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IDW G.I. Joe title relaunches at Issue #1 in Van Lente and Kurth in 2013

Straight from the horse’s mouth (meant in the most flattering way, possible, of course) IDW Publishing has just announced at New York ComicCon that their flagship G.I. Joe title will be starting over at issue #1 with a new creative team in 2013.

New writer Fred Van Lente (co-writer of Cowboys and Aliens among many others) announced the change on his Twitter page.  He will be working alongside Steve Kurth, who is a familiar name to Joe fans who were around at the launch of the Devils’ Due title what seems like so many years ago.

Kurth was a tough guy to get my head around, to be honest.  He had moments of absolute greatness, but then had moments of real inconsistency…  but that was many years ago, and artists grow their skills just like anyone else, so I’ll certainly keep my hopes up.

I’m certainly very interested in what Mr. Van Lente brings to the table.  He’s got a very broad resume with some high quality work in there.  Folks who have been unhappy about Dixon’s pace and his unique mannerisms just might have something to look forward to here.

What does this mean for Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow as well as G.I. Joe: Cobra?  Not sure as of yet, but trust me, I’m looking into it.  More info as it becomes available.

G.I. Joe Kre-O Official Hasbro Press Images

Along with revealing the initial release toys themselves, Hasbro’s awesome stalwart PR agency has also made the images available to websites as well, and I’ve got ’em right here for you.  Broken up into apparent vehicle sets and “single pack” figure sets, I’ve posted two galleries below of official images.

The more I look at these the more I’m thinking that while the sets are pretty neat, the Kre-On mini figures are very cool.  Lots of the aesthetics and the spirit of the old school Joe stuff in mini figure form.  Pretty damn cool.

That being said, still looking forward to Toy Fair.  🙂

G.I. Joe Kre-O Vehicle and Playsets

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G.I. Joe Kre-O Single Packs (Wave 1)

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Coverage of this year’s New York ComicCon is sponsored by KokomoToys.com!

 

Huge G.I. Joe Kre-O gallery from NYCC Preview Night at HissTank.com

Ruh Roh, Raggy.  I was afraid of this.

Okay, so first images are now flooding in from the New York ComicCon preview night, courtesy of HissTank.com and from what we can tell, looks like the Kre-O stuff is G.I. Joe’s main showing.  While I am a bit disappointed about that…  I’m also feeling like I’m in a little bit of trouble here.

Those Kre-O’s actually look pretty sweet.

I can’t envision buying them all, but I’ll be damned if those aren’t some really imaginative sets there.  Some vintage looking stuff, tons of real vintage-accurate Kre-On mini-figures, but to me, the coolest thing of all is that there are some new concepts built within the Kre-O vehicles themselves.  Mech suits (with a new looking Cobra driver), a nice battleship, what looks to be a playset of sorts, and a bunch of vehicles of various sizes.  I love the Cobra Urban looking vehicle.

Some really imaginative stuff.  I imagine a bunch of this was likely repurposed from other Kre-O sets (particularly that battleship set, which I would imagine came from the Battleship movie Kre-O line).  But really a lot of those Kre-On mini figures are quite cool looking and have a lot of style.

An interesting combination.

Will it be successful?  No idea.  But it does look pretty fun.  I can’t promise I’ll jump into it with both feet, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little bit intrigued by what they are showing here.  Images are on HissTank.com, and I would expect coming very soon to other sources as well.  When I have some more time, I’ll mirror some pictures and talk a bit more about them.

Stay tuned for G.I. Joe coverage of 2012 NYCC Preview Night

I will preface this by saying that coverage will be here and there tonight as I’m still out of town for business, and will be departing for a business event soon.  However, I’ll be combing the internetz and gathering together any related G.I. Joe news that comes out of Preview night for the New York ComicCon tonight.

Seibertron.com has already started posting images from new Transformers reveals at preview night, so the event is officially underway and hopefully we’ll get some Joe intel soon.  I’m sure Kre-O will be a big focus, but I’m crossing my fingers for perhaps some action figure news for 2013 as well.

I do know Jay from Toy News International is in attendance, and The Terror Drome has someone there as well, so keep eyes out, and I’ll be back throughout the night to give my thoughts on tonight’s events.  Wish I was there…

…wait a minute.  I’m in Las Vegas.  Never mind, I’m good.

What’s on Joe Mind Episode 68 featuring the one and only Marauder John now online!

Poor Gary has been trying for over 90 episodes (including Special Editions) to try and track down Marauder John and get him on the show, and he finally made it happen.  Marauder “Gun Runners” is one of those companies that has been around for a long time in Internet years, and it’s hard to remember a time before they existed, but we talk to John about what got him started down this path and some of his collecting origins.

It was a fascinating discussion with a guy who has had a huge influence on the hobby through his weapons store, and even though I’ve talked to him a number of times over the past many years, it was great to “get together” with him again and talk.  Any Joe fan will gain a wealth of knowledge from him, and on your next order mention that you heard him on the Podcast!  He’ll throw in a free weapon for ya!  And of course we want to encourage everyone to visit the Marauder “Gun Runners” Kickstarter as well to help fund the next series of weapons.  It’s an awesome project with some awesome potential results, and worth contributing to for sure.  Click here to contribute.

But that’s not all…the entire show was chock full of Joe news and discussion as it always is, and I had to leave early, so you even miss the GeneralsJoes corporate influence.  Click on the embedded players below and Show Notes are after the jump.

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