Fred Van Lente was just announced as the new writer of the IDW G.I. Joe comic this past weekend, but already he’s been the focus of an interview on Oh! Entertainment. It looks as if the interview was done during NYCC and reveals some cool information about what to expect from the title going forward.
Lots of good insight from the new writer and some tidbits for comic fans.
Check out it right here.
The news about IDW’s G.I. Joe titles this past NYCC was fast and furious, but as for this week, we’re back to the status quo, with new issues of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero and Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow hitting on Wednesday.
Here are the previews for these upcoming issues.
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G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #183
Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a) • Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema (c)
G.I. JOE is in trouble: Darklon has escaped their custody and is finally ready to carry out his sinister plan. COBRA has moved from the east coast to the west coast, while enlisting new sinister allies; even Destro and Baroness seem to be involved in some grand scheming. Can G.I. JOE figure out what their enemies are planning before it’s too late? All the pieces are falling into place as the villains make their move in G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Variant covers:
Variant Larry Hama sketch cover!
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Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #18
Chuck Dixon (w) • Alex Cal (a & c)
“TARGET: SNAKE EYES,” part two! SCARLETT leads a team of G.I. JOE members to find and eliminate the traitorous SNAKE EYES. The most dangerous G.I. JOE has gone AWOL to re-join the Arashikage clan and draw them into a war without mercy with COBRA. And G.I. JOE is caught in the middle!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
*Variant covers:
Variant Robert Atkins cover, interconnected with G.I. JOE #18!
Bullet points:
For folks following along, I’d reported on some awesome looking retro posters for Transformers and G.I. Joe that were slated to be available at NYCC. Well, NYCC has come and gone, and now the prints are available online.
Check out AcidFreeGallery.com to purchase a G.I. Joe and/or Cobra print for $45.00 apiece. Very cool looking items.
I know this has been out there on other sites already, but my travel back from Las Vegas interrupted my site focus a bit, but I’m posting the full press release below. I think most of us figured out how the Kre-O initial release was going to work based on the image names and the information gleaned from the NYCC presentation.
It looks like much of the components here are reused elements from the Battleship Kre-O line, but I think most would agree that the main draw here is with the vintage themed Kreons, I would certainly agree with that. Hate to say it, but those little guys are really growing on me.
Anyway, check out the full Press Release after the jump, and learn the names of the sets, release details (Blind bags!) and when to expect these at your local Toys “R” Us. I’ve also inserted the required images to give a better lowdown of what set comes with what items.
Due to popular demand, the folks at Kokomo Toys have produced T-Shirts so toy fans everywhere can show their support for this great store! They are currently selling these t-shirts on eBay, so hit up the links below and buy shirts for the whole family.
Also make sure you’re looking at Kokomo Toys on eBay for all of your favorite vintage (and new!) toys for sale.
Turns out the new creative team and new launch of the main G.I. Joe title isn’t the only big shift in 2013…thanks to skinny on Twitter and ComicsBeat.com we have some more intel about the G.I. Joe run of books from IDW next year.
Details straight from Comics Beat are as follows:
“Starting in February, GI Joe will be relaunched, with:
– GI Joe by Fred van Lenten and Steve Kirghiz
– Secret Missions by Chuck Dixon and Paul Gulacy (March)
– The Cobra Files by Mike Costa and Antonio Fuso (April)Fred van Lente said his book would focus on a core team, including Duke, Cover Girl, Roadblock, Shipwreck, and Tunnel Rat, and that the Joe-Cobra war would be “very public” and “pretty hardcore.” Van Lente and Comic Book History of Comics collaborator Ryan Dunlavey will be doing GI Joe History variant covers.”
So by the looks of it, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are going away, making room for a somewhat more all encompassing “Secret Missions” which Chuck Dixon will continue to write. Cobra is morphing into “The Cobra Files”, but with the same creative team, I fully expect the greatness there to continue.
Just to satisfy anyone’s fears about a reboot, too, I contacted the new writer of G.I. Joe, Fred Van Lente, and was assured by him that G.I. Joe is not rebooting:
EDIT– According to Bleeding Cool, the title is “Special Missions” for the second G.I. Joe book. That one seems more likely (as an homage to the classic Marvel series).
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.
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!
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.
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.