With big thanks to IDW Editor Chris Ryall’s “RyallTime Blog” for giving us a GREAT look at some upcoming art for not just the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Annual, but also the cover for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #177.
Going totally old school with artistic geniuses Ron Frenz, Sal Buscema, Ron Wagner, and Herb Trimpe, even these few pages are like an awesome walk down memory lane. Such great retro art that really suits the G.I. Joe classic universe nicely.
Check out the Ryalltime Blog to see all of these great images, I’ve mirrored only a couple of them below.
Folks who follow myself or the rest of the What’s on Joe Mind crew on Twitter discovered last night that we had a very cool guest during that recording. We had a chance to speak with Jason Marsden, who is none other than Duke in G.I. Joe: Renegades!
To say this was a pleasure for me would be a drastic understatement, and as Gary deals with the editing process there were some neat details that I wanted to reveal to some folks, just because I think they’re cool talking points, and also because they add some interesting insight.
First and foremost, Jason Marsden actually found out that G.I. Joe: Renegades would be going on “hiatus” before the show even began airing. This is pretty stunning to me, and is a perfect example of the mismanagement of this property on Hasbro’s part. Mr. Marsden did confirm that the show was pulled in order to bring something more in line with the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, and he actually sited Duke’s “removal” as a component of that. Is this confirmation of Duke’s death in the film? Not necessarily, but an interesting point of discussion.
Marsden also revealed that G.I. Joe: Renegades actually had terrific ratings and it was one of The Hub’s top rated shows during it’s run. He suspects that they weren’t sure it would be so well-received, but by the time it began receiving critical and audience acclaim, the ship had sailed. He believes there are still some very strong supporters of G.I. Joe: Renegades at The Hub who are fighting to bring it back in some form, but wasn’t sure where it stood currently, and he hadn’t heard anything specific about it.
One of the coolest things he did share with us was that he had read some early stuff about Season 2, and apparently Duke was going to go to “a pretty dark place”, and seemed to have a personal vendetta against Cobra Commander. This sounds like an awesome twist, and only served to make me more depressed that we’ve seen all of what we’re likely to see from the series.
For the record, he was lukewarm on the treatment of Duke from Channing Tatum in the Rise of Cobra film, but he is extremely excited to see G.I. Joe: Retaliation. He immediately recognized the ties to the Renegades series and can understand (to a degree) what motivated Hasbro to rethink things a bit.
All things told, it was a fantastic interview. I loved every minute of recording it, and I think you guys will love listening to it. It should be posted later this week, so keep your eyes peeled here and at our Podbean Page to listen to the entire interview in it’s 60 minute glory. You won’t be disappointed.
I’m going to start sounding like a broken record. Through this blog and the What’s on Joe Mind podcast, I’ve been pretty adamant that Channing Tatum (and thus Duke) was going to likely have a smaller role in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. With both Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis making a splash with the film sequel, it seemed like there would be less and less room for another headliner.
Now, he has spoken with the folks at Crave Online, and while he doesn’t come out and reveal anything specifically, he maintains that he was absent for a lot of the New Orleans shooting, and didn’t really interact with folks like Elodie Young, Johnson, or Bruce Willis. Actually, when asked about Elodie specifically, he says:
“She’s insanely beautiful in her movements, just elegant like I don’t even know. I wish I would’ve stayed to get to watch her fight though, do her scenes. She’s a very good athlete for sure.”
Which confirms my suspicions earlier that he wasn’t even in New Orleans for much of the shooting. Crave also asked him about transitioning the “lead” to some other big name stars, and his response was that he was “…very, very happy with the arrangement for sure”.
What does that say to me? Just further confirmation that Channing Tatum is definitely stepping away from the G.I. Joe motion picture franchise, and if the trailer is any indication, the character of Duke may be going with him. Definitely something to watch.
Pretty much since day one, IDW’s Cobra title has been very unique among the other G.I. Joe titles. It had a very distinct writing style and an even more unique art style, which immediately brought it out of the “high octane” action world and into a crime noir episodic world.
So what was going to happen when IDW brought Cobra into the more mainstream style? Well, it loses some of its unique charm, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad issue. Click the Read the Rest of this Entry link below for the details.
Cobra Command Part 3 is here, within the pages of Cobra #9. Written by Mike Costa with art by Alex Cal, it looks like it will fit in seamlessly with the previous parts of this edge-of-your-seat series.
Check out the 5-Page Preview below, the issue hits on Wednesday.
Cobra Ongoing #9
Mike Costa (w) • Alex Cal (a) • Dave Wilkins, Antonio Fuso (c)
“Cobra Command,” Part Three! As the takeover of a foreign nation by the new Cobra Commander continues, we follow other members of Cobra High Command who are not as amenable to the new Commander as they first seemed. While certain Cobra agents quietly plot their vengeance, others align themselves with the new Commander… but he may have more in store for Cobra than just a military coup.
Frustration from the glut of merchandise clogging retail pegs and blocking the release of subsequent waves of highly-anticipated figures seemed to be the theme of 2011. When new G.I. Joe figures finally made their way into our collections, the countless accessories, innovations in articulation, and intricately-detailed sculpts made the class of 2011 among the best we’ve ever seen in the 25th Anniversary-style era. Hasbro surprised with the release of the Sky Striker as part of the 30th Anniversary line, disappointed with the cancellation of the G.I. Joe: Renegades animated series, and energized with the trailer for the live-action movie sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Not to be outdone, licensees such as IDW Publishing and Sideshow Collectibles continued to impress with their offerings of G.I. Joe merchandise, an indication of the strength of the G.I. Joe brand. In retrospect of 2011, A Real American Hero, Generals Joes and The Terror Drome team up to bring you the best of G.I. Joe 2011.
Click the Read the Rest of this Story link below for the full details.
Yes, we’re two weeks into 2012 and the “Best Of” 2011 lists are still going strong! The latest one is courtesy of the Fwooshcast, a personal favorite podcast of mine, mostly because of one of the hosts Craig, who I have known for years, and who guest hosted on What’s on Joe Mind for a number of weeks.
So obviously, when he asked us to submit something for their 2011 “Year in Review” episode, we didn’t hesitate to comply.
Check out the latest episode of the Fwooshcast right here!
While we all agree that G.I. Joe: Retaliation is, at best, a “soft reboot” of the G.I. Joe motion picture franchise, it turns out that at least one star of the previous film seems to think that a full reboot might have been preferable. Over at HitFix, Drew McWeeny talks to Channing Tatum about the G.I. Joe: Retaliation and what his hopes are for the second film. It’s a short clip, but Tatum seems for the idea of a “full reboot”. Check out the video below.
Interesting. It’s a short video, but I think it speaks volumes. Channing Tatum wishes for a “cleaner” second film, and does not once deny what Drew McWeeny calls a “hand off” to a new cast of characters. I might be looking too much into it, but that sure sounds to me like he is moving on from the G.I. Joe franchise, and might confirm some of our questions the trailer brought up.
Interesting. Check out HitFix for the original source, and big thanks to GeneralsJoes reader Curtis for the heads up!
I’m not necessarily convinced we’ll see a full blown video game in time for G.I. Joe: Retaliation theatrical release, but according to HissTank.com, trademarks are in place for such an event. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has revealed trademark 85512818, with information in regards to G.I. Joe: Retaliation trademarks:
“Interactive entertainment software, namely computer game software, computer game programs, computer game cartridges, computer game discs; interactive multimedia computer game programs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games, communication devices and mobile telephones; computer game software for use with communication devices and mobile telephones, video game programs, video game software, video game cartridges; pre-recorded laser and video discs featuring animated cartoon series.”
Now, this could mean any matter of things…it could be mobile games for the Apple IOS and Android, or perhaps even Facebook games or viral marketing techniques. I would think that if a full blown video game was being released, we might have known about it by now, but I could be wrong.
Full details for the Rise of Cobra game came out in February, 2009 but that film was released a bit later in the year. Still, with Toy Fair on the horizon, chances of this info getting out soon are very good.
Hopefully we’ll hear more details in a few short weeks at Toy Fair. Meanwhile, let speculation run wild!
Big thanks to the folks over at the MS GIJoe Collectors’ Club for directing me to this site, which belongs to Paul Christopher, a concept artist who did some work for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Some very interesting stuff in there, including artwork from Cobra/MARS Industries’ Arctic fortress, among some others. Very cool blue uniformed troopers as well, which were never seen.
Check out the site right here, and I’m mirroring some of the images below. Check out the site to view the rest.
