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GI Joe
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I have always been a fan of GI Joe but I wasn't really aware of the comic series until recently. I want to start reading them but I don't know a good place to start. I have heard good things about the Devil's Due comics but I also would like to read the 1982 Marvel version. Is it a continuing story or is it ok to start with the Devil's Due series.
Also there are 155 Marvel comics is there some way I can download them for free or pay a fee and read them online? The comics will get pretty expensive if I have to buy them all.
So whats the deal yo?
Also there are 155 Marvel comics is there some way I can download them for free or pay a fee and read them online? The comics will get pretty expensive if I have to buy them all.
So whats the deal yo?
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TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
The G.I.Joe Marvel comic really laid down a whole lot of the groundwork and basis for the Joe series ever since it began, much of what happens today is based on the stories, character development and plots originated back then. It's why they keep bringing back Hama since he was the guy who came up with all the Joe/Cobra profile cards on the back of the action figures and wrote the whole Joe Marvel comic plus many more when it jumped companies.
Marvel wise, some of the best issues involved the Cobra Civil War, the Return of Cobra Commander and the seven issue stint where the Joes fought in the Middle East during the time of the Gulf War but they're involved in a made up battle with Cobra, it's note worthy for the fact many Joes get outright killed which shocked most people since....when do Joes die? Well they died big time here. There is a classic issue of G.I.Joe that is infamous and much sought after called The Silent Story I believe, as the title suggest it's completely without dialogue, the story is told by the art. It works nicely too, the big thing about it was that they ran out of time to put in words so they just let it ride and the artwork was that good that they didn't need to letter it at all.
Overall most of the Joe Marvel series is pretty light stuff, it never really takes off in many ways since the comic like the cartoon was at the mercy of Hasbro who wanted new characters, updates and vehicles shown at certain points so the comic did suffer as such. It doesn't help that as a toy comic book the series is pretty light much of the time and by the time 120 issues had gone by Hama was clearly burnt out trying to do stories and keep up with Hama's demands as the stories become pretty bad at times instead of just passable.
The Joe series at Devil's Due was pretty damn good really and it's a shame that it gets a lot of flak from fans out there, it continues the Marvel continuity and does a good job of it. Most of the original Joes faults suffering from Hasbro's demands are largely gone from here making for good stories. The beginning, a good many stories during it's run and the ending with World War III was damn well done that's it a shame it ended.
During this time that was being put out a relaunch of G.I.Joe called G.I.Joe Reloaded was also released, it was a more updated take on the whole thing written by Hama that kept it more real, it's pretty good although now the end all Joe title everyone said it was, still it's 12 issues and worth tracking down.
It's kinda ironic considering when IDW got the Joe license they ended up starting a whole new beginning Joe take from the beginning, the Marvel and Devils Due was all thrown out the window. Overall so far it's been pretty darn good.
Sorry I couldn't give you any specific issue numbers but I hope that helps some.
TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
Somewhere around issue 115 the comic took a serious turn for the worse. The influence of Hasbro became really really glaring with the godawful character designs and things taking a serious turn for the 90s.
I thought the Middle Eastern war with a SAW Viper executing Joes were pretty damn silly and grasping at maturity, like pretty much everything in the 90s. The art was also pretty terrible. Things only got worse after that too, Firefly turning into some kind of Super Ninja Master, neon Ninja Wars, a comical GI Joe in Space! thing, way too much emphasis on Snake Eyes and Scarlett, a terrible Transformers crossover... ugh.
I guess there was an awesome GI Joe Transformers in an alternate World War 2 thing from... Dreamwave or IDW, with art by Jae Lee, but I never found it.
A lot of people have problems with Devils Due because Josh Blaylock is a liar, a thief and a jerk, according to a lot of people. A lot of people who met him thought he was a tool looking to cash-in on nostalgia. Some dudes also leveled some serious douchebag accusations against him. KEep in mind what follows occurred almost entirely on forums, so it is probably true.
GI Joe reloaded was pretty much a huge rip off of two dudes' proposal. These guys spent several years working on this reimagining of GI JOE, sharing some of it on forums and stuff. People were pretty into it, always asking for more, making sigs of their concepts, linking to their forum, using their art for avatars, etc.
The writer dude met with Blaylock at some conference with his series "bible" and a bunch of artwork from his collaborator (who was on active duty in the Army), thought things went well. A few months go by, he mails the stuff to DD, as they agreed, never hears anything else. Eventually someone emails him to thank him for the fan art.
"Ultimate" or whatever GI Joe shows up a couple months later. Dudes get no credit, Josh claimed he never received the cover letter or whatever indicating it was not fan art, but a proposal. These dudes were all over Joe fan forums, and a lot of people knew what went down, so it soured tons Joe fans on Devil's Due.
Warren Ellis recently wrote a stand-alone animated movie that aired on Adult Swim. It was pretty bitchin.
Yo Joe! is the definitive guide for pretty much every aspect of GI JOE.
I agree with that, by this time G.I.Joe was no longer at all a realistic (and I say that loosely) military force, they had spaceships and the craziest vehicles that looked pretty damn horrible. Plus all the new regular Cobra troops were pretty lame for the most part. I'm sure I don't need to mention Eco Force right?
I'll disagree about the whole SAW Viper being silly and grasping at maturity, one of the reasons why Hama was allowed to do that was because he was tired of people feeling like the Joes were always safe and invincible, that nothing could touch them. So finally he was allowed to kill some and he made sure to do so in a way that was a bit brutal and showed hey yes it *IS* a war and people don't always go out on top. It was kind of highlighted by the fact that none of the Cobra troops wanted to actually kill them and wanted to pass it off to one another until the SAW Viper said he'd do it no problem and went about doing it gleefully.
The Ninja stuf did get over played yes, way too much as a matter of fact. It's still something they do way too much in any Joe title, the ninja stuff is good but I think in small amounts, keep it at the forefront and it just kinda kills the appeal after some time. This was really shown when they obviously were teasing the idea of making the book purely Snake Eyes based and stuck his name in the title that was larger than the G.I.Joe name itself, no doubt if they got a positive reaction they would have gave him the book and dumped the rest, fortunately people didn't like it.
I heard there were problems with Josh Blaylock but I never knew half of what you said there, are there more such stories or are there any sites with the full scoop? I'm curious to read about this now.
We'll just go ahead and turn this into a general GI Joe thread
TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
My cousin has the silent one. Snake Eyes rescues Scarlett from a Cobra-held castle. No dialogue. My favorite comic book of all time. Catches a sword thrown by Storm Shadow at the end. One of the first times that their shared origin is revealed as Snake Eyes suffers a slash to his arm that exposes his tattoo with the red lines, and Storm Shadow is shown with the same tattoo.
Bringing back childhood memories.
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 1
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 2
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 3
The "legendary" Silent Issue was number 21 so that is the first issue in Volume 3
Amazon is listing up to volume 6 so it seems like IDW is going to reprint the entire Marvel run.
I was just starting to get some work and do comic conventions with a small independent comics publisher in the late 90's, affording me a first-hand view of the Great 80's Strip-Mining as it began to kick off. Having been occasionally working at a table within earshot of Blaylock's table, i can confirm that pretty much everything bad about him that anyone has said is most likely true. I've never run across another douchebag quite like him in the comics industry, and amongst all the small labels submitting packets for stuff like Masters of the Universe and GI Joe in those days, only Devil's Due seemed to lack the enthusiasm and the promise of an exciting relaunch. How they got through to Hasbro where everyone else failed i'll never understand.
Even more baffling is the year they spent letting him design some of the worst-looking Joe figures of all time.
That aside, man, how did i not know about these trades for the Marvel series? I'm gonna have to start getting in on that if for no other reason than to eliminate a longbox!