Gijoe The Comic - What Next??

[tweinzierl]

So there seems to be some consensus by fans that the main series isn't getting the response it had hoped for after the reboot with sales figures showing the book doing the same before the reboot. If the series fails to go beyond the first fifteen issues where should Joe go from there? Should the comic change to four to six issue mini-series like M&A, M&AII, and Snake Eyes: Declassified, or should there be another reboot with the current continuity?

 

I say... aknowledge the timeline. Let's face it, the Joes of the 1980's were hardened veterans of the Vietnam War and were facing the threat of the Cold War with Russia. Not only did they fight against the evils of Cobra, but they also faced off against the Soviet Union's Oktober Guard and other armies in Afganistan and the Middle East.

 

Time's have changed and those Joes have gotten older. I think it's time for a changing of the guard. Hasbro and DDP have created new characters with potential to have new stories that could bring new readers into the fold while keeping the old fans happy.

 

 

The current continuity does not have to ignored. No reboot of the franchise is necessary. Let the Joes of the 80's enjoy their military pensions while a new team of operatives takes the fight to the threats of Cobra and the Red Shadows.

 

My idea of the new line-up is the following

 

General Rey - GIJoe Command

Major Barrage - Field Commander

Barrel Roll

Bombstrike

Crosshairs

Dart

Cannonball

Long Range

Kamakura

Sgt Hacker

Hard Drive

Agent Faces

 

And for those that still want their 80's Joe fix... make the second monthly or quarterly a Declassified book... missions that couldn't be told until now. This book would feature the original Joes on missions recently "unclassified." This would also allow for the use of all characters, dead or alive, as the stories would have been past stories.

 

So what do you guys and gals think? What needs to be done to breathe live back into this comic?

[Wild Bill]

Wow, great Idea, I like the sound of a classic 80s set series too.

[firefly69]

The main issue is the choice of characters. what do you really know about a lot of characters. Yeah there is the main few SE SS duke scarlett that you know about, but that is about it. They need to bring other characters into the spotlight to create better stories.

 

The older characters don't necessarily have to get older. Look at x men and spiderman.

 

They need to go with the best characters in order to have a successful book

 

In my opinion these are the ones everyone wants to see:

 

Rock 'N' Roll

Falcon

Flint

Stalker

Gung Ho

Shipwreck

Roadblock

Spirit

Duke

Beach Head

Scarlett

Snake-Eyes

Storm Shadow

Lowlight

Kamakura

General Flagg

Cover Girl

Firewall

Shockwave

Mutt & Junkyard

Law & Order

Wild Bill

Airborne

Clutch

Ace

Snow Job

Dusty

Alpine

Repeater

Tunnel Rat

Bombstrike

Jinx

Outback

[Fakeor]

The book has been OK in my opinion, and thats just my opinion. They should have kept Brandon Jerwa on writing in my opinion. The new book has just left me with many questions and angry thoughts. First off, where is General Ray, we know he's Serpentor, so get friggn to it already.

Secondly, the whole Snake eyes/Firefly thing seemed like a bunch of smoke and too short. And they never showed what happened between Scarlett, Cesspool, and the Bats. I mean, we "assume" she was captured, but never saw it. And when is Hawk gonna get out of that chair? They TEASED at one time that he eventually would, but no go. And still no Cobra Commander yet! Things are just moving too slow for me. I do agree that they should show thier age. Lets face it, Colton is probably 59 or 60, and the others are probably 3-10 years younger. Colton now looks his age with the grey, but the others just stay eternally young. Get off it! I want to get to where Snake eyes is a old(but still fit) grey haired master somewhere, teaching new students, but still puts on the suit every now and then, and kicks some ass. Anyone else?

 

FAKEOR

[BrotherShane]

I'm all for your 80s unclassified/declassified book!

 

As for me, I wouldn't care for the newer characters book. Simply because I'm not really interested in them.

[revsears]

I'd love the new char book, but i think it needs to be done over a year or two, nos udden change tot hat. And rey wouldn't be the way i would go for gen, or barrage for feild command really either, older more familiar joes need to go there.

 

I think the sad true prediction, is that it will get canceled in the next year. They may switch writers to try and help it some but i doubt Jerwa will get to wwrite it again. I think Josh won't get himb ack for several reasons, the fans have asked for him by name, after brandon was axed he told some things that happened behind scenes that made a lot of us hate Josh(this is the number 1 reason) and Jerwa had a few haters too, they would fear he would go back to his way and it would be the casey run that would get ignored instead of Jerwas.

[zweiman]

i REALLY like the 'declassified' series idea. you should email dd and pitch it...

[Darren]

I'm sick of reboots,relaunches,etc. Devil's Due tried that once before with Reloaded and it bombed out and it is obvious that America's Elite is down the same path.

 

I think part of what has contributed to it was that the opening storyline, though it might be well-written,was completely weak. I had little-to-no urge to get the next title after I saw the satellite crashing on the last panel.So?Who cares?This has happened before!How about put something worth surprising and worth driving people to get the next issue?

 

How about writing a storyline where Cobra WINS?Where their world domination TRULY begins and GI Joe can be viewed more as the elite underdogs instead of the invincible team that it seemingly has been portrayed as. DD said that wanted to have AE appeal to new readers...but let me tell you NO new reader is going to remember Wingfield. And the fact that Cobra is underground and most of the main enemies have all but disappeared does not put a good start to the series. Who does the America's Elite fight....?

 

I'm starting to think Casey just doesn't have a grasp of what to do to get things kicking.Which is why I'm glad Blaylock is putting attention on the book.Looking back now,I think out of Casey,Jerwa and Blaylock...Blaylock was the best writer for the main series. Jerwa is damn good at handling mini-series like Declassified (I think deadlines and such kind of drew the potential of getting better main series stories from him,as well as possible overhead pressure). Joe Casey may be a great writer, but I don't think he knows GI Joe as well as he should, plus that recent interview comments about "lunchbox" comic series he writes really turned a lot of fans against him (if he does consider GI Joe "lunchbox").

 

To me,America's Elite didn't really kick things off well,it wasn't a big bang or anything like that. Just a like "oh...I'll get the next issue cause I like GI Joe"...not the "I can't wait till what happens next!" like the Marvel series or the original DD one. I really hope things pick up because I think if they don't,and they don't draw more readers, AE could be gone soon as well.

[Jase]

I dropped the AE series after issue #4. Honestly, I think it's time for another company to have the license. I sure wouldn't mind if Hama was back on the book either. Bring the Joes back to the basics and get rid of the dark cloud that seems to be hanging over the title.

[GPM in ICT]

I don't think there is to much to say about this. Your either liking the current book or your not. I think it's just older fans (and I am one) that have a hard time since the Marvel book was so caught up with place certain event in certain times periods. DD can only do a couple of things. they can do what they are doing and continue with the Joes everyone knows and kind of ignore the Cold War/Vietnam connection or atleast down play it (much like over at Marvel very little is brought up of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm being in WW2). They can bring in a totally new cast and alienate fans who love the older chracters. Or finally they can just start new with S6 and leave it at that.

[firefly69]

Give the series time, they need to build up each character as a lot of damage was done during the last 15 issues of DD. Even though the first few issues will not be the most memorable they are setting the table for what's to come. Issue 5 seems to be turning the corner. If they can get through the first year the book should be okay.

[BrotherShane]

How about writing a storyline where Cobra WINS?Where their world domination TRULY begins and GI Joe can be viewed more as the elite underdogs instead of the invincible team that it seemingly has been portrayed as. DD said that wanted to have AE appeal to new readers...but let me tell you NO new reader is going to remember Wingfield. And the fact that Cobra is underground and most of the main enemies have all but disappeared does not put a good start to the series. Who does the America's Elite fight....?

Now that's another great story line! Very cool concept, I'd read it.

 

Honestly, I think it's time for another company to have the license. I sure wouldn't mind if Hama was back on the book either. Bring the Joes back to the basics and get rid of the dark cloud that seems to be hanging over the title.

 

I've basically read DD's entire work of Joe, but truly if Marvel got the series back with Hama writing - that'd be my dream come true! I also think it'd be the best thing for the Joe book in the comic world.

 

Something like Special Missions or Frontline would be cool to bring back as well.

[Draven79]

I still a really digging the new comic. Don't see any need for change.

Draven

[Jase]

I still a really digging the new comic. Don't see any need for change.

Draven

Brian, don't make me start agreeing with Clam about the things you like! @smilepunch@

[Draven79]

I still a really digging the new comic. Don't see any need for change.

Draven

Brian, don't make me start agreeing with Clam about the things you like! @smilepunch@

Sorry love AE! lol Its really grown on me.

Draven

[firefly69]

Yep, I am agreeing with Draven on this. Now if they can do an ongoing special missions with different characters then great.

[Cobra Command]

I think it is time we have the new characters take over a bit more too.

[Decky Hedrock]

Why don`t the get Larry Hama back to do a series?

 

Actually, I think it`d be cool if they actually had a story line done by Hama, but with artwork in TWO formats:

 

1. The oldskool Marvel GI Joe way (80s styled pencils) or 2. The Devils Due new style glossy art way. So you can choose what way you want your read, for nostaligias sake or new skool Joe....or both!

If anyone has seen the way the artwork for the Oktober Guard developing originally from Pravda Patrol to thier first encounter in GI Joe, sort of gave me this idea.

 

I must admit that I am currently catching up on my Marvel GI Joe comics (never read above issue #103 back in the day) and I am REALLY enjoying Larry Hamas style and can`t pin point what makes him so special and why his storys are so good. I also like the addition of the new vehicles and characters....maybe thats part of the appeal for me?

 

This is why I also really liked Brandon Jerwas style with Joe, altho it did seem a bit rushed at times. I'm liking Joe Caseys story, but not as much as Jerwa, and finally Josh Blaylocks run coming in last, it was good but didn`t really get anywhere.

 

So is there anything stopping Larry Hama from throwing down more GI Joe missions?

[Straight Edge]

Well, you're not going to see a GIJoe comic book without Duke, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, and Storm Shadow... Hasbro and Devil's Due both went from "carry the saga forward" to "Keep the core cast ever-green" in the years since the big RAH comeback in 2002. Its a plce they're not likely to stray from for the foreseeable future.

 

My main gripe with the Devil's Due series, from day one, has been "too much too fast". Josh griped about Billy being a "living plothole", then brought us three more "Kids of the big guns" with Destro, Zartan, and Snake-Eyes all getting protoges... Then from a managable cast of 18 or so Joes, we got cameos and revamps of almost every character who ever appeared in a GIJoe medium... in just under 45 issues. Add in foreign characters, new comic-exclusive characters, and a rambling, buck-shot wide scope... and things just got out of hand. It's my opinion that Blaylock's stuck like glue to the concept that "Cobra was defeated, and GIJoe is more about sweeping up their remnants than actually confronting a threat".

 

My secondary gripe is with the entire mood of the comic. It's so fricken serious. While the jokes have always been awkward (especially Blaylock's "this is a toy comic in-jokes), the book does need levity. Characters like Shipwreck have been bastardized by mishandling... Storm Shadow's been more or less obliterated by the needless back and forth brainwashing... most of these characters are miserable wrecks... and like DC, there needs to be a major lightening of the tone.

 

I look at GIJoe these days the way I look at the President and his people. If these are the people protecting me, I think I'd rather be enslaved. The hard-ass hero, best exemplified by Frank Miller's Batman concept, doesnt even work on Batman anymore. These are human beings. And more importantly, they are good people. To imagine them as joyless, automaton killers is to paint them in as bad a light as our enemies bathe themselves.

 

If G.I.Joe does escape the Devil's grasp, I'd be the first to call for a restart of the mythos. The Marvel series stands as a triumph of unencumbered writing by an artist wo had something to say about the military and our world. The current series is nothing more or less than a cash-in by people who loved G.I.Joe, but had nothing much to *say* with the characters. These comics are not adventures of heroes vs villians... they are sketches of plots and dramas, with familiar characters dragged on marionette strings, dancing to a tune that is not their own.

 

Until something is done to span the chasm between what GIJoe is, and what DD's comic is about, this disconnect will continue to alienate fans, turn off new readers, and only send the miguided message that G.I.Joe has lost it's relevance.

 

A shame, when one considers how G.I.Joe is more relevant now than *any* other toyline or comic on the market.

[Jase]

VERY well said, Straight Edge!! This darkness in the current Joe title is what I meant by the cloud hanging over the title. I'm ready for some fun Joe adventures with some nice plot. Just like Hama did it. And let's brighten up the art a bit....it's so dark and blah.

[BrotherShane]

Decky,

Great idea with the duel format one storyline approach!

 

Straight Edge,

Very nice post! I agree with Hama's writing, he blended serious situations with humor very well. His military background was even more impressive (and educational). Very easy to like, kept me wanting more! As for DD, way to serious is right! Some issues I've found myself bored half way through them.

[OmegaHarbinger]

The current continuity does not have to ignored. No reboot of the franchise is necessary. Let the Joes of the 80's enjoy their military pensions while a new team of operatives takes the fight to the threats of Cobra and the Red Shadows.

I'm tired of the 1982 characters constantly hogging the spotlight in both comic books and animation so I'm completely in favor of Scarlett and Snake-Eyes retiring. However, I don't think it's fair or necessary to treat all eighties Joes the same. For instance, Shockwave's file card specifically mentions how he "was the youngest member of the Detroit Police Department S.W.A.T. Team". Based on that information, it's not unrealistic for him to remain an active member of G.I. Joe in 2005.

 

OmegaHarbinger