Supernaut

IDW Sends G.I. Joe Back To (Re)Boot Camp!

(Sun 07/27/2008 02:46pm)

Yeah, I know... another lame "play on words" title. Hopefully the rest will be better.

I was reading some of the news from the San Diego Comic Con over on Comic Book Resources and it seems that Larry Hama will once again be scripting a comic book series for everyone's favorite Real American Heroes, and this one will be a complete reboot of the series. I think it's a great idea.

Like a lot of G.I. Joe fans, I grew up on and worshipped that comic series. To me, the cartoon was "the kids version" of G.I. Joe and the comic was the real story. I was always wishing for more. Devil's Due had a good run on G.I. Joe in the 90's, but it was one of those things that never really took hold with me. Not that those series' were bad, mind you... but it's sort of like a Star Trek novel. If it isn't a movie or tv show, it never felt like it was really Star Trek. It's just "authorized fanfic". (No offense to anyone who might've been involved with or enjoyed any of these stories - Hey, I enjoyed them too - but you know what I mean)

To me, if Hama isn't writing it, it just isn't G.I. Joe. But the problem that comes up is that the 80's series was so connected to the Vietnam War. It was an intrinsic part of the mythos. If you want to continue with that continuity then you have to set the story in "real time" and the core group of characters (Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander) are getting a bit too old for field combat. There was a reboot a few years back, but again: if it isn't Hama...

A reboot with Hama in control should make both sides happy - we'll get a new G.I. Joe that's relevent, but it'll have the guy who gave it to us the first time in charge. Of course, there's always The Prequel Argument (see: Star Wars Episodes I-III), but I don't think we need to worry about that. Hama didn't take 20 years off from writing comics when G.I. Joe ended. Granted, his style has probably changed a bit, but he's still an active writer. I'm not worried about that.

The only downfall is that we have to wait until 2009 to read it.

In related news, I've been doing some more thinking about the upcoming Joe movie. I was one of the many people who jumped the gun and tore this movie a new asshole based solely on a few pictures that turned up on the internet. I was letting my love of G.I. Joe get in the way. I still think those all-black uniforms are crap, but that doesn't mean the movie will be.

Okay, it probably will be. But we're talking about a movie based on a toy line from 20 years ago. A lot of folks didn't grow up on the comics the way I did - they only know Joe from the cartoon. Have you watched that cartoon since you grew up? It's terrible! I haven't heard one line of dialogue from the upcoming flick, and it's already better than the cartoon.

Did you see the Transformers movie? It was pretty crappy all the way until the Transformers starting kicking all kinds of ass: then it instantly became awesome! I'm hoping for something along those lines. Hey, this movie doesn't have to be Platoon, it just has to be entertaining. If you've got a silent ninja in black and an evil (but conflicted) ninja in white along with a dude in a blue mask and a guy with a steel head - you're set. Now just throw in some army guys with high-tech weapons and blow a bunch of shit up and don't swear too much (so it can get a PG-13 rating). BAM! You've got a hit.

In conclusion, I certainly don't have any expectations for the Joe movie, but I have some hope. Not high hopes... but some hope.

And rounding out the Joe news, it seems that Warren Ellis wrote a new animated G.I. Joe something-or-other that will be divided up into webisodes (stupid) and will probably end up on DVD (sweet!). I'm all for it. Can't wait to see it. Since there's not really any news about it, I can't really write much about it.

So uh... yeah, that's it.