More little tidbits from San Diego ComicCon

by generalsjoes | Jul 26, 2010 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, G.I. Joe: Renegades, IDW

GeneralsJoes commenter Nas made  the trip to San Diego and was nice enough to bring some little tidbits back with him to share on the site!
First of all, he had a chance to talk with Mike Costa, writer of the amazing G.I. Joe: Cobra series, and here are some cool little bits of info he had to share.

• Originally, his story focused more on the military aspects of Cobra, as opposed to the financial side.  As such, he’d intended to have Major Bludd be the primary antagonist, with a surprise reveal of Zartan towards the end!
• However, Major Bludd was on an early “don’t use” list, so editor Andy Schmidt suggested using Tomax and Xamot.  Mr. Costa was very clear with me, however, that he never felt stifled by the “don’t use” list from Hasbro, and in fact had nothing but nice things to say in regards to the feedback he received as his comic got edgier and more intense.  In fact, when he decided who he wanted to kill off in the book, the character was on the “don’t use” list, but Hasbro complied, based on Costa’s reasoning (My observation- And clearly, how his story was going.)
• When Cobra wrapped, he was asked to continue the story, but wasn’t sure where it could go without it being a rehash.  After talking with Andy Schmidt and Chuck Dixon about the direction the series as a whole was heading, Mike felt confident that he could do a quality story, and said we’ll see the two books (GI Joe main series and Cobra) coming together nicely as the third arc wraps.
• He was never a hardcore fan of GI Joe.  He had the toys in the house, since his younger brother collected them, but Mike was more of a Transformers fan!  He actually credits his lack of fandom to his ability to write a story with no compromises, especially as he’s getting into the Transformers story he’s writing for IDW, and has to struggle more about being precious with the characters.
• I mentioned the awesome and scary takes on Crystal Ball and Croc Master, and how CB looks a lot like Alan Moore.  He laughed, and said his intention was to have him look like Rasputin. (My observation- artist Antonio Fuso took that where he wanted it to go, apparently!)  But, Alan Moore looks like Rasputin, so there you have it!

Another very cool little part of the SDCC experience was that Nas had a chance, with his son, to become official employees of Cobra Industries!  As an added bonus, they get their own name badges…  this is BAD ASS.  I NEED one of these for myself!  Awesome.  Check out the images below.

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