both cops in the head. (Man, Frank really knows how to draw these sudden death scenes.) The attendant finds himself face to face with a man in a trench coat holding the gun and two soldiers; they're all wearing masks similar to Joe's face. The man in the trench coat, who Johns later informs us is "The Custodian," asks the attendant to tell him where Joe went. The issue then ends with the insignia that we saw at the end of the Redcoat story in "Geiger: 80-Page Giant" #1.
Hoo boy, it was an issue. The tautness of Muddy's repressed emotions and trauma — which Frank's mostly wordless panels depict perfectly — amplifies the impact of the violence when it happens so unexpectedly.
Junkyard Joe #3: You guys, this series might be the most emotional one I've ever read.
It begins with Muddy's neighbor from last issue, Sam Munn, arriving at Muddy's front door. Muddy was asleep on the couch, which surprises Sam because he saw someone walking around the house, which is why he knocked on the door. Sam tries to tell Muddy about Emily, but Muddy slams the door when he realizes Joe is walking around the house. Later, he discovers Joe is doing his laundry.
At the Munns', Grace —the eldest daughter — is irate that she can't find her beauty supplies before the first day of school while Emily is reading about Muddy on Wikipedia. Will —the youngest son — tells Grace to prepare for more disappointment when they go to school, and Sam tells him to cut the negativity. Sam tells Emily that he got her enrolled in "art class," which he acknowledges is a little less specific than the classes she had "back home" before correcting himself to say San Francisco. Emily tells Sam that she read about Muddy and learned he lost his wife around the same time they lost their mom.
In Muddy's house, Joe continues to do all of Muddy's chores. Muddy asks how he found him, and Joe pulls out a newspaper article referring to Joe as his creator. Muddy tries to explain the confusion but can't tell if Joe understands. He then pulls out a map hoping Joe can point out where he's from, but Joe can't do so. Muddy realizes Joe's wearing dog tags, so he inspects them, and we (again) see the insignia that George Washington wore in the Redcoat story in "Geiger: 80-Page Giant" #1. Meanwhile, Muddy gets a call from a man named Dick Etter (a last name I'm pretty sure I've seen elsewhere) from Vet Services offering to shovel his driveway. Muddy realizes that he doesn't need him to do so, since he has Joe.
At school, the Munn kids have a rough go of it. Emily's classmates make fun of her as her tone-deaf teacher has her tell the class about herself. Some kids call her dad "lame" when she says he's an "automation engineer," and a Mean Girl makes fun of her for saying her mother was her favorite artist. As Grace walks by the Mean Girl, she tries to grab Grace's portfolio and accidentally-purposefully shoves Grace into the art cart full of paints.
Inside the house, Muddy offers to make Joe some coffee so they can play some cards, telling him that he hasn't played since Rita died. He accidentally knocks off Rita's "world's greatest wife" mug. The sound sends Joe into a panic, and he starts destroying the house until Muddy gets him to stop, telling him he has no one to fight there.
At the Munns', a shiner-sporting Will confirms he got in a fight when some racist kids called him "Wuhan" (their mother was Korean-American), and Sam is a dick about it, criticizing Will and continually telling him to watch his language. (Will is given to swearing.) Grace tells them that the girls all called her a rich bitch from sporting a Gucci bag that their mom bought her, and Will says Indiana sucks. Sam loses his shit, screaming at the kids that he accidentally uploaded an update at work that took out the company's email system and that they all need to stop complaining and do something to fix their situations. Emily then loses it, telling Sam that they only moved to this town because Sam can't face living where their mom lived. Everyone is stunned, and Emily storms from the house.
In the garage, Emily looks at a ripped portrait of, I think, her mother but then hears noises from Muddy's. She looks through his window to find Muddy on his knees comforting a distraught Joe.
Junkyard Joe #4: Man, the Custodian and his goons are creepy as fuck.
The issue begins with one of the goons going through a discarded Sunday paper and, seeing "Junkyard Joe," realizing where Joe went.
At Muddy's, Joe sees Emily through the window, and she runs into their garage. Muddy follows her and sees the sketch we saw last issue. Emily confirms she drew it of her mother, and Muddy compliments the work. Muddy brings Emily to his home with him, where Joe is scared of her. Muddy tells her that Joe showed up the previous night and that they served in Vietnam together, even though he thought he dreamed up Joe.
At the Munns', Grace and Will try to make dinner but aren't the family cooks so decide to find Emily before she freezes in the Indiana winter. Meanwhile, at Muddy's, Emily hypothesizes that Joe is trying to escape something, because they also escaped something in moving to Indiana. She then gives her condolences about his Muddy's wife. She tells Muddy how much she likes the strip, and Muddy tells her that he stopped writing it because he used to pitch ideas to Rita but can't do it anymore. Their conversation is interrupted when Grace and Will see Joe through the window.
In an interlude, a cop pulls over the Custodian and his goons since they're driving at night in a car with out-of-state plates, and the Custodian shoots him.
At Muddy's, Will is stoked to meet a robot, and Emily introduces them as Will and Grace, prompting Muddy to comment, "Like the TV show?", and Grace and Will to comment, hilariously, "What TV show?" They wonder who can help Joe, and Muddy decides to bring Joe to Etter the next day. They all agree the kids should keep Joe a secret, even from their dad.
At the Munns' the next morning, Sam apologizes for his behavior, and Will is like, OK, let's get to school! They leave a confused Sam and head to Muddy's to help with Joe. Muddy is already in town with Joe, and everyone keeps trying to talk to him since it's so rare he's in town. But he's just trying to get a disguised Joe to Etter's office. Once there, Etter is thrilled to see Muddy, and Muddy has Joe reveal himself. Meanwhile, the kids blow off school to go see Joe, but when they arrive at Muddy's they encounter the Custodian and his goons.
Joe's going to kick some ass next issue, I think.
Junkaryd Joe #5: I'm starting to feel like we're not going to get a happy ending here.
Emily asks the Custodian if he's a robot, and he responds that he's Joe's rightful owner and wants to know where he is, pulling a gun on them.
In town, Etter tells Muddy that he can call his friend who works security at Penfed Credit Union about the weird symbol on Joe's dogtags since his friend knows a lot of people in the intelligence community. Joe starts cleaning Etter's office, and Etter can't get over that Muddy's comic strip has come to life. Muddy is confused (which confuses me, since it isn't like Etter said something crazy), and Etter tells Muddy how much Joe meant to the town and how Rita, who went into town often, understood that. Muddy comments how much Rita loved the town, and Etter tells Muddy that the town loved and misses her, too. It's a nice moment.
Driving home, Muddy contemplates going into town more, feeling grateful that other people miss Rita, too. Joe puts his hand on Muddy's shoulder, and Muddy thanks Joe for coming into town.
When they arrive home, they encounter the Custodian, who has taken the kids hostage. Joe makes quick work of him and his goons, and Muddy tells Joe to get the kids to safety. He calls 9-1-1, but the Custodian knocks him unconscious. After getting a call from his boss about how happy everyone at the office is with the update, Sam arrives home only to find it empty. Seeing Muddy's door open, he heads over there and finds him unconscious and bleeding from the head.
In the woods, Joe and the kids are surprised when someone shoots a deer. Emily observes Joe doesn't like guns just before he attacks the hunters, who flee. Joe takes off his helmet to mourn the deer, but Emily is like, Joe, we need to go.
In the ambulance, Muddy tells Sam that his kids are in danger while, in the forest, the Custodian and the goons kill the fleeing hunters.
A discussion between some officials at the Pentagon makes it seem like Joe was on ice until the Custodian broke in somewhere to steal him. We learn the Pentagon originally put Joe on ice because he killed everyone he met. Uh-oh.
Junkyard Joe #6: Let's get right to it, shall we?
In 1972, the Custodian approaches Muddy's bed and asks about the robot that a nurse told the Custodian that Muddy claimed he saw. Talking Alan Alda's advice, Muddy tells the Custodian that he didn't see anything, covering up his sketch pad with his hand. In the present, the Custodian coldly tells his men that they'll kill everyone in Melody Hills if necessary to keep Joe a secret.
In town, Will wisely turns on the town's Christmas tree's lights to distract everyone long enough for them to get Joe into Vet Services without anyone seeing him. In the ambulance, Muddy tells the E.M.T.s to take him to the police station because Sam's kids are in danger. When the E.M.T. working on him confirms that Muddy's going to be fine, the driver goes Vin Diesel and turns around the ambulance.
At Vet Services, Etter tells the kid that his friend put him in touch with someone at the Pentagon who informed him that the Custodian and his goons are "part of a militia who attacked a classified government storage facility in Huntington, West Virginia last week." He brings them to his office to call the Pentagon, but the Custodian and his goons are waiting for them. The Custodian shoots Etter in the shoulder and tells Joe that he'll kill he kids if he moves. Grace heroically offers Joe her Burberry scarf for him to use to stop Etter's bleeding.
At this point, the Custodian gives us his super-villain rant. He thinks that one of his "envious colleagues" sabotaged Joe so he wasn't the perfect soldier the Custodian designed him to be. (We know that Joe's experiences in the jungle changed him.) The Army fired the Custodian and put Joe on ice. The Custodian, being a lunatic, hunted down and killed his former colleagues and then found Joe. But Joe turned on him and disappeared. Complaining that America discarded him, Joe, and his goons after they fought America's wars, he tells the kids that he plans on bringing Joe to DC to take on the "same breed of liars who stole [his] life's work" from him. There, Joe will become the "unstoppable 'killing machine'" the Custodian designed him to be, taking out the aforementioned "liars" running the government.
Grace asks if Etter is going to be OK and, Emily comments, "Yeah, Grace, he's going to be all right," because she correctly realizes that Joe is going to kill the Custodian after hearing his rant. The Custodian orders one of the goons to use a grenade on Joe after he leaps at them, but Joe knocks him outside the office. With one goon down, Joe takes out the other one, but the Custodian grabs Emily.
The ambulance arrives, and Muddy and Sam evaluate the scene. (I really wanted the hilarious ambulance driver to throw hands.) As the town watches, the Custodian demands Joe obey him. He looks at Muddy, and Muddy tells him to do what he came to Melody Hills to do. He then takes out the Custodian, knocking off his mask to reveal an old man. The townspeople are panicked at the sight of Joe, but Muddy tells him that Joe is the character they all know and love.
At this point, Homeland Security comes. (I mean, thankfully, right? Like, we could use some good guys with guns right about here.) Agent Pollack introduces himself and is like, OK, let's step away from the dangerous killing robot. But Muddy and the kids go all Goonies and are like, But he's our dangerous killing robot! The townspeople stand behind them, and Agent Pollack is like, OK, let's just take the lunatic terrorist. (To be clear, he doesn't say that, as the panels are mostly wordless.)
Seven months later, the Munns are having a nice Fourth of July with Muddy and Joe. Muddy is writing "Junkyard Joe" again, and everyone is happy. A little aways, a portal opens with Geiger and, based his "Geiger: 80-Page Giant" #1 data page, the Northerner looking at Joe. Geiger comments that it's "too soon," and Redcoat tells Geiger "they" found them and they have to fight. The portal closes, and Joe looks where it was. The End!
Final Thoughts: Throughout this series, I thought how sad it was the Joe died in "Geiger" #6. Like, I loved his adventures here, as the killing machine-turned-pacifist just looking for love, which, as Muddy says, is all servicepeople want when they return home. But the last panel implies to me that Geiger may take this Joe from his timeline, opening the door to future adventures in Geiger's present. At any rate, I'm glad Joe, Muddy, and the Munns all got the gift of togetherness that Johns gives them here. A happy ending (for now)!
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