by generalsjoes | Mar 11, 2010 | G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
So it’s Thursday, which means yesterday was Wednesday, and the latest Joe comic to hit the rounds was G.I. Joe: Origins #15, and IDW does something interesting here.
Obviously the fandom blew a rod when Marlon Wayans was revealed as Ripcord in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Changing the race of a somewhat minor player in G.I. Joe lore really put the fans on their ear, but more than that even was the drastic change in personality. While Hama wrote Ripcord (during his most popular time) as a motivated, ultra serious soldier, Wayans portrayed him (as he usually does) as an off-color hack who was mostly comic relief.
In all honesty, I didn’t mind Wayans all that much. There were worse performances in the film, to be sure. But even though IDW has been taking large steps to cater to the fans, they decided to go the Rise of Cobra route with Ripcord, and I think it works pretty well. I mean, it’s obvious by now that this isn’t your 80’s G.I. Joe. So why not shake things up a bit, plus make things a bit more cohesive with the movie universe? But even beyond that is the issue itself, which ends up being really entertaining. A mixture of some comedy, some action, with pretty solid writing and nice artwork, it has me very interested to read the follow up. But what do other sites think?
by generalsjoes | Mar 5, 2010 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
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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by generalsjoes | Mar 4, 2010 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
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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by generalsjoes | Mar 2, 2010 | 5 Page Previews, Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
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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by generalsjoes | Feb 26, 2010 | 5 Page Previews, Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
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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by generalsjoes | Feb 25, 2010 | Comics and Cartoons, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Comics, IDW
Yeah, we all saw the 3-minute Operation: HISS animation that was…well… not so great. Obviously somewhat chopped together on a low budget and made for the lowest common denominator, there wasn’t really much to write home about.
The Operation: HISS comic from IDW, on the other hand…that’s definitely showing some promise. While it didn’t get rave reviews from IGN, the reviewers from HissTank and The Terror Drome both saw something to look forward to, and the image of the variant cover to issue #2 is absolutely kicking my ass. Major Bludd in reactive armor? Sweetness. Love the repurposed NATO armored vehicles as Cobra tanks is great, too.
So for folks out there who are interested in reading a bit more about the Rise of Cobra universe (like me) this is a nice surprise. Click the links below to check out the reviews:
