IDW Publishing Forums

ER · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2012 10:59 am Post subject:

Blanco, thanks for posting your thoughts and memories on #58 and your intorduction to Joe toys and comics - fun to read!

And for this marathon there's no such thing as being late. If anyone wants to post anything about any Marvel issue at any time, I hope that you will make use of these marathon threads - I'd love to read your comments!
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30 Years of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero! 1982 - 2012

shanecdavis · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:51 pm Post subject:

I enjoyed your insights as well, Blanco, and I look forward to your thoughts on any of the other issues as well.

Torpedo · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 5:26 am Post subject:

I've been trying to cruise through some of these old reviews as I re-read the week's issues for my own responses, and I just had to comment on these:

Torpedo · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:43 am Post subject:

G.I. Joe: Special Missions #3: "Burn-Out"

This issue didn't make much of an impression on me when I first read it as a kid. Maybe the nuance of the story, of Deke's sacrifice, was too subtle for my young mind to really appreciate. Or maybe it was the lack of recognizable enemies. Or maybe it was the cast--aside from Stalker, who I love, I never cared much for Slipstream, Leatherneck or Crankcase. Whatever the reason, I tend to forget about this issue. But when I re-read it after getting the first Special Missions trade paperback, and then again this morning, I realized how good it is.

I don't have much to say that hasn't been mentioned already. This was a great little story, and another example that Larry was firing on all cylinders with the Special Missions stories while the regular series tended to suffer the weight of Hasbro's crazier ideas.

G.I Joe #56: "Jungle Moves"

Tripwire is one of those characters I always liked in spite of his appearances in the comics (and bulbous head on the toy), so it was great to see him really run the show here and demonstrate his actual talents without falling down. I liked the sequences with the Joes dismantling the Terror Drome and moving the pieces onto the train. Nice to see some engineering feats; actually, I kind of wish we could have seen Short Fuze or another combat engineer along with Tripwire for this sequence. The Joes blasting down the trees and building the boom and swivel. It reminds me of the scene in Predator when the guys set the ambush for their invisible enemy.

My favorite part of this issue, however, is the scene with Grunt. I never understood what he brought to the team that anybody else couldn't bring, so it was very enjoyable to see him retire and move on. The fact that Larry continues to follow him in his civilian life was a terrific notion. I loved the Lola character, her flirtation with "Bob" and his secrecy about his previous unit. It would have been nice seeing her with the Joes as a female helicopter mechanic.

G.I. Joe: Yearbook #3: "Hush Job" and "My Dinner With Serpentor"

Wow! I forgot all about this story. This yearbook was one of the issues that was lost in a flood that ruined a lot of my Joe books, so I don't think I've read this story in about twenty years.

I loved the first story, "Hush Job". What a great sequel to issue #21's "Silent Interlude". We see the Cobra Consulate in New York and the return of the Red Ninjas. Scarlett recruits Storm Shadow to rescue Snake Eyes. So many parallel beats from the original story told, including Snake Eyes freeing himself before the others get to him, just as Scarlett escaped from the Silent Castle before Snake Eyes could spring her from her cell.

Two things I noticed. A panel with Baroness in her underwear? Why haven't we seen more of this in the series? I mean it!

Also, once Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow escape from the ninjas, they each pick up an AK-47. Is this the only time Storm Shadow uses a gun in the series other than the flashbacks to the LRRP? I guess I'll find out as I re-read the next hundred issues, but I don't recall him ever using a gun.
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Mamu_Nestor · Transforumer Joined: 23 Feb 2011 Posts: 1003 Location: TX

Well the plan was to finish the marathon by the time the movie cameout... With the original date we would have not made it. But with the new date we finished real early. LOL!
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ER · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 11:04 am Post subject:

Torpedo, it's been great reading your comments here on the marathon again!

Btw, we first see Storm Shadow with a gun in #24
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30 Years of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero! 1982 - 2012

Torpedo · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 1:35 pm Post subject:

Torpedo · Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 2:01 pm Post subject:

G.I. Joe #59: "Divergent Paths"

I gotta come clean about this. I $#@%ing love Raptor! And I love Big Boa! Love Croc Master and Crystal Ball! Love the guys from Cobra-La! I mean it, they're some of my all-time favorite Spider-Man villains--

Oh wait, they weren't Spider-Man villains. But they should have been! Hasbro had some awesome designers in the mid-to-late '80s. These guys look soooo cool. Wouldn't you love to see Captain American and Iron Man fight these guys? I would buy the $#@% out of that comic! Why weren't these guys licensed out to Marvel's Secret Wars or introduced as new recruits to the Legion of Doom for DC's Super Powers? They would fit in so well in either camp--much better than members of an allegedly clandestine war between homegrown American terrorists and a secret special forces team created to stop them.

So, yeah, I think Raptor and the rest from this line are cool-looking? Do I think they belong in the world of G.I. Joe? Absolutely not! Mike Costa has done a yeoman's job of making some of them work in Cobra and kudos to him for that, but Crystal Ball should be getting his ass kicked by She-Hulk, not Mainframe.

...

This issue has a few high points. The introduction of Tunnel Rat and Outback were each cool, and I loved seeing--even for a fleeting glimpse--Thunder, Steeler and Grand Slam again. Billy gets a new mentor and possibly a girlfriend. I'm not sure why he had amnesia last issue if he's remembering everything now. It seems like all he had to do was get away from his dad, who didn't do the best job of keeping his invalid, would-be-patricidal-assassin under guard. Then again, no one ever nominated Cobra Commander for Father of the Year.

G.I. Joe: Special Missions #5: "Showdown"

I don't have the same love for this issue that many of you have. When I think of aerial duels, I always go back to issue #34. I loved Ace and Wild Weasel; the Strato-Viper and Slipstream in this issue could never come close. I feel like this issue didn't give me anything I hadn't seen before.

G.I. Joe #60: "Cross Purposes"

Congratulations to Todd McFarlane! Before he went and made a bazillion dollars on Spider-Man, Image Comics, and his Spawn-inspired toylines, he drew what I regard as the worst issue of G.I. Joe we've had so far. The art is horrible. Everyone looks fat. And the rocket/shuttle station thing... what the hell is that supposed to be?!?!

My rankings for this week's reading (holy cow--nine issues!):

Yearbook #3 - Excellent
Special Missions #4 - Excellent
Special Missions #3 - Excellent
#56 - Excellent
#58 - Really Good
#59 - Good
Special Missions #5 - Good
#57 - Meh
#60 - Bad
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shanecdavis · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 7:20 am Post subject:

Thanks for adding your thoughts, Torpedo! I had to laugh at the part about the Spider-Man villains. I think we can all agree that the Special Missions stories read better due to one common denominator - a general lack of COBRA and the stupid elements that Hasbro had included at that time. It's no coincidence that my least favorite issue included COBRA, namely Crystal Ball. Ugh.

Torpedo · Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 8:52 am Post subject: