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Great look at the wrap around cover for IDW’s G.I. Joe #1

Thanks to IDW Editor in Chief Chris Ryall’s Twitter feed, we’ve got a fantastic look at the upcoming wrap around cover for G.I. Joe #1, coming in March, 2013!

This cover is by Jamal Igle and really looks gorgeous.  I’ve been among the folks kind of scratching my head over the lack of military gear on these characters, but I personally have no issues with a more modern, less real world type of uniforms, and this looks like a very cool mash up.

To be honest, I think many of the characters here are giving off just a little bit of a Pursuit of Cobra vibe.  I know that PoC figures had a lot more military elements to it, but think about those cool forearm guards we got on Beachhead, and the strategic armor plating from Destro, Firefly, Dusty, and later version of Duke.  I see some similarities here.

But let’s all face it, uniforms are just on the surface.  I think we can all agree it’s the story that counts, and I’ve got a lot of confidence in Fred Van Lente.  I’m really looking forward to this hitting in March.  Check out the original stuff over on Chris Ryall’s Tumblr page, I’ve also mirrored the images below.

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Newsarama features preview of G.I. Joe #21

While G.I. Joe fans everywhere are getting geared up for the big G.I. Joe relaunch in 2013, not much thought has been paid to how the current storyline is wrapping up.  Over at Newsarama, we get a little sneak peek into G.I. Joe #21, which will wrap up the current Target: Snake Eyes story and tie off this latest “season” of G.I. Joe before the exciting new chapter takes over with a new issue #1.

In this preview we see a recently retired Hawk trying to escape his dangerous life in a cabin in Idaho, but Cobra has other plans…

Check out the preview at Newsarama!

G.I. Joe: Retaliation will not feature more Channing Tatum as a result of the delay

I know the rumors were flying after the delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation that seemed to focus on star Channing Tatum.  Without a doubt the focal point of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Tatum’s popularity has exploded in the years since then, and with rumors circulating around his demise in the sequel film, many inside sources claimed to have knowledge that this delay would also include significantly more Tatum.

I never bought it.

Considering the star actor’s shooting schedule and the requirements it would take to bring actors and crew in to shoot significantly more footage of him, I just couldn’t see how they would manage to do all of that, all while converting the film to 3D over a period of 9 months.  It has always been my suspicion that the sequel might feature different footage of Tatum, but would not necessarily feature more.  I’ve always said I thought they might recut the film or tweak it, or perhaps add just a short bit of new footage perhaps to show that Tatum was not killed, but it was pretty unrealistic to assume they would squeeze in a lot more footage among the rest of the story.

According to producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura this assumption is right on target.  He spoke with Crave Online, and mentioned that while there was a little bit of new shooting involved with the new cut of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Tatum will not appear in the film much more than he originally did.  His exact quote was:

“It’s not much different,” Di Bonaventura says. “Literally, we shot for three extra days. We just added sort of explanation in what we did afterwards.”

Which does make sense.  You can’t just bring in a single actor and shoot new scenes to broaden his scope in the film.  It would involve the whole cast and crew and significantly more time and resources.  The producer also said (speaking about whether the delay was to add more Channing Tatum to the film):

“No, it’s not, Di Bonaventura says. “That is a complete rumor. I don’t know where that started. Literally, Channing shot for – if I have it wrong, I’m off by an hour – four hours, five hours? So it wasn’t really about that at all.”

I won’t argue that they likely reconfigured the film a bit to make it look as if Duke did not get killed as they originally planned…but as Di Bonaventura says, I believe the final film we see in March is not going to be vastly different from the one we would have seen in June…aside from the 3D.

Check out Crave Online for the full interview.