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IDW Comic News recap from New York ComicCon

Now that NYCC has wrapped up, we’re starting to finally get some good, nicely detailed reports about all of the panels and events that went on in the Big Apple this past weekend.  Among those reports was one from Comic Book Resources which focused on IDW and Hasbro’s joint panel and what to expect from their licensed titles over the next several months.  I will try and outline the various news items below.

  • G.I. Joe: Origins #23 is the final issue.  Editor Andy Schmidt revealed that G.I. Joe: Origins would end with the 23rd issue.  I’m not sure if this is sales related or that they simply had no more stories to tell, but regardless, after just wrapping issue #19, we’ve got about 4 more issues to go.
  • Christos Gage is leaving G.I. Joe: Cobra after issue #13.  I reported this during NYCC, but IDW confirmed it, also reporting that Mike Costa would handle the writing duties solo from then on.
  • G.I. Joe #27 will wrap up “Season One” of the main Joe title.  In April of 2011, G.I. Joe will begin “Season Two”, starting over from issue #0 and kicking off with a Cobra Civil War.  Schmidt also says that in April, the only Joe title taking place in IDW continuity that month released would be G.I. Joe #0.  Dixon will still be writing the title, but Javier Saltares will be tackling the art chores.

Schmidt also talked a bit about Infestation and how it ties into the G.I. Joe realm, and remarked that Joe fans did not seem very “chill” to the idea…at least not to the level of Transformers fans.
Some interesting news, to be sure.  I could have sworn that at one point I read that this latest issue of G.I. Joe was going to be the end of “Season One” but apparently that’s being pushed off a bit.  Chuck Dixon has been hit or miss for me throughout his G.I. Joe run, and honestly I’m not sure what I think of Saltares on the title.  Loved his stuff with Moon Knight, and his Ghost Rider work was pretty cool as well, but those are both very supernatural, dark, and gritty worlds.  I think G.I. Joe can be gritty (just see the Cobra title) but I’m not sure Saltares’ exaggerated style works real well in a pseudo-realistic military setting.  I’ll certainly give it a shot, though.
You can read the entire article right here, and thanks to The Terror Drome for the heads up!

Five Page Preview for G.I. Joe: Origins #19

The issue hits comic stores tomorrow, and serves as an homage to the original “Silent Issue” from back in the day.  There have been countless homages to that legendary comic, but it seems like Larry Hama is really diving into this one to make it something special.  What will be the end result?  Guess we’ll find out when I post the review tomorrow.
Check out the preview below!
G.I. Joe: Origins #19
Larry Hama (w) • Joe Benitez (a) • Tom Feister (c)
Larry Hama returns along with super-star Joe Benitez (Superman/Batman) and it’s a SILENT ISSUE with SNAKE EYES! Not to steal from Stan but, “ ‘Nuff said.”
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

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Some details revealed about G.I. Joe: Origins #19

Larry Hama is quite the profilic poster over on his Facebook page, but doesn’t talk about G.I. Joe all that often.  Recently he put up a post about his upcoming work on G.I. Joe: Origins #19 and gave us a few minor little tidbits that I’m sure will whet everyone’s appetite for this upcoming issue:

“I took a stab at another silent Snake-Eyes story, but with
more complex visual storytelling and self-imposed parameters like keeping track
of ammo and ordnance expenditures. “Wrote” it and did
layouts. The amazing Joe Benitez did the finished art. It should be
on the stands in September.”

I’m really looking forward to checking this out.  Joe Benitez does awesome work, and it sounds like Larry was really invested in the story again this time around.  I think we’re in for a nice treat.

Newsarama interviews G.I. Joe cover artist Tom Feister

IDW artist Tom Feister, best known for his work on the G.I. Joe: Origins covers was recently interviewed by Newsarama, and you can find the interview right here.
The discussion focuses on many things, but he also drops some cool clues about upcoming issues of G.I. Joe: Origins:

“The most recent cover I did for GI Joe Origins was a stretch for me. The storyline takes place in Bangaldesh — it’s about how COBRA recruits new soldiers. My editor, Carlos Guzeman, and I started talking about doing some propaganda type posters for the arc. I really didn’t want to do more of the WWII style images. It’s been done to death, and I wanted to try something new. We started talking about the propoganda art from Communist China. It’s very creepy. Everything is very bright and the people are all very happy. A little too happy. I thought that given what I knew about Bangladesh, and the colors and images I’ve seen it might be a good fit. So I applied the Chinese propoganda art to the cover for Cobra… Am I rambling?”

The conversation also brings the cover image to the aforementioned G.I. Joe: Origins issue, which is a very cool looking image.
Check out the full interview at Newsarama.com, and a big thanks to Jeff Bohn for the info.

GeneralsJoes Reviews G.I. Joe: Origins #17

Now we’re getting somewhere.  As the G.I. Joe titles have somewhat plodded along over the past 18 months, fans were wondering just where we were headed.  Chuck Dixon seemed to be having a tough time getting his feet under him and figuring out a concrete direction or what the end goal of this whole adventure is.
But over the past few months, things have kind of started falling into place.  Over in the main book things really picked up steam as Cobra became a more focal part of the G.I. Joe universe.  The whole conspiracy theory concept with Dataframe and Snake Eyes got the ball rolling, and now G.I. Joe is making an active push towards uncovering the Cobra mystery.  Characters are starting to come into focus and the layers are at least starting to be pulled back somewhat.
Meanwhile, in the G.I. Joe: Origins book, we’re getting some neat looks into the past of various members of G.I. Joe and Cobra…and with Issues #16 – 18 I think IDW had their work cut out for them.  Zartan is both an icon and a mystery when it comes to his backstory.  Is he superhuman?  Is it all technology?  A genetic disorder, or a mixture of all of the above?  Which angle would IDW take and how would they explore his abilities and talents?
The answer?  They’ve woven an interesting, captivating, and awesome backstory for the Cobra Master of Disguise that I have already fallen in love with.  In Issue #16, they gave us Zartan’s background as an emotionless mercenary who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.  They tied Zartan into Cobra, and then, right as things were getting going, he was disintegrated.  Or was he?
Issue #17 picks up right where last issue left off…and to avoid any spoilers, I’ll continue the review after the jump.
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