Best selling author Max Brooks has enlisted with the IDW and G.I. Joe team to write an upcoming limited series, “Hearts and Minds” hitting retail in May, 2010. Hasbro has sent along a full press release, which you can read after the jump.
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I’ve been somewhat hesitant to accept the IDW G.I. Joe universe for a variety of reasons, but with the release of G.I. Joe # 15, they’ve finally started pulling me in, at least to a degree. Even with Dixon’s slow pace, this issue kicked it up a notch. We got some early seeds of discontent between Mindbender, Destro, and the Cobra cabal. We got one of the world’s top scientists joining Cobra of his own free will, upon seeing the level of their resources and funding. We got the death of a Joe character that has been accused of being a punching bag, but at least it was handled in this issue with some sort of respect.
But, really, it comes down to the character designs. Old Joe pal Fred from JoeBattleLines really summed it up nicely when he pointed out to me in a private email… there were just a few frames in the issue. Flint, Beachhead, and Cover Girl ready to bust down the door. The Cobra Vipers emerging from the MASS Device teleportation. To me, it’s always been about the toys, and these designs would make for some awesome toys. Hell, if the movie could find a way to work designs like these into it, it would have been much more appreciated, I think, even with the same story and subject matter.
It’s the little things…and as we get deeper into the G.I. Joe: COBRA II series, and has the mainstream title picks up some steam, I’m finding myself more and more drawn in, which is something I never expected. Good job, IDW.
EDIT – Spoilerific image replaced with non-spoilerific image. Woops!
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First of all… Spoilers Ahoy! A G.I. Joe gets fragged in the first five pages of G.I. Joe #15… to maintain a level of spoiler protection, I’ll post the preview and my thoughts after the jump.
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Yeah, I know what you’re thinking… two non G.I. Joe posts in one day? Deth of teh site!11!one!
Well, let’s be honest…G.I. Joe is my first love, I think that’s obvious, but it’s also been a very slow news period since Toy Fair, and since I can never get enough of forcing my opinion down other people’s throats :shifty: it’s time to branch out a bit, especially when I find something I think other fans will enjoy.
And I know what you’re thinking. I saw those previews, too. The ones with the overly emo anime characters lamenting their endless war with the Covenant… the pretty flowers, the moody music. I wasn’t feeling this project at first, not at all. But after sitting down and watching it, I was seriously impressed. Well, for the most part. I much prefer the gritty science fiction aspect of anime, and not so much the goofy juvenile humor, so I skipped right past “Odd Man Out”, which was a particularly ridiculous installment on the DVD, but nearly every other episodic short was downright enjoyable. There were some different styles used throughout the disc, but each one had their own quirks and overall, I came off very impressed with what I saw.
I like the Halo games, they’re great…but I love the Halo universe, and I think that’s where Halo: Legends really is a pleasant surprise. For folks who dig the all out action and are content to sit and play Halo multiplayer and nothing else, you may not find a whole lot to love here…but for people who are really into the mythology of the Halo world and the different alien races, branches of the UNSC, and the whole world surrounding Master Chief and the Spartan project, I think there’s some really cool stuff to see here. Lots of little Easter eggs for folks who have read some of the novels and who are interested in the back story of the universe in 2550.
No, it’s not flawless, and it won’t blow you out of your seat, but I can think of much worse ways to spend 2 hours, and for folks who are really into Halo, I think you’ll dig this in a big way. Sure it’s no multimillion dollar Peter Jackson/Neill Blomkamp major motion picture, but it’s something. I’ve embedded some particularly cool clips for your enjoyment below.
Okay, I’m a fringe Marvel Universe fan at best. The last time I read comics on a regular basis was the 90’s and while I survived Rob Liefield’s path of destruction through the medium as we know it, I did sorta lose track during the Spider-Man clone fiasco, and haven’t really looked back. Sure, I poked my head in on the Ultimate universe, the death of Captain America, and am sort of checking out Siege here and there, but that’s really about it.
Thankfully, for those unusual folks like me, there are the movies and the cartoons to keep me engaged. While most toy geeks lament the fact that the movies and animated series aren’t faithful to the comic roots, those funky nerds like me who don’t really care about the stories and care more about the core characters are able to be kept in the loop without having to worry about the past four pesky decades of continuity. The first Iron Man movie, to me, was the best in class for this recent outcropping of comics flicks (yes, I even rate it above The Dark Knight, heresy on the internetz, I know), and the sequel looks like it will be more of the same.
Even better, the toys for the sequel look to match the quality of Paramount’s tour de force as well. I’m sure the initial toys were probably just dandy as well, but they were six inches tall, which doesn’t fit into my current collection philosophy, which is the smaller the better because I have no space to store crap. Amazingly enough, Hasbro looks to have taken the detail from the six inch figures and squished them down into a 3 3/4″ scale…these figures are smaller, but damn do they look freaking amazing.
PopEater.com has revealed a nice batch of these figures, accurate to the film, and while most of them look totally bad ass, the one I’m really focusing my love on is Samuel “Nick Fury” Jackson in some 3 3/4″ glory. Sure, we’ve all got enough Mace Windu’s to choke a stable of horses, but this Jackson actually uses some G.I. Joe parts! And he has a bad ass trench coat.
It’s pretty much the best 3 3/4″ figure ever made…
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At free comic day coming up in a couple of months, IDW has promised to launch a new book based on the Marvel continuity after it ended with issue #155. With the immortal Larry Hama penning the book, it sounded like a dream come true for Marvel fans, and now Newsrama has posted a very nice 5-page preview.
I’ve been hopping around online and I’m already seeing some serious negative buzz. I really don’t get it. Have people already forgotten how campy and over-the-top the Marvel series was at the point of it’s end? I dunno… I wasn’t bowled over by the 5-page preview at all, but I do think it definitely continued the tone of the Marvel series as it came to its end. Certainly I would prefer it to come back down a bit and be a bit more serious as the series goes on, but this does seem pretty faithful to the 90’s era Marvel book. We’ll see how it all goes. I’ve mirrored the preview below.
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