One of the best things about today’s blog culture is getting some behind the scenes glimpses as the thought processes behind our favorite pop culture topics. IDW editor Andy Schmidt delivers on that in a big way with his latest “Blargh” post on Comics Experience.
Going into great detail about the thought process that went into continuing the Marvel universe with G.I. Joe #155 1/2 (turning into an ongoing series with #156), and also talking about where Devils’ Due fits in (it apparently doesn’t), and also what target audience this new book is geared towards. You might be surprised. Click the “Read the Rest of this Entry” link below to check out the full text of this revealing post, or you can just hit up Andy’s blog site right here. Big thanks to The Terror Drome for the heads up! (more…)
USA Today uberfan writer Brian Truitt has posted some cool details and a couple of cover images from the upcoming Issue #155 1/2 of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, coming for Free Comic Book Day on May 1st. As if that weren’t enough, he also spends some time interviewing the immortal Larry Hama, who talks about the return to his familiar stomping ground. Hama reveals some tidbits about the issue (which becomes an ongoing series with #156):
“Issues 155 ½ and on take place mere months after the events of No. 155: G.I. Joe headquarters has been mothballed, and the team’s been dispersed to different places all over the world. The Cobra organization is still alive and slithering, though — Cobra Commander is literally dreaming of rolling H.I.S.S. tanks into Washington, D.C. — and it takes full advantage of having no real American heroes running around.“They have to somehow get back together, and all the Cobras are trying to track them down and do them in,” Hama says. “It’s everybody against the Joes.”
IDW, well known in the comics world for taking full advantage of technology with their iPhone comic apps, has jumped on the iPad train as well, and announces that they will have fully functional apps for reading your favorite IDW comics (including G.I. Joe).
In fact, they’ve also uploaded a video demo of the iPad IDW app in action. Check out the embedded video below.
Comic Book Resources has been onsite for Wondercon 2010, and posted some news on the IDW Panel that happened yesterday. There wasn’t a wealth of G.I. Joe news, but Max Brooks was on hand to talk a little bit about Hearts and Minds, a limited series focusing on some Cobra and Joe characters in the new Joe universe:
“Brooks, the writer of “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “World War Z,” talked about “G.I. Joe: Hearts and Minds,” a five-issue miniseries he’s doing with artists Howard Chaykin and Antonio Fuso.
“Basically what I wanted to do was not do a linear story, but take a step back and examine the lives of certain Joe characters and certain Cobra characters,” Brooks said. Each issue will be divided into two stories – one about a Joe and one about a member of Cobra. Characters he’ll focus on include Major Bludd, Doc, Spirit, Blowtorch, Deep Six, Dr. Mindbender and a regular Cobra recruit.
“What would make someone join Cobra?” Brooks said, adding that he wanted to make them real terrorists. “I try to infuse mine with as much reality as Hasbro would let me get away with. And they let me get away with a lot.”
Brooks noted he grew up in the Reagan-era 1980s, a time of “harmless violence.” He said “G.I Joe” was perfect for that.
“There were a lot of lasers, a lot of explosions, but nobody ever died,” brooks said about the “G.I. Joe” cartoon. “A character named Roadblock used to rhyme his words, which they’re not doing anymore, thank God. But you kind of can’t do that anymore. Because America’s different. The times are different. We’re not only at war, but we’re in two separate wars. So you can’t do harmless violence.” Some of the issues he’ll tackle include medical malpractice, human evolution, science vs. religion and child development and sensory integration disorders.”
Sounds like an interesting experiment, and very cool to see a credible writer taking on some G.I. Joe duties. Looking forward to reading it.
