GIJoe

[RoIIo Tomassi]

I have a bunch of the early Danger Girl stuff. It's cheeky 'good girl' James Bond spoofy type stuff. J. Scott Campbell did a lot of T&A poses in it. It's unapologetic fluff, but was fun for what it was.

I'll most likely pick up the crossover and let you know if it's worth your time.

[jjreason]

Just SCREAMS 1990s Image, don't it?

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Damn, that's one of the tamer pics, JJ. Usually they were wearing bras and panties. Or towels. Or bubbles from a bubble bath in strategic areas.

Speaking of GIJoe, did anarky ever find out who the new Cobra Commander is, so we can discuss it?

[Tom Foolery]

Today, my stream of consciousness led me to wondering about how few females there are in GIJoe. I could only come up with 4 Joes from the original continuity: Scarlett, Lady Jaye, Jinx, and CoverGirl. And for Cobra there was basically Baroness and Zarana. There seems like there should be more than that right? I suppose you could toss in Zartan's kid, and maybe the female versions of DialTone and Doc. I guess Helix And Chameleon. But those are all very recent additions. For the 80s it was just those six.
So how do you think they wore their...carpet?

Scarlett I imagine kept it pretty clean. Which is a shame, because she's a glorious shade of red and a healthy red thatch is delightful.
Cover Girl, being a former model probably kept a landing strip at most, and probably went commando like a hardwood floor.
Lady Jaye seems to me like the kind of gal to let it go wild.
Same with Jinx. She's a ninja. Jinx probably doesn't even shave her pits and legs, let alone trim the bush.

Zarana probably went landing strip. And dyed it electric blue or something. Also, she's probably got piercings down there.
Baroness used to keep it under control, but now she's like whatevs and has a nice thick thatch under all the leather and vinyl. But she doesn't bother with panties.

[anarky]

Dr. Biggles-Jones shaved. Given Candy's afro, I doubt she did.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Yeah, Candy was channeling her inner balloon bear, and kept it shaggy in ursine solidarity. Ripcord was greatful.

[Ran]

What is the difference between the CG.I. JOE: The Complete Collection Volume 1 mentioned in the other thread and these Classic G.I. Joe Vol. 1-3?

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-G-I-Joe-V ... y_b_text_b

[anarky]

Classic GIJoe reprints the issues in order by series. The Complete Collection will go in chronological order, inserting Special Missions and Yearbook stories where they belong in sequence. Classic was only released in paperback, and Complete will be hardcover. (Not sure if they'll go paperback eventually or not. IDW is really inconsistent on that count.)

The Marvel series was 155 issues of the regular series, 28 issues of Special Missions (mostly stand-alone stories with a more mature tone, but it actually crossed over with the main title a few times), four Yearbooks (oversized annuals with some reprint material and some new stuff, one of which wraps up an important storyline in the main book), and a four issue crossover with the Transformers. (It was continued as two separate stories by both Devil's Due when they had the license and now IDW, which is by Hama again and has used some "classic" artists.)

There are fifteen volumes total of Complete Collection planned, according to HisStank. I haven't read whether it will reprint GIJoe and the Transformers (which, as I mentioned, is pretty bad and, for purposes of GIJoe, easily skipped... if you wanted to get the Transformers series, though, you'd absolutely need it, as it affects that continuity (I've heard Hama loathed Transformers and wanted to keep Joe "grounded," so he didn't let the giant space robots have any lasting effects in the Joe book, at least until Hasbro and Marvel forced a second crossover that's actually in the main Joe title (and, since he didn't like TF, Hama had them actually talking like robots at first))). The first comes out in October, and I've not seen how long it will be between volumes. Likely 3-6 months, judging from what seems like the average rate of release on IDW's reprint volumes, so it'd be a few years before it'd all be available.

The final volume of Classics will be out in a few months. There are fifteen volumes, along with four volumes of Special Missions (these are available as a set in a slipcover, which might or might not be cheaper than the individual ones) and a single volume reprinting the Yearbooks. (Unfortunately, the Yearbook paperback reprints the entire contents, not just the new comic stories, so there are reprints of other issues mixed in, along with stuff that's kinda useless now, like articles about what's happening in the "next" season of the cartoon.) There's also an upcoming paperback that collects GIJoe and the Transformers; it will also reprint the second crossover that's already reprinted in Classics Volume 14 (like the Yearbooks, just sticking more stuff in there to pad it out and make it cost more).

There are advantages either way. I'm not picking up Complete; it'd be stupid to pay for everything again (I already bought the originals of all but two or three issues, along with the handy paperback "reading copies"), and I don't like hardcovers for my comics, particularly not really thick ones. Classics is also available already, except for the last volume, coming in July. On the other hand, you don't have to flip back and forth between volumes with Complete, or wonder where stories fit. (I'm assuming they'll be in true chronological order, which might not necessarily be the same as the order of publication.)

This is going to sound a bit ridiculous here, but my serious advice would hinge on one story we don't know about yet: "Hot Potato." It's a very short story, I think 8 pages, but really quite good, as well as the first mention of Scarlett and Snake Eyes' romantic involvement. It was a backup story in GIJoe #1, but wasn't included in Classics Volume 1. (Long story short, Marvel started reprinting their run when Devil's Due started their new series, but quit after four or five volumes. They included no backup material, most of which is cool but unimportant, unlike "Hot Potato." IDW simply reprinted their volumes exactly as they were, just replacing the Marvel logos with IDW logos, then continued with new ones to cover the rest of the run.) "Hot Potato" has only been reprinted in paperback once, IIRC, an IDW volume called The Best Worst of Cobra Commander.

I was going to say that the story is the only thing in that book you wouldn't already get by buying the Classics paperbacks, and absolutely not worth the cost. However, I just looked it up, and it appears that it's fucking dirt cheap to get copies from third-party sellers, so I might buy it myself for that, since I only have it in the actual GIJoe #1, which I don't want to open to read if I can avoid it. That comic is so old, the Who wouldn't have trusted it in their younger days.

In any case, if "Hot Potato" is included in Complete, and you're short on time anyway, I'd recommend going that route as long as you're okay with the hardbacks. Otherwise, I'd go for Classics.

[anarky]

Just wanted to cut off before I posted War & Peace there.

The original series is a bit hit-and-miss for the first nine issues (most of the first volume). The first two are two of the best damned comic books ever published, period. Then there's some weird sci-fi angles, a fill-in or two, and a story that's not bad but a little awkward to read present-day since it's about the Joes teaming up with some heroic Afghan freedom fighters. (D'oh!!!) But it really kicks into high gear at #10, and it stays on a high for about five or six years' worth of stories. It then gets hit-and-miss again for a bit, never exactly bad, but not up to par, for the rest of the run, with several long stretches of awesome stories mixed in with a few lesser issues in between. It gets especially wonky around 130 or thereabouts, when it's obvious Hasbro is taking a heavier hand by forcing new toys to take center stage for extended stories (earlier, there were a lot of cases where a new toy shows up for one issue, does its or his thing, and fades into obscurity), and they're lame toys like Eco-Warriors and Ninja Force--all while Marvel is trying to make the book more "EXTREME!!!!!1!!" in the Liefeldian "boom bang whizzow!!" fashion (the title actually changes to "GIJoe Starring SNAKE EYES," believe it or not"). Then there's one last awesome extended storyline about Cobra Commander reuniting the classic Cobra lineup for a showdown with Snake Eyes, followed by a few fill-ins (two great, two incredibly shitty stories by other writers, I guess to burn off issues they had in the bag in case Hama missed a deadline or something), and one of the best fucking final issues I've ever read (though whoever drew the cover fucked up monumentally for reasons that'd be spoilers).

Devil's Due started a new series a few years later, set years after the original team dissolved. I believe it was supposed to be six issues of nostalgia, but it blew up. Some of the stories are on par with the original series, and some are like crappy fanfic and most definitely not. They brought back Serpentor from the dead, killed him, brought him back, killed him again, brought him back again... at that point I stopped reading, but they probably did it six more times. There were several series (A Real American Hero, America's Elite, Battlefront, Declassified, Storm Shadow) and a bunch of Special Missions one-shots. It's currently being reprinted by IDW under the title "Disavowed." I'm not sure if the entire series including all spinoff will be reprinted, or how. (I would recommend looking for a used copy of the main Declassified series--not the mediocre or shitty series like Snake Eyes Declassified, Scarlett Declassified, or, especially, Dreadnoks Declassified, which is fucking horrible. The main Declassified is written by Hama, unlike most Devil's Due comics, set "behind the scenes" during the original issue #1, and explains how all the original 13 (aside from Snake Eyes and Scarlett) came to the team. It's incredibly good, and the only Devil's Due story I'd consider canon.) Storm Shadow's ongoing was awesome as well, but never fully collected.

IDW has also continued the original series, bringing Hama back and giving him complete free reign. The numbering this time continued with 155.5 (a Free Comic Book Day issue), then 156 and so on. All these issues are being reprinted as "GIJoe: A Real American Hero," and I'd consider them the true continuation and say you may as well start with volume 1 of this series as soon as you finish Classics 15 (or Complete 15).

Devil's Due had a "What If?" series called Reloaded, which started with two one-shots called Cobra Reborn and GIJoe Reborn. IDW hasn't reprinted these, and Devil's Due was shitty about reprinting just about anything. I always wanted to read them, since Cobra Reborn was very good.

IDW's current series(es).... woah. With all the various ongoings, relaunches (they seem to keep the same continuity but restart the numbering every 12 issues or so), and so forth, I'd need a fucking road map. I still haven't figured out the proper reading order myself and keep finding myself reading new (to me) stories out of order. I like it, but it seems like some people don't. To start with, I'd go with the originals.

The last thing worth mentioning are the new comics from the comic packs. Aside from the Nemesis Enforcer vs Falcon pack, all the new comics are actually set in the Marvel continuity (some are numbered "1/2 issues," some are unnumbered and tough to place, and a couple are numbered "1/2 issues" that don't actually fit where the number would say it does). The two best are Firefly vs Storm Shadow, an awesome comic even if it's set in the later Devil's Due era (and therefore not canon), and the Crimson Guard/"Scarface" Cobra Officer, which tells the origin of Dr. Mindbender (go figure).

[anarky]

Please be warned: if you start reading GIJoe, these will be your two new favorite characters. (Okay, art isn't the best on the second fellow here. Too lazy to find a better pic.)

[Ran]

Wow. While appreciate the info, it is way more than I'm ready for. It is part of what I find intimidating about comics. I only briefly read comics on a semi-regular basis, and that was 20 years ago.

Basically, I just need to know a starting point, which seems to either be Classics or Complete. I think I'm leaning towards Classics because it is in paperback, already out, and cheaper. I wanted to read it over the summer while I'm not in school. This whole going back to school thing is a pain in the ass.

I might swing by a couple local comic book shops to compare prices, but I'll probably end up getting it from amazon.

[anarky]

Classics 1 would be the best place to start. Special Missions won't even kick in until #50 (Classics Vol. 5) and doesn't immediately cross over. Same with the Yearbooks, IIRC, so you wouldn't have to get either of those before you've had plenty of time to get hooked.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Please be warned: if you start reading GIJoe, these will be your two new favorite characters. (Okay, art isn't the best on the second fellow here. Too lazy to find a better pic.)

It would be very interesting to see how they would or could bring Billy into the modern IDW-verse. y'know, considering how events have differed thus far.

[anarky]

Might be interesting to see him as the son of the original CC, the one Chuckles killed.

Not strictly comic-related, but you know what'd be cool? If the next two seven packs (assuming they do more) are both made up of dead characters from the Marvel/IDW run. The Joe set could be a Crazylegs reissue, kitbashed Mangler, (mostly) new sculpt Cool Breeze, kitbashed Shooter, Kwinn (since the bastard will never see release, damn Hasbro's shitty distribution!), kitbashed Billy, and a Quick Kick reissue or some other kitbashed SAW Viper victim and the Cobra set could be kitbashed Serpentor V1, (mostly) new SAW Viper, kitbashed Raptor (the POC Zartan figure is basically Raptor with Zartan's head), kitbashed Dr. Venom, kitbashed Star Viper (he did get offed during or right after the Cobra Civil War, right?), and, fuck, this one's actually getting tough because so many obvious Cobra possibilities wound up coming back from the dead.

Might be interesting if Hama were to somehow work one of the Devil's Due creations into ARAH. Might be interesting to see a take on Wraith that doesn't suck, and Alexander (I think--Destro's son) was pretty cool.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Have they ever made a Dr. Venom figure? That seems like a no brainer.
I don't recall what happened to StarViper. His first appearance was memorable though. Singlehandedly breaking into JoeHQ was badass.