Maybe I’m just not paying close enough attention, but I don’t think Chuck Dixon gives many interviews, so when he does, they are usually pretty interesting, and the latest with Comic Book Resources is no different.
Mr. Dixon gives some really interesting perspective about how differently he has to handle the G.I. Joe universe when compared to Larry Hama, and how he is working to make the IDW universe stand apart from what we’ve seen in the past. It’s a long and very insightful talk with the current writer of G.I. Joe as well as Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow.
Check it out at Comic Book Resources. Thanks to Twitter buds Mysterious Stranger and Kord for the information!
Grrr…If Chuck Dixon was true to the military he would not have promoted an E-6 to an O-6…. The highest promotion from an enlisted to an Officer was Audie Murphy. He was the most decorated military man of his day… one the the highest of all time, and he got a battle field commission from an E-6 to an O-1. Also Snake Eyes could be a good boyfriend to Scarlett if Mr. Dixon knew how to write Snake Eyes…. In his latest endeavor he has taken one of the best G.I. Joe Characters, Storm Shadow, and made him an idiot and a putz… A man with his ability should not have stabbed a crash test dummy…nor should he have been fooled by Zartan posing as his teacher and mentor… I have stopped reading Dixon’s G.I. Joe because of his anti-climatic plots and poor characterizations…. I’m about to drop Snake eyes and Storm Shadow too… It seems to me the only 2 people who can write Joe well are Larry Hama and Mike Costa. I love what Costa has done with his character development and plot lines. They are very powerful, and even in this fantastical world them seem very plausible and real. Dixon sets things up great and then poops out at the end….
I liked what this Joe writer said better in his interview with A Real American Hero.
http://www.arealamericanhero.com/2012/07/interview-with-infestation-writer-mike.html?m=1
Hey thanks for the link! Great interview. I read both Infestation storylines and was amazed that this guy has a better bead on characterization than some of the “regular” writers in the past. I’m the same age and am a dad like this guy, so maybe that’s why I related more with what he had to say than with Chuck Dixon.
I appreciate and respect what Mr. Dixon has contributed to comics in the past, but I have not enjoyed a single thing he’s done to the G.I. Joe line. (My biggest irk is how, in every SINGLE issue, EVERY Joe shortens the code-name of the Joe he/she is talking to, i.e. Beachhead is called “Beach”, Mainframe is called “Mains”, Snake-Eyes is called “Snakes”, etc. etc. It’s a nice affectation to use once in a while, but every Dixon-written issue has every Joe talking like this, and it just ain’t cute anymore. Silly critique, I know, but it distracts the hell outta me.)
I’m really not this anal, but at $3.99 a pop, I want more than what Dixon has delivered so far. I agree with the criticisms you and Hawkwinter have outlined.
Yep. All my fears confirmed. GI Joe is a war comic? Not originally. People care about relationships? They sure do…….if any characters have personalities, which Dixon has failed to do so far.
In fact, his interview makes it sound like there is purpose and order to hs story telling yet his books read more like random thoughts of the moment. Cobra command has been the only slightly enjoyable thing I’ve read from him and even that had a very poor ending.
Like most of the world I’ve given up on IDW GI Joe. It’s just too random and feels all wrong. Either let Hama write everything or get Brandon Jerwa to write these books. He knew what GI Joe was supposed to feel like.
And no Mr. Dixon, it’s not supposed to be a war comic or a military comic. I understand you are trying to create your own, distinct vers ion f GI Joe alongside Hamas classic version but if you go to a strictly war or military book you’ve lost the essence of what makes GI Joe so special.
You’ve also lost another reader.
Well, I would agree that I do not enjoy Dixon’s work as much as I enjoyed Hama’s run for the most part. But I do enjoy it more then then Costa’s and Larry’s current work. In fact, I can’t enjoy Larry’s current work at all. Different strokes…