GIJoe Fans, Make your voice heard

[jjlecaros]

even thought it sucked at the end, i say marvel all the hisory is there.

[Admiral Hunter]

I have yet to vote, but I am a very big fan of the Ultimate universe... It's the only anything that I have all of the trades for.. (Ultimates, Spider-Man, FF, X-men, Team Up, etc. etc.) I would LOVE to see G.i.Joe recieve the ultimate treatment as well. Just like how we all know these peoples origins and what not, we wouldn't lose an history, we'd be getting it represented to us.

 

-Kevin

[CLAM]

I say Marvel. Its the top dog and has the best chance of creating a successful Joe comic. I have avoided IDW books and other smaller imprints because they are too inconsistent. You wanna see a GiJoe comic get 5 miniseries and then get stuck in a void of incompetent creators who can't get a book out monthly?

 

I am for Marvel.. and they can go back to the 80's history and do away with all the DDP stuff.. I never cared for it from the start.

[DPrime]

Offhand I'd say Marvel.

 

Here is another question I would be interested in hearing opinions on. Regardless of what company gets it, would you want them to continue on from the DDP stories which continued from the original Marvel series, or would you prefer that they start over from scratch?

 

I think it's time for a reboot. Unless we want Hawk, Duke and all the rest to start getting old it's gotta happen. These guys just can't be Vietnam vets anymore. Besides, to most of us, the toys/characters are timeless, and I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of people telling me that Doc, Breaker, Lady Jaye, etc are dead. To me, and a whole lot of others, it isn't GI Joe without these characters, and that's one of the reasons I don't read the comic.

[Sledge Hammer!]

Honestly I'd rather it stay at DDP, just put some more money into it to attract some quality name writers, or better yet, hand it over to Larry Hama as writer and/or resident consultant full time. I mean let us not forget that it's DDP that basically pulled G.I. Joe out of the gutter and played a huge part in helping make it viable again, so with the upcoming movie, and associated marketing boom that will no doubt go along with it, DDP more than anyone deserves to get some reward for all their efforts and loyalty to the license and the fans over the past few years. My thoughts anyways.

[jamarmiller]

I dont really care about who gets the license ( that is if Devils due is done with it, My preference would be for them to have it as I think they have done an incredible job ) but what I DO care about is

 

the continuity being kept, I been reading since marvel issue 1, 25 some years ago ,and if the continuity is dropped I will stop reading, I have way too much time ,money, and too much emotional feelings tied to this story for it to be just dropped, I dont want to start from the beginning all over again

 

Keep the continuity and youll keep me as a big supporter that will buy everything joe you put out ! Ill be happy to buy 10 joe books a month as long as you keep the continuity in at least one book

[Straight Edge]

I want to see it stay with DDP, if for no other reason than it will always be their #1 priority.

 

Funny, because for the past few months, DDP reps have been saying the exact opposite on other Joe boards (cuz they closed down their own, which were mostly populated by Joe fans). They have in-house properties now, some of which have been optioned as movies, and that's become their #1 priority. GIJoe took a backseat a long time ago. If they'd gotten the license renewed (which it's pretty obvious they didnt) there's nothing saying GIJoe woud've bounced back to the top.

 

With only 15k an issue sales, DDP has disenfrachised far too many fans who won't give any kind of reboot a chance under this publisher. That really is the signal to move on.

[Jeff]

I think it's wrong to think Larry Hama is the only guy who can write GIJoe. There are a lot of good comic book writers out there that could probably do some amazing things on this book. The problem is a company like DDP just doesn't have access to that talent and neither do most of the small comic book publishers. The reality of comics is that it's pretty much dominated by the big 2 and so they have the best chance of putting together a writer/artist team that can really make Joe an enjoyable read again. I say give it to Marvel, get some good people working on it and start from scratch.

[Jeff]

I want to see it stay with DDP, if for no other reason than it will always be their #1 priority.

 

Funny, because for the past few months, DDP reps have been saying the exact opposite on other Joe boards (cuz they closed down their own, which were mostly populated by Joe fans). They have in-house properties now, some of which have been optioned as movies, and that's become their #1 priority. GIJoe took a backseat a long time ago. If they'd gotten the license renewed (which it's pretty obvious they didnt) there's nothing saying GIJoe woud've bounced back to the top.

 

With only 15k an issue sales, DDP has disenfrachised far too many fans who won't give any kind of reboot a chance under this publisher. That really is the signal to move on.

 

Agreed. GIJoe was their biggest selling title when they first got it, making it into Diamond's Top 100 multiple times, and the only reason it doesn't sell so good for them anymore is because they ran it into the ground. I remember just in this forum how excited people were when the news first broke that the GIJoe comic was returning. Now you can hardly find anyone who reads it anymore.

[joebra commander]

I'm in favor of either a "reboot" or ignoring DPP continuity. The DDP regular series was more of a new continuity, an amalgamation of the comic & cartoon continuities.

[Cmdr_Y]

Of the two options - Marvel. IDW puts out too many covers and their transformers continuity is all over the place. I actually dropped all transformers titles because I got tired of trying to follow where they all take place.

 

Anyway, as far as what story to tell/what continuity to go with - that's a problematic issue. If they start off at the end of the first marvel series - they'd pretty much shoot themselves in the foot because they'd basically have a series starting with #156 where hardly anyone of the general comic book crowd is familiar with the first 155 issues. There would have been at least 1, if not 2 or more, handbooks released. Even though - how many people are going to jump on for that?

 

Secondly - are they going to completely reboot the project? How many more times are we all going to pay for the same stories being told over again? Can they really tell compelling stories and somehow still hold suspense if they just retell the same events - ie the whole SE/SS and Firefly and Zartan thing. Are you going to shell out the cash for a re-drawn story of the same events. HOWEVER, if continuity is rebooted and they change things up, you'll get however many people pissed off that their Joe is gone. Look at what happened with Reloaded. I liked that series but the general audience sure didn't.

 

The Joe comic situation is fubar. I'd love to see it repaired, but I can't imagine how that'll happen.

 

Also - I blame DDP and their sensationalism with killing off characters to boost sales. They had a few good hits - Zanya, Kamakura, and so forth, but the damage done... I just have a hard time seeing it bounce back.

 

Okay, I'll try to clam up for now.

[GPM in ICT]

I think it's wrong to think Larry Hama is the only guy who can write GIJoe. There are a lot of good comic book writers out there that could probably do some amazing things on this book. The problem is a company like DDP just doesn't have access to that talent and neither do most of the small comic book publishers. The reality of comics is that it's pretty much dominated by the big 2 and so they have the best chance of putting together a writer/artist team that can really make Joe an enjoyable read again. I say give it to Marvel, get some good people working on it and start from scratch.

 

I think your right that everyone thinks too highly of Hama. I'm not bashing him or his work but if everyone thought that highly of im his recent Joe stuff would have sold better (though I'm sure having multiple artist on SS didn't help).

 

I took some time and looked up the sales charts (from www.cbgextra.com if you want to see for yourselves) from last June to Dec and frankly DDP hasn't done a bad job. They have usually ranked within the top 150 and sold about 15k copies of each issue. Sure they could be doing better but for a series that isn't consistantly putting out a #1 issue or that has multiple media outlets (movies, games, toys, cartoons, books) it's not bad. I looked at the different TF series being published by IDW and Joe usually out ranks them (except for the month of June when the movie tie ins came out, which is to be expected but they didn't even crack the top 100). As a matter of fact the only IDW book that ranks within the top 100 is the new Angel series. Star Trek ranks lower tha Joe and IDW has a $3.99 cover price compared to a $3.50 cover price form DDP.

 

As for Marvel, I'm not sure how to even compare anything to them. Sure they have the marketing and possible talent to do this, but if it became something like how they have mishandled the Halo license (IMO) then I wouldn't want that. Issue #1 of Halo Uprising came out in Aug debuting at #35 on the comics charts selling 57K copies. Issue #2 came out in Nov ranking at #37 selling 50k copies. I don't think issue #3 has come out yet and this is a MONTHLY comic done by two of Marvel's top talents. Now I've heard that Microsoft is really critical of everything Halo related and that might be why it's running late, but still...

[Straight Edge]

I think your right that everyone thinks too highly of Hama. I'm not bashing him or his work but if everyone thought that highly of im his recent Joe stuff would have sold better (though I'm sure having multiple artist on SS didn't help).

 

Actually, while Storm Shadow wasn't the widest selling book ever, it was not cancelled due to lack of sales. Hasbro killed the book with a mandate, probably because the license was at an end. There was also supposed to be a Special Missions book that told the events of Cobra's invasion of the Coffin Prison (where the deaths of a lot of Cobra personel were meant to take place), but the mandate seems to be that Devil's Due can only publish America's Elite until their license runs out.

 

But it's one thing to say Larry doesnt have a following among Joe fans. That's obviously not true. It's also not fair to say the book failed based on his writing. It was a secondary title based on/spun off the flagging and unpopular America's Elite. Any clout it had was negated by the roughly 65,000 readers who were with DDP at first, but who dropped the title over the years...

 

Devil's Due alienated a lot of fans. Nothing they do now would bring readers to GIJoe. That's got to have a lot to do with Hasbro moving the license elsewhere. If there's even a chance that distancing the brand from this publisher could produce higher revenues, that's a chance worth taking.

[jamarmiller]

.....................

Actually, while Storm Shadow wasn't the widest selling book ever, it was not cancelled due to lack of sales. Hasbro killed the book with a mandate, probably because the license was at an end.

 

.........................

 

this really really sucks because I really see GI JOE as Universe and NOT a single comic , I see it being much like a Universe that Marvel and Dc has with the team book being the main title

 

I loved th Storm Shadow book and it was a dream of mine to see it, Im a bit pe-od at Hasbro for nicking such a great book that had sooo much potential

 

 

.....................

................. There was also supposed to be a Special Missions book that told the events of Cobra's invasion of the Coffin Prison (where the deaths of a lot of Cobra personel were meant to take place), but the mandate seems to be that Devil's Due can only publish America's Elite until their license runs out.

 

.........................

 

and this was really really what i wanted to see, the biggest problem I have had with DDP is the way MOST of thier deaths were done ( I loved Lady Jayes death and thought that was well done though )

 

the cobras were killed off panel and all we got was text telling us about it, but if hasbro hadnt stepped in we would have gotten it and I would have been okay with the deaths, even enjoyed it and praised DDP for it.

 

But why didnt they just give us another Double sized issue then to do it! the last double sized issue dropped slighly in sold issues but it went for twice the price which made Devils Due more money anyway so why couldnt they have given us that

 

so ticked off that Hasbro isnt letting DDP finish the book as they should be finishing it.

[ARROW]

I have no illusions that wherever the comic license ends up, the comics are very likely going to be pieces of crap.

 

There's I said it for all to read.

 

This title isn't going to draw top-drawer talent for more than a couple of issues at best. Its a licensed book, and such titles almost always have to past scrutiny by the license holder- in this case; Hasbro.

There's a reason why the original Marvel run only attracted high-profile talent to do cover art-none of them want to draw the guts of the book. The covers paid more and were quick and relatively easy to do.

Doing the guts meant being restricted to specifc reference material, and mandates from Hasbro.

This inspite of the book being the highest selling comic Marvel had thoughout a chunk of the 80's AND accordingly had the highest royalties paid out in the then-new Creators Incentive program.

The strictures were simply unattractive to artists trying to meet deadlines because they'd have to spend a lot of hours "making it look right".

 

Even so, some of the artists on the Marvel run were decent draughtsman, if a bit bland......the sensibilities for a title like this have changed considerably since the 80's. The styles of Herbe Trimpe, M.D. Bright and co. simply wouldn't fly all that far in today's market.

 

Once the title left Marvel, Dark Horse did nothing memorable with it, and DDP...........pfft, I don't think much of their work was any worse than the Marvel stuff. The sales numbers on the DDP GIJOE books softened steadily over time. The 80's fascination was exactly what all the critics predicted.......a fad, and fads don't hold an audience for long. Granted, DDP tried to do some different spins on the license, and whatever merits those different takes had were defeated by a sizable fan indifference.

They've lost the license for a reason: not enough people were buying.

 

I cannot see what IDW or Marvel could do differently, certainly nothing that could make a GIJOE title last more than a couple of years. Its not just a matter of putting a fresh-faced uber-artist on the book, or getting Larry Hama to write the same ol' same ol'--none of that clearly holds interest.

They could get J. Scott Campbell to draw the guts........reap huge attention for it.........but does anyone have any pretenses as to how long he'd last doing the guts? Two issues? Three?? Whoopee!

 

I'd expect whoever gets the title to do a measure of re-imagining perhaps like DDP's Reloaded book--and probably treat the thing as a mini-series to guage the numbers--before committing to a on-going.

They could put a higher-level talent on the thing, put some more polish to it and treated the GIJOE license as something to be meted out in doses, rather than a steady stream.

 

Otherwise the title will be just more pap like we've seen for years.

[Pit Viper]

I'd like to see marvel doing if not only for the possibilities of crossovers with Marvel characters. I'm sick of G.I. Joe/Transformers crossovers. How about G.I. Joe/Captain America or G.I. Joe/SHIELD?

[rherk]

I guess I could really care less seeing I never really red either. I just hope the comics don't have so much of an influence on the action figures. I'll pick Marvel just because I've seen some of the costume designs from devils Due and they don't work for me.

[Stevy Maximus]

I'd expect whoever gets the title to do a measure of re-imagining perhaps like DDP's Reloaded book--and probably treat the thing as a mini-series to guage the numbers--before committing to a on-going.

They could put a higher-level talent on the thing, put some more polish to it and treated the GIJOE license as something to be meted out in doses, rather than a steady stream.

Basically, what IDW has been doing with Transformers since they got the license

[Stevy Maximus]

I guess I could really care less seeing I never really red either. I just hope the comics don't have so much of an influence on the action figures. I'll pick Marvel just because I've seen some of the costume designs from devils Due and they don't work for me.

I can all but guarantee that whatever happens to the license, it will NEVER carry all that much weight with the toyline proper. With a sell rate of 15K, that is roughly the same numbers the RAH sculpt TRU packs were being made in 04 and 05.

 

Look at Transformers, when IDW rebooted the G1 title, they made an effort to modernize alt modes or alter them to fit the story. But none of those have carried over into the toyline.

 

All Hasbro really cares about is making sure the writers maintain brand integrity (ie, no excessive violence or sex etc), outside of that, they really haven't bothered with getting too involved in the comic stories. Most of the times I see Hasbro getting involved have been business related (ie, canning the STorm Shadow series because the license was wrapping up for example)

[Straight Edge]

Actually, the new Classics Prowl seems to have a very close resemblence to the IDW revamp. So there's always going to be cross-breeding.

 

Remember, the Baroness started as a plot-necessitated comic character, then transferred over to the cartoon mini-series... all before getting her own figure in a Hasbro-designed uniform in 1984. Same thing happened with Kamakura, who appeared in the comics, then got two figures, an appeared in the accompanying Valor vs Venom cartoon, and was further adapted/transferred into the Sigma 6 universe.

 

So yeah, no one should be expecting the comic to radically change the way the toyline's going, but expect that a successful character or popular idea will filter back into the toyline every once in a while.

[Stevy Maximus]

So yeah, no one should be expecting the comic to radically change the way the toyline's going, but expect that a successful character or popular idea will filter back into the toyline every once in a while.

Yeah, I had intended to add that point in my original post. Another example would be how STormbringer mini-series gave fans a sneak peak at the Classics Jetfire toy WELL before the toy was revealed.

 

But I think the point I was hoping to get to rherk was that even though DDP or Marvel may redesign the characters, there is no guarantee that those would carry over to the toyline (ie, the current sweater look) or if a character gets killed, Hasbro doesn't have to stop making figures of that character.

[pesatyel]

I don't really think it matters WHO gets it. The only consideration, I think, is Hama. He's been significnatly connected to G.I. Joe. If the comic goes to Marvel, would he be connected? Whether he is or not, an ENTIRELY new team of writers would be attached to it. And those writers will have their own ideas on the subject. In other words, it makes no difference if it goes to Marvel OR IDW.

 

The question, then, is what KIND of book? If its a continuation, does it follow DDP? Ignore it and go back to Marvel (especially if it goes to Marvel)? If it is (a continuation) we can only hope they are true to the original line (I don't believe DDP was so much).

 

 

If its a revamp/relaunch/reboot, then what? Personally, I think this is the best way to go. It worked, from what I understand, well with the various Ultimate titles, for example.

 

 

 

I'd like to see marvel doing if not only for the possibilities of crossovers with Marvel characters. I'm sick of G.I. Joe/Transformers crossovers. How about G.I. Joe/Captain America or G.I. Joe/SHIELD?

 

 

Ironically, Tansformers did that in like issue 4 with Spiderman. I always thought that was bizarre.

 

And that having been said, would that mean, since G.I. Joe and Transformers crossed over, then Spiderman can too?

[harkiri]

please no, no superheroes in GIjoe, serpentor I can deal with, clones I can kinda deal with, even the ninja mysticism I can deal with, but please please please no spiderman, xmen, etc crossovers.

[Pit Viper]

I don't really think it matters WHO gets it. The only consideration, I think, is Hama. He's been significnatly connected to G.I. Joe. If the comic goes to Marvel, would he be connected? Whether he is or not, an ENTIRELY new team of writers would be attached to it. And those writers will have their own ideas on the subject. In other words, it makes no difference if it goes to Marvel OR IDW.

 

The question, then, is what KIND of book? If its a continuation, does it follow DDP? Ignore it and go back to Marvel (especially if it goes to Marvel)? If it is (a continuation) we can only hope they are true to the original line (I don't believe DDP was so much).

 

 

If its a revamp/relaunch/reboot, then what? Personally, I think this is the best way to go. It worked, from what I understand, well with the various Ultimate titles, for example.

 

 

 

I'd like to see marvel doing if not only for the possibilities of crossovers with Marvel characters. I'm sick of G.I. Joe/Transformers crossovers. How about G.I. Joe/Captain America or G.I. Joe/SHIELD?

 

 

Ironically, Tansformers did that in like issue 4 with Spiderman. I always thought that was bizarre.

 

And that having been said, would that mean, since G.I. Joe and Transformers crossed over, then Spiderman can too?

 

Didn't that exact same issue have the Transformers fighting army tanks that looked suspiciously like MOBATs?

[firefly69]

Hama was added as an advisor to the Gi Joe movie. If he was hired for the movie, than he is good enough for the comic. Yes the latest few issues of Devils Due are good, but Casey pretty much killed the franchise with the snake eyes ninja story line, and the fact that Devils due thought it would be cool pretty much tells me that they do not deserve the license anymore.

 

So again, I am hoping for Hama, that guy is Gi Joe period!