What I thought of...GI Joe #6

GI Joe #6: This latest installment of the ongoing (?) GI Joe series, brings us some much needed resolution to some of the ongoing story. The Joes are sort of back together, but not really. And we finally get some movement on the Isaac Craft storyline.
The Good: First and foremost, the resolution with Isaac Craft. I have to admit, as much as I was loving this book, his storyline was dragging pretty bad. There's not TOTAL resolution in this issue, but we got some big forward movement, AND it's actually pretty good. Add to that, some movement on the part of Cobra and the Joes, and Steve Kurth's awesome art, and you've got a great issue.
The Bad: Even though we get some pay-off in this issue, I'm still waiting for the Joes and the Cobras to finally get their teams organized and make a call to action.
The Verdict: BUY IT!!! It's got some great action, the story takes some BIG leaps forward, and the book has some gorgeous art. What's not to love?

What I thought of...GI Joe: Snake Eyes Agent of Cobra #2

GI Joe: Snake Eyes Agent of Cobra #2: Is the next awesome issue in this series by writer Mike Costa and artist Paolo Villanelli. Snake Eyes has turned on the Joes, and he's now working for Cobra and out for blood!! Could Snake Eyes REALLY be a traitor?
The Good: This book avoids a lot of comic book traps. When you have a character that doesn't talk, there's risk of running into the "lassie situation". You know what I'm talking about even if you've never seen an episode of Lassie. Lassie is a dog, and can't talk, so during the course of the show, you get lines like "What's that Lassie? There's a gang of rowdy kids causing trouble down the road?". And, in past issues of some GI Joe series, there's been lines like "What's that Snake Eyes? Cobra's staked out up ahead?" or "Snake Eyes wants us to follow him!", but not here. Costa does a great job of making it natural and logical for Snake Eyes to sit back and observe and let the other characters do the talking. Add to this, Villanelli's crisp, clean artwork and you've got a book that's pretty awesome.
The Bad: As much as I loved this issue, honestly...there could've been a little more Snake Eyes in it for my tastes. Yes, he's a big part, but he almost plays second banana this issue.
The Verdict: BUY IT!!! The good FAR outweighs the bad, and I didn't even mention the ending! And, in case you don't remember just how awesome Snake Eyes, here's a little reminder......

What I thought of...Snake Eyes: Agent of Cobra #1

Snake Eyes: Agent of Cobra #1: Snake Eyes, the ultimate member of the GI Joe team is working for what, now? Yeah, you read the title right. One of the ORIGINAL members of the (1982) GI Joe team has turned traitor and is working for Cobra. Jerkstore.
The Good: Mike Costa writes. Paolo Villanelli art. Do I need to list anything else? OK, I will anyway. The story is WAY better than I thought it would be (no offense Mike Costa)! I thought this would be the typical "Duke tells Snake Eyes to infiltrate Cobra, Snake does, but gets threatened into working for them" kinda thing. That is far FAR from the case here. Truth be told, we haven't seen Snake Eyes in quite a while, and now that he'd back, we're REALLY not sure where his loyalties lay. The last we knew, he got screwed over by the Joe team pretty bad. So this story actually has the feel of "Wow.Snake Eyes really COULD be a bad guy now!"!
The Bad: We spend a lot of time with Destro in this issue. Quite a lot. But, since Snake Eyes doesn't really talk we need someone to "narrate" the story, for lack of a better term.
The Verdict: BUY IT!!!! It's Mike Costa writing GI Joe! Also, he introduces a character that, to my knowledge, makes his debut in IDW GI Joe continuity, and is a pretty big deal. You do NOT want to miss this issue!

What you should buy-7/31/13

As always, some great stuff out this week. First, we're actually going to start with a MOVIE, not a comic, though.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX: This movie is AWESOME!!!! Seriously, watch it. Based on the world (literally) changing Flashpoint story by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert.

THE BIONIC MAN #22: Steve gets some help protecting a defecting scientist from a really odd place.

CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT #1: Spinning out the 1940's, Captain Midnight is BACK!!! But, the government isn't too happy about it.

TRINITY WAR: PANDORA #2: I gotta tell you, I love love LOVE Trinity War. It's got that old school feeling of a crossover, yet it's really fresh and new.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #24: Cityfall part 3!!!! This story is EPIC!!! It's only 3 parts in, so if you haven't gotten in yet, pick up the 2 back issues and get started!!!

GI JOE #6: The origin of COVER GIRL!!!!! What makes a fashion model join GI Joe? I mean, besides getting to hang around with Shipwreck? Find out here!

What a week!!! If you're in Chicago, I'll be at Challengers Comics + Conversation on Wednesday where we'll be having their monthly book club meeting, Chattingers. This month the book up for discussion is FLASHPOINT! Not only will we be talking about this awesome trade, we'll be watching the movie afterwards!!! Hope to see you there!

Next Week:

What you should buy-5/29/13

It's a 5 Wednesday month, so this week is a little light on releases. But, there's some pretty exciting stuff coming out, though. Let's take a look!

Captain America #7: Great issue! Cap vs the whole damn Zola planet!!! And, some pretty shocking twists and surprises!!

King Conan:The Hour of the Dragon #1: GREAT GREAT first issue featuring an older, wiser Conan who still finds a way to get into trouble. Written by Tim Truman, who really know how to tell a good Conan story.  That, combined with some fantastic art by Tomás Giorello make this book a winner!

GI Joe #4: YO JOE!!! This book just keeps getting better and better! I just got two words for ya-SCRAP. IRON!!!!!

Smallville Season 11 Special #1: In all honesty, I'm really liking this series. This special issues features BATMAN and NIGHTWING!! What's not to love?

Previews #297: Featuring comics & awesome stuff that hit in August!! Do your retailer a favor-buy it and USE IT!!

X-Men #1: Yes, they're all women.

Danger Girl: Trinity #2: I love me some Danger Girl. I'm SO glad this title is back as a series of mini series. It's fun, smart and entertaining. And, it features hot girls. No brainer!

As always, if it's Wednesday, I'll be at Challengers Comics + Conversation. Stop by and buy all these things and more! Next week's got some great stuff, see you then!!

What you should buy-4/24/13

Not a huge week this week, but still some good stuff. BUT, the biggest news comes AFTER Wednesday, right Chicago?!?!?!?!?!

Superman Family Adventures #12: Sadly, the last issue. This has been one of my favorite Superman books ever!! Thanks for everything, Art & Franco!!

Flash #19: I got two words for ya...............REVERSE FLASH!!!!

GI Joe #3: You'll buy this because it's good. VERY good. SUPER good. And then you'll go see GI Joe Retaliation!

All Star Western #19: Can't tell you why, but the surprise guest is BOOSTERRIFIC!!!

KISS Starchild: Read this and you'll rock and roll all night and party everyday (individual results may vary) !!!!

Guardians of the Galaxy #2: This book is awesome!!! Buy it!!

Yes, comics are awesome. BUT, the real awesomeness comes Friday, Saturday and Sunday when C2E2 starts!!!

I'll be at the Challengers Comics booth (Booth #333) every day of the show, so stop by and say hi! I mean it!!! And would it kill you to bring me a diet coke? I'm stranded at the booth!!!!!!

What you should buy-04/10/13

While there's plenty to buy this week, I'm a little under the weather and grumpy so, you're getting the short short version. Here it is!

 Age of Ultron #5-Things get heavy!

 Batman #19: Who's Batman shooting?

 Wolverine #2: More awesomeness!!

GI Joe: The Cobra Files #1: REALLY REALLY good!
-Again, there's tons of more great comics to buy. If you're in Chicago, come stop by Challengers Comics + Conversation!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 16!!!

Thanks to a $132 worldwide opening, Paramount is moving forward on GI Joe 3!!! How awesome is that?!?!?!? I'm hoping that director Jon M. Chu will return, because this one was so super awesome. YO JOE!!!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 15!!!

OK, so this was supposed to be posted yesterday. Sorry about that, but the day got away from me. But, better late than never, here it is, MY GI Joe Retaliation movie review:

OK, to be fair, I KNEW I was going to like this movie. But, to my surprise, I didn't really think I'd like it as much as I did. First and foremost-this is a GI JOE movie!! And I mean that in every way, shape and form.  The characters, the vehicles, the settings, even the weapon that Cobra tries to destroy the world with. And, most importantly the story. It seems screenwriters Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick have borrowed from every GI Joe continuity that there was, and mixed all the best parts into one fantastic story.
-One thing that I was really happy about was the portrayal of Cobra Commander. In the first few minutes of the movie they took that mess that he was in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and changed him into the Cobra Commander that we all know and love. Sure, I would've like his voice a little closer to the cartoon, but I'm not complaining. At. All.
-Another thing that made me happy was that they managed to not overuse Snake Eyes. I have seen/read MANY episodes, movies, and comics that quickly turned into Snake Eyes and his Amazing Friends, but Retaliation managed to give the audience just enough to make him awesome and yet not get us sick of him. And the same goes for Storm Shadow.
-My big complaint? The killing of 2 of the major villain. This has ALWAYS been a pet peeve of mine. I think it started back in 1989 when Tim Burton killed The Joker at the end of Batman. WHY do this? Even if they don't show up in GI Joe 3, you can STILL use them somewhere down the road. I will never understand that aspect in storytelling. Unless this was the final GI Joe film EVER(Which I doubt), I just can't see it.
-So, yes, I loved GI Joe Retaliation. On a side note, and in my opinion, this was the best Bruce Willis has been in quite awhile. He didn't seem to be sleepwalking through this like he did the latest Die Hard movie, and you could actually see some HUMOR in him, which I haven't seen in a long, long time.
-Lastly, I want to adress something that's not getting enough attention. A couple years ago when John M. Chu was announced as director, just about every Joe fan's(mine included)heart broke a little bit, because here was the Justin Beiber movie guy directing our beloved GI Joe movie. But, I was wrong. Everyone was wrong. What John. Chu gave us was hope for a future of the GI Joe film franchise. Actually, first and foremost he gave us a damn fine entertaining movie. So, thank you John Chu!! You are welcome in our "sandbox" any time!! Also, after watching this movie, I am SO excited for what his Masters of the Universe film will be like. The countdown for THAT begins now!!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 14!!!

OMG!!!!! TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!!!! After months of waiting................and then MORE months of waiting-GI Joe: Retaliation premeirs in theaters everywhere TONIGHT!!!!! So, let's recap and take a look at what we're all so excited about!!!!













See you at the movies!!...and YO JOE!!!!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 13!!!!

She's the hottest thing to come out of Massachusetts since Jessica Fletcher!!!  Yes, we all love Alison R. Hart-Burnett, otherwise known as GI Joe's sexiest counterintelligence agent-Lady Jaye!!! In GI Joe: Retaliation, she's played by the lovely and talented Adrianne Palicki. Who is perhaps best known for playing Wonder Woman in the unsold David E Kelly NBC pilot (available on hundreds of bootleg sites). Lady Jaye was actually in the Sunbow cartoon FIRST, then introduced as an action figure and she finally made her debut in the Marvel comic series in 1985. Looking at these pictures, I wonder what the hold-up was?

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 12!!!

IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!!! I know, I can't wait either!!! Just a few short days and we'll all be watching GI Joe Retaliation!!! Today, here's a great behind the scenes look at the making of the movie.



-Excited? OK, you're not as excited as I am, but that's OK. And here's some links where you can buy tickets to the movie:

AMC Theaters

Fandango

Regal Theaters

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 11!!!

Yesterday we mentioned him, today we focus on him. That's right, the Godfather of GI Joe-Larry Hama!!! He's the one man on Earth that's spent more time on GI Joe than anybody else, and fans, we are SO lucky to have him. Back in the day, Hasbro came to Marvel Comics with the GI Joe toy line and asked them to create the back story for this new line of action figures that they were releasing. After every other writer turned it down, the job went to Larry Hama. Hama, who at the time, was working on a new comic for Marvel call Fury Force, took that pitch and used it for GI Joe, and thus, a legend was born. So first, I want to thank every writer at Marvel Comics who turned down the assignment. And it goes without saying that we ALL need to thank Larry Hama. Without him, who can even imagine what would've happened to GI Joe, but I think it's safe to say that it would've been a lot less entertaining and we'd all probably be going to see Olympus Has Fallen next weekend. Below is a video of a Q & A that Larry did at the 2010 Candian GI Joe convention.



And you can read a GREAT interview with him at Joe Battle Lines right here..

Oh yeah, did I mention that Larry was on an episode of MASH? True story!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 10!!!

THE REVIEWS ARE IN!!!.....and they're pretty good!! Reviews have started to appear all over the web for GI Joe Retaliation. No, I didn't get to see it early, my review should be coming sometime on Friday, but positive word of mouth is spreading like wildfire. Here's a few link to some reviews that you can read for yourself, but be warned, almost all of them contains BIG ASS SPOILERS!!!


The Huffington Post

Ain't It Cool

JoBlo

Latino Review

But, perhaps the most important review appeared a couple days ago:

"I liked RETALIATION a lot. Vast improvement over ROC. Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow are much more up front, and the whole thing is a lot more character-driven. Not only is there no sinking ice, but the big finale involves physical action with people rather than choreography of CGI vehicles. The Rock is perfect as Roadblock, and Bruce Willis's take on Joe Colton is brill (he has some of the best lines.) There's no sign of Scarlett, but the actress who plays Lady Jaye is quite good. Jinx is amazing. Flint is kind of meh. Overall, the direction is terrific and crisp. I can tell what is going on all the time, and everything LOOKS great. Ninja fight sequence in the mountains is amazing, in that you never lose track of what is happening, and there's a ton of fast visual input. Is there stuff I didn't like? That would be quibbling. The positive outweighs the negative here. And I walked out feeling that the characters had been treated with respect."

-That review came from The Godfather of GI Joe, Larry Hama

As if I needed another reason to be really excited for this movie.

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 9!!!!!

Today we look at one of the major players in the GI Joe universe-AND someone whos' front and center in GI Joe Retaliation-ROADBLOCK!!!

Marvin F. Hinton is the GI Joe heavy machine gunner. And, he's also a bad ass cook! Who would've thought? And yes, in the Sunbow cartoon he rhymes when he talks. A. LOT. I loved the original Roadblock figure, the others Roadblock figures were, in my opinion, not so great. Hasbro really made him wear some ridiculous outfits. Just take a look:

WOW. Those are some funky threads. This, as I mentioned earlier, is by far my favorite Roadblock figure.

Next week, when GI Joe Retaliation opens, we get to see Roadblock played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I can't wait...

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 8!!!

This is the ONLY bit of sad news that I'll post in this series of GI Joe posts. Yesterday, The Hub network(which is owned by Hasbro)held their Up Front for the 2013-2014 TV season, and, there is NO GI Joe programming listed for that season. None. At all. Anywhere. First, I have to say I'm dissapointed. Next, I'd have to say I'm also pretty surprised at this news. Yes, if there was a new GI Joe series or cartoon movie, we'd have heard about it by now. BUT, even in this day of "no secrets thanks to the internet", there are some things that do get by everyone. Like JJ Abrams directing the next Star Wars movie. That didn't leak out until about 2 hours before Lucasfilm actually confirmed it. But, back to GI Joe, Hasbro is coming off a GI Joe movie year and there's really no new GI Joe ANYTHING? That's not good. GI Joe is one of their top brands, along with Transformers and Star Wars(the latter being something that THEY don't actually own), I can't believe they couldn't get something going. Now, The Hub is still in it's infancy as a network. It shows mostly reruns of old sitcoms during the Prime Time hours and most of the original programming airs either during the afternoon on weekdays or on Saturday or Sunday morning. So, I can't complain too much, they're still getting the feel of how things should be done for them. But, that doesn't stop me(and a lot of other GI Joe fans)from being VERY let down. Now, just because there's no NEW GI Joe series, doesn't mean that it's not on at all on the network. If you want to wake up super early, they air GI Joe: A Real American Hero weekdays at 5:30 am. I think I stick to watching my DVDs and just get up later.
-In the meantime, here's a look at EVERY GI Joe cartoon opening produced by Sunbow. Enjoy!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 7!!

OK, due to being busy, I fell behind this week, SO you'll be getting like 3 days of GI Joe awesomeness in just one day. No, you don't have to thank me! Today, we take a look at Zartan!! One of the coolest villains of all time(OK, I say that a LOT when it comes to GI Joe, but they have SUCH awesome villains!!). Here's the commercial for the original figure from back in the 80's.


-How awesome is that? That was probably one of my top 5 favorite toys when I was a kid. And now, here's a commercial for Zartan's first appearance in the Marvel Comics:



-I could watch that all damn day. Now, when last we left Zartan in GI Joe: Risse of Cobra, Zartan was hiding in plain sight as the President of the United States!! We only have to wait a week to find out what happens!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 6!!!

We're a little over a week away from the release of GI Joe: Retaliation!! Today, we're looking at one of the best GI Joe ARTISTS ever in the history of history. My good friend, Robert Atkins!!!!! I first met Robert years ago when IDW first got the license for GI Joe. He did an absolutely AMAZING cover for GI Joe #1 and I was fortunate enough to have his sister Elaine up for a signing. She, being a peach, was "kind" enough to drag her brother along. All kidding aside, Robert IS a really good person, someone I consider a good friend, and, he just happens to be the number #1 GI Joe artist IN THE WORLD(Sorry Herbe Trimpe)!!! Now, just to give you an idea of how great he is, here is some of his work that I grabbed off his website. I would've just taken pictures of the art that I have in my personal collection that he's done, but honestly, it would've taken me DAYS. He can correct me if I'm wrong, but I just might be the biggest Robert Atkins art collector in the world. Anyway, look at these awesome things that he's done:

And believe me, this is NOT EVEN scratching the surface!! He's got several things available on his website, which is here. I recommend you buy them ALL. If you can't, the 365 sketch book challenges are my favorites. Currently, Robert is working on Castle: A Deadly Storm for Marvel Comics and he has his own creator owned comic with Quinn Jackson coming up, called Elders of the Runestone, which you can check out here! I'd write more great things about Robert, but him & I are currently feuding, as he's refused to finish my commission of T,J, Hooker that I've been waiting on for FIVE YEARS!!!!!!!!

La la la...I'm drawing my 10th sexy Baroness this week instead of working on Jimmy's TJ Hooker...la la la la....