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Episode 1241 Talkback: Spotlight on GI Joe in Comics
Pants
Posts: 567
We've put the spotlight on the GI Joe toys in the past, but now we shine that light on the comic books. Our emphasis is mainly on the Marvel Comics series started by Larry Hama, but we do touch on the recent series from IDW as well. Chris from Wild Pig Comics joins us again to discuss this great run of comics. (1:29:21)
Listen here.
Listen here.
Comments
Matthew
Shane, Steeler is my favorite Joe as well, and I know many think he's goofy, but I've always really liked Serpentor as well.
And continuing the Joe/Transformers connections, there's a Transformers character named Marissa Fairborne who is the daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye.
Looking forward to listening.
If you guys ever decide to cover Star War, Transformers, Voltron, Thundercats, Masters of teh Universe (I actually emailed about your Off the Racks for July where you'll be covering Masters of the Universe #1. So let me know), or any other 80s property, please feel free to reach out to me, and we would love to come on with our info and opinions on these properties.
It was Batman 433 for those that are curious.
Matt also mentioned how vets were treated coming back from Vietnam. I am pretty sure Hama depicted a scene from a flashback of some one spitting on one of the joes when they came home.
Haven't heard the episode yet, so not sure f it was mentioned, but IDW. Is coming out with hardcover editions of the Marvel run of GI Joe this Fall. Looking forward to that.
Following the surgery, he got a burning liquid thrown into his face.
M
I would be interested in an episode about Rom and the Micronauts and Bill Mantlo.
If it got us to throw a few bucks at the Hero Initiative that would be a good thing too.
Okay so...here is the 30 year old memory...coupla joes and an old fat ninja, coupla baddies lost in the jungle. after the first conflict the old fat ninja gives the baddies their weapons BACK and shoos them off. Young joe with him justifiably says WTH?!
Old Fat Ninja (that may need to be my new login ID) says (and I'm going to paraphrase the hell out of this) Give a man a weapon and he will use it. We know their capabilities and their limits, take it away and we force him to invent some hellish new thing that we cannot predict.
Man, I was blown away like I had just read some piece of Devine wisdom from ancient scripture.
Thoroughly enjoyed the episode. My first issue of the run was #4. I never continued with the issues all the way through, but I would get an issue here or there. I just didn't get many comics in the 80's, but I made up for it later in life.
And seriously, if there is any chance to come on the show to help cover the He-Man #1 issue or if you ever do a spotlight on the Transformers comic (with them having their relaunch continuation of the Marvel run through IDW), much like Chris, we would totally honored to join you.
The GI Joe comic was always hard to find in the small town where I grew up. I was able to get #1-6 but #7 and up became a treasure hunt and I was rarely able to get sequential issues again until after the GI Joe/Transformers mini.
I didn't care for the toys until a year or so after they hit the shelves and I was mainly interested in the Cobra side of it, which worked out, I had all the of the Cobra stuff and my best friend had all of the Joes. When I was about 16/17 years old I gave all of my Joes and Transformers to him and until listening to this episode I never once regretted it. Kinda kicking myself in the ass now. Time to hit the flea market.
I wasn't into the cartoon a great deal but I watched it all because of Snake Eyes and Destro. I remember the movie that Introduced Cobra La and freaking out when Duke got nailed by Serpentor. Nemesis Enforcer is still one of my favorite figures.
I would like to second the motion for a Transformers spotlight epidose. Both my son and I have really been digging IDW's run and the relaunch of the Marvel run has me stocked.
G.I. Joe was the first comic I started collecting regularly and every week I'd be a couple of back issues since I started it late, about '89. And Larry Hama was a genius with most of that Marvel run.
I would agree that the first 50 or 60 are the strongest, though I actually did enjoy 98 through about 119 or so as well. After that it started to get a bit crazy with all the toy tie-ins and ninja stuff (though I do love Snake Eyes).
As far-fetched as it was, I loved the animated movie. The live-action movie was horrible. And Resolute, I agree, was fantastic.
So thanks for doing this one, guys. It got me through some work with a nice bit of nostalgia and excitement reliving those moments from the comics as you guys discussed them.
OH, and I totally remember that episode of Transformers with the faux Cobra Commander and the coughing. It's as vivid in my mind as the first time I saw it. Classic!
I concur that GI Joe Resolute is absolutely amazing. Similar to that was the G.I. Joe Reloaded comic, which was a gritty more mature take on the property in comic form. It was done by Devil's Due. It only lasted 14 issues, plus the G.I. Joe Reborn and Cobra Reborn issues.
Also, just for clarification, the Image run turned into the Devil's Due run. Image was like the parent company of sorts, so it just kinda transitioned over. Then after that they relaunched it with G.I. Joe: America's Elite, which is the run that had the World War III story you mentioned (which i agree is woefully underprinted out there).
IDW has been re-releasing the Image/Devil's Due stuff in trades titles G.I. Joe: Disavowed. If you have seen those in listings, those are the trades of the Devil's Due run.
Current Joe artist, Robert Atkins, got his start by drawing for those Snake-Eyes Declassified issues. I think he did #2 and #3, but I might have the numbers wrong. They are extremely hard to find.
I can't say enough great things about the IDW take of the Joe property. Cobra has become my favorite comic series on GI Joe ever done. We had the writer Mike Costa on our show recently, and he was very forthcoming of things he has planned coming up. I strongly suggest that anyone interested in the current IDW G.I. Joe stuff to check out our podcast (Star Joes), and if nothing else check out that interview we did with Mike Costa.
And I'd sorta go with the suggestion for a Transformers spotlight. I say sorta for one reason. I've read every issue of the original Marvel US run (and a good chunk of the UK run as well) and it's part of the reason I'm so into comics and while I'm not current I am reading the IDW stuff. The only reason it gets sorta is because I don't think any of the other geeks are/were reading it so I don't know how good the discussion would go. We all love Pants' questions, but if everybody is Pants and nobody can answer the questions, it wouldn't be all that great an episode. Unless of course you get someone else in the studio (or on the phone) with you who knows more.
1) as Matt mentioned above in the thread, we did see Snake-Eyes' face before he got the plastic surgery. And I distinctly remember being so let down with that. He hardly looked disfigured, let alone someone who had been burned with jet fuel. I actually wrote a short post on it (coupled with Flash's disfigured face) over at my "home on the 'net," Warrior27.
2) G.I. Joe #60 - yeah, it had Todd McFarlane's art. I remember how different it was; it really stood out. My guess - though I've never seen it - is that the McFarlane G.I. Joe special just reprinted the book as is because his art was definitely on display in that original issue.
chris
I didn't start collecting Transformers or Star Wars figures until I got older (my parents argued they were too expensive, and I have to agree with them), but we always had G.I.Joe (maybe because my dad was a Marine and could justify me getting military style toys?). My favorite--and I think its still somewhere in my parents basement--was the Skystriker F-14 Tomcat. I loved how the wheels and wings swept in and out. I also remember the first time I saw Top Gun I couldn't believe they stole the Skystriker from G.I.Joe. I have so many memories playing with it. However, I never got into the Joe comic as I believe I was too young. I also went through an anti-Joe phase in the late 90s as Hasbro seemed to really screw up the line. Yet, in my early 30s now, I really miss the toys and wish I still had all of mine.
Thanks for a wonderful episode!
He tells no one in fear of an intervention.
G.I. Joe is what got me in to comics. The first comic I ever bought was G.I. Joe 85. It made me a comic book fan.
This look back at this awesome series was great! I enjoyed hearing from people that know it through and through.
But since I did read G.I. Joe as a child, here are a few comments on the episode.
Matt was completely correct in everything he said about Duke dying in the G.I. Joe animated movie, but one thing I don't think he mentioned was that the movie was supposed to be released to theaters. It was supposed to be a follow up to Transformers the Movie. But that didn't do so hot in theaters and one of the things that did not go over well was the death of Optimus Prime so in addition to that being the reason Duke survived, it's also the reason it was never released in theaters.
And speaking of the Transformers, it's also worth noting that the Transformers actually did NOT have a comic when they appeared in the G.I. Joe monthly series proper. There was the G.I. Joe vs. Transformers series released at the height of both series' popularity. That series was a big part of the Transformers continuity because it explained how Bumblebee became Goldbug, but it was completely ignored by Larry Hama in the G.I. Joe monthly. Transformers ended with issue 80. A couple years later, they brought the series back with Generation 2, but as a lead-in/teaser for the new series, the Transformers guest starred in a couple issues of G.I. Joe.
Todd McFarlane drew issue 60 of G.I. Joe. The real issue, not any sort of special. He was apparently supposed to also draw issue 61, but that was deemed unacceptable (I don't know if was by Hama or Hasbro or someone else entirely - this was before Spider-Man obviously, it was right about when he started on the Hulk). Later that was released as G.I. Joe Special after Todd was part of Image and Marvel realized they had some unplublished McFarlane art they could sell.
If you're curious, here's a McFarlane page I found online from issue 60
And finally.... Destro's new look was before the Cobra Civil War.
That's the cover of G.I. Joe 69 and it was in the 70s that the Civil War took place. It was just before it. 69-71 was the first story involving Destro and his new look and his independence from Cobra and 72 was the start of the story that led into the Civil War. The Joes sided with Serpentor, and Destro didn't really take a side. I kinda remembered him as being out for himself and looking to take advantage of the situation. The comicbookdb describes issue 75 as such "Serpentor and Fred VII's forces continue to battle for control of Cobra Island. The Joes take a support role for Serpentor's side. Destro's forces sit and watch as the battle plays out before them. Fred VII's military inexperience leads to troubles out on the field."
Listening to the episode all sorts of things came back to me that I would not have been about to access without prompting: Cobra Commander's kid Billy, Springfiend, Xamot/Tomax being accountants...but the more you guys went in the more I went "oh yeah!"
Well done.