IDW Publishing Forums

[cashel]

, i like gi joe because of its ongoing soap opera.remember the original run's issues 12-19? even the majority of issues that followed. they had scene changes about every page. subplots galore and a lot actually happened. jmm said it better than i ever could over on the reloaded boards. i have copied his words below to sum up my feelings on the current direction of style the regular joe title seems to have taken.
i hope he doesn't mind.
Today, it seems like an issue of every comic is a small segment of a bigger story, almost always. And the issues rely much more on art, emphasizing it with bigger panels and less dialogue. The length of time it takes to read an old Joe issue from Marvel is maybe twice what a story is today. But again, with the bigger emphasis on splash page kind of art, less of a story appears because less is fit onto a page. The 80s comics have many panels that would seem tiny in today's comics.

I've been going over many of the Marvel series recently and there's a lot of story and dialogue in a single issue, and all very complex. Two or three plotlines are often going at once, and when you reach the end, you actually feel as if you've read a complete story, even if it's continued in the next issue. I do like the current series, but how many issues have the Joes been fighting Destro's robots? Sure, it gives us a more play-by-play telling of the battle, but I still think it's a lot quicker read. Not saying it's bad. Just different. I do think that some of the early DDP stories suffered due to the story arc style of writing. Like how the Joes spent 4 issues fighting that single BAT in Chicago.

JMM
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Thank-you IDW for supporting G.I. Joe: the revamp and ARAH. Here's to forty-nine years of adventure!

[G. Noel Gross]

I hear ya, buddy. That's just the way the industry runs now. Everything's written in 3-to-5 issue arcs for the trade paperback. Yet they want us to buy the floppies too.

[cashel]

doesn't mean they can't give us a few more panels and scene changes per issue. i mean, wow, those first 100 issues of marvel gi joe were tight and furthered the plot in so few pages. all i ask is for chuck to give us a tad more for our 3.99. i'll buy the floppies and the trades but this would make me a happier fanboy. i understand what you're saying though. i read ultimate spiderman. that book stretches things out foreva!
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Thank-you IDW for supporting G.I. Joe: the revamp and ARAH. Here's to forty-nine years of adventure!

[Antarctica]

It always seems to me like it is a catch 22 for the writer. Long multiple issue stories vs short fast paced over and done with stories.

In fact an an example, I think both should always be happening at once. In the Marvel run there was always some story with SE and (insert name) but usually SS going on as the the rest of the Joe was doing some mission.

During hte first run of DDP when it was Image it was always a four issue story with very little over all story carryover that was the worst.

DDP did a great job with 12 part WWIII of mixing the long multiple issue stories vs short fast paced over and done with stories.

But neither of those options really explains why there is so much less story going on in comics and so much more art.
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GI Joe comic fan since 1982

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