G.I. Joe 25th Anniversary DVD
The Complete Marvel Comic Series

Many would argue (myself included) that G.I. Joe as we know it simply would not exist if not for the media conglomerate that supported it. From 30 second animated commercials to a full blown animated series, all the way to the mini comics with certain figures and filecards, every essence of A Real American Hero has been about creating and capturing character. These toys aren't just toys, not to most of us, they are people, and they exist this way because of the tireless work of many folks who put a lot of effort into fleshing out these characters and making them more than just pieces of plastic...making them "real".

While each and every fan has their own preference, I would state unequivocably that the single person on this planet who did this best was Larry Hama. As the primary author of the filecards he took a few paragraphs and breathed life into these characters, so even after spending only twenty seconds reading a short blurb about them on the back of their package, you immediately knew them...identified with them. Mr. Hama then took this and absolutely ran with it during his time writing the Marvel Comic. Like it or hate it, you cannot argue that the Marvel series totally revolutionized how toy properties are handled and survived a remarkable twelve years, often times leading the sales pack back in the 80's. I'm sure I'm not the only one when I say that Hama's work on the Joe comic got me interested in comics in general and really shaped my fandom. He made these characters real, he created a universe for them to "belong" and took these toys seriously (but not too seriously).

If you feel even remotely like I do, this DVD set will simply be an absolute dream come true for you.

First of all, this is not a DVD as you would typically expect...it doesn't play in your standard DVD player, but it will play in any computer DVD drive out there. This disc is absolutely crammed with data...crammed so full that a compiler could not even be used to create a "viewer" that would have actually provided the interface to the data on the disc. Instead, it autoruns when inserted into your DVD drive and simply opens up in your default web browser (most often Internet Explorer or Firefox). Truthfully, this interface works perfectly fine for me, and every button and link worked to perfection.

When you first insert the DVD you get the following welcome screen:

You can click links on the page as you would any website you might visit, and they will take you to other sections within the DVD itself. The "Debriefing Room" link will send you right to a direct interface to the comic section, which is designed and organized to perfection. The DVD creator(s) have meticulously designed a faux comic shop "look" that makes you feel like you've stepped directly into a G.I. Joe only comic shop, with boxes of issues, comic racks, and great posters all over the wall.

The interface itself is incredibly smart. The long boxes on the bottom are actually links. When you click the individual boxes the issues and posters on the wall will change to reflect your choice. The comic rack will change, too, giving you even more options for sections of the "store" to visit, and different issues to read. The above picture is obviously from the "1-30" box, and if you click the "121-155" box you get the following image:

As you can see, there are now different issues on the walls, and each issue is a clickable link that will take you to an Adobe Acrobat interface, which is where the actual issue opens. You don't jump right into the issue itself, though, first you get into an awesome interactive section that was designed to look like a desk with the issue laying on it.

Again, the creators of the DVD did just spectacular work making this an enjoyable experience. From the above screen you can click "READ" to read the selected issue, click "HOME" to return to the comic shop interface, or click "NEXT" or "PREVIOUS" to hop to the previous issue or following issue. Obviously since the above screenshot is for issue #155 (the last of the regular series) there is only a "PREVIOUS" link. As for the comic issues themselves, they were all color corrected, straightened, and optimized for the universal ".PDF" format and the quality is amazing. These comics have all been scanned at exceedingly high resolution and are crisp, clear, and totally readable. Below you can see a screenshot of the .PDF interface for issue #155:

The only thing more impressive than the interface and the issue quality is the absolutely astounding amount of content that is in this disc. Nearly every single Marvel era storyline you can possibly imagine is in here. Pretty much EVERYthing. Regular issues 1-155, Order of Battle 1-4, Yearbooks, Special Missions, G.I. Joe Vs. Transformers, even Larry Hama's short-lived "Nth Man" series. It is ALL here. And if there is anything that you think might be lacking once you hit all of the comic boxes and the comics in the racks, then start looking carefully, because there are a number of Easter Eggs littered throughout this entire disc that will give you all sorts of great content that initially you might think were missed. If the story happened during the Marvel Era, you will almost certainly find it chronicled here. This is truly a totally comprehensive resource of any and everything you would want to read in regards to the Marvel era of G.I. Joe. Not only is the content there, but the accessibility is terrific and the interactive nature of reading these books is just amazing.

Any fan of the Marvel series, or any fan of G.I. Joe in general should do themselves the favor of checking out this disc, you will NOT regret it.

Of course the next question most of you are asking is "how do I get one"? The answer to that is a bit tricky. There are obviously copyright and trademark issues to take into account here, and the DVD creator has no interest in capitalizing monetarily off of the hard work of Larry Hama, Marvel Comics, and everyone else involved in the production of this series. The only desire here is to give fans the chance to read these great stories and enrich their knowledge and appreciation for the G.I. Joe legacy. This was obviously an expensive undertaking, but is being offered merely for cost of materials and shipping, there will be no money made on this project. Factoring in the cost of blank discs, shipping and production charges, you can expect to pay around $15.00 for this disc, and believe me, it is infinitely worthwhile.

That fifteen dollar charge would include shipping...because of this, if you are travelling to Atlanta for the Convention this year, there will be a selection of these discs available there as well, for around $10.00 (since shipping won't be factored in). I know folks will absolutely love this set as much as I do...any comic fan, any Joe fan, any 80's fan in general will find lots of love hidden in this DVD...fans of the site Magnum6Delta will recognize the quality and hard work that went into this, and you may want to contact the administrator/webmaster of M6D privately to show your appreciation for his amazing graphics work and efforts that he puts in to help the Joe community as a whole.

Please do not contact me for purchasing this set, I am only offering up this review, I am not producing, nor am I involved in the production of this disc. I won't have any for sale, I'll be too busy enjoying this one! ;)