Guess my feeling are a bit mixed on all of it.

Was nice to have another Blalock connected to GI Joe even if he spells it the weird Blaylock instead of the proper way. Some of the updates to the characters were pretty cool and there were new characters added to the world of GI Joe and Cobra. Some of the Front Line and Special Mission issues were great for having a contained in one issue story, or even some short stories thrown in. Loved Cobra Reborn for having the balls to compare Cobra Commander to Hitler. I'd be a very poor lier if I said there weren't some issues from Devils Due that felt worth every last penny.

Yet the mistakes were just too big for me to keep any love for the Devils Due run. A big mistake to not do more to wipe out every last bit of the Joe Casey run. Really should have started the issue after Casey with a nice big we are sorry letter and this is where we are picking up the story because the Casey stuff never happened. When they still had an internet form it was sort of stab us old fans in the back because Casey was going to bring in all these new readers. Yea we see how that worked out so Devils Due could have done more to say we are sorry.

Taking Cobra out of the stories was another horrible horrible idea. Cobra fans are big part of the fan base so when Cobra was taking out of things it felt like I wasn't getting much for my money any more.

Ouch and the story arches to darn where. Hey we dont' know how to wrap this story up for the trade edition so lets just kill off some people can call it an arch. Really got the point of killing characters to the point of hoping the characters you liked wouldn't be in the book to keep them from getting killed. Or insanely stupid ideas like lets drop a nuke on Cobra island because other nations wouldn't get the idea then that it's okay to use nukes on people you don't like.

On one hand I'm sad to see Devils Due having to wrap up GI Joe because of all the good things they did. But then on the other hand it feels like the nightmare is going to end at last and maybe a new day will dawn. Since I don't like the art I'm not reading World War 3 so for me it just means going a while longer without a GI Joe comic book.

I think that IDW will land the license. They have already proven that they can handle Hasbro's other mega property - Transformers. Plus, IDW seems to have positioned themselves to handle licensed properties (Star Trek, Speed Racer, Dr Who, Transformers, 24)

This is all just a guess, though.

_________________

I gotta say Reloaded was the best thing DDP did with the license. Fanboys whined for them doing stuff they didn't agree with in the main story and then fanboys whined when they rebooted the whole universe with a bit more realistic and gritty feel to it. I wish they had dropped the main title and focused solely on Reloaded.

_________________

Not nit-picking your post to death, but that is really not here nor there where a comic license would be concerned. That's like saying "Rocks fall down hills, so they should easily be able to float up river." Hasbro licenses Marvel characters to make toys of. Marvel characters are popular, and toys are a big collectors industry right now. Profit for everyone means everything is peachy.

Hasbro holds the rights to a popular toyline that's attached to an independant-level comic fanbase, which would likely not increase due to a change in publisher, at least not sustainably. GIJoe brings nothing to the table for Marvel, with around 10,000 copies selling a month, Marvel has in-house character books that sell better with no licensing fees to pay.



Does anyone have the straight dope on this? I thought I remember, back in 2004 or so, that Hasbro had aquired the rights to the GIJoe back-issues, which guaranteed we wouldnt see the Marvel TPB run continue even though poor sales had already caused Marvel to cancel them. There is absolutely *no* Marvel copyright info on any of the Hasbro released comics. I really do wonder if fans look to Marvel as a place where GIJoe is considered a proud member of their creative history, while Marvel's thinking "That book we used to keep Hama busy? Sure, that nice fat royalty check'll buy us a lot of DC Comics to wipe our @$$es with. Glad we don't have to deal with it anymore, tho!"



History and sales numbers seem to say the opposite: no comic has received a noticable boost in sales because of a movie version. Not Spiderman, not X-Men, not Batman. At the end of the day, Box Office does not equal New Readers. It didn't happen for Transformers either, at IDW. So it's unlikely that the movie will increase readership for GIJoe. The most it'll do is make some kids want toys... which is all on Hasbro's shoulders.



Image isn't a production company, though. It just handles publishing and distribution for the independant comic companies under their umbrella. Image never had a hand in GIJoe. Devil's Due owned the license and produced the content. Image just took the artwork, made it into a comic book, and made a profit on the backs of a small company who never wouldve gotten 80,000+ distribution on their own.

That all said, you completely ignored the 4th, and almost inevitable option: IDW. Facts is facts, there's a lot of reasons why this is the most likely outcome of the license transfer. IDW's making good with the Transformers license, and they *do* have a good working relationship with Hasbro for that reason. They're small enough to care about 10,000+ readers on a cult-nostalgia property where DC and Marvel couldnt give a crap. They've got a nice stable of licensed books and creator-owned stuff, and they're really on their way to being the #3 comic publisher, right behind the big boys (if they arent already).

I'm not a gambling man, but I'm putting my money on them.



Not most likely. It's already a done deal. Phil Kost, military consultant and contributor to the book, confirmed the news the same day the rumors began. That's not "official confirmation", but when an employee of the company says "Yeah, we're done." and no one else from the company disputes him, thinking anything different is just dillusional.

Phil also stated that IDW was a lock, and that Hasbro is pushing for a reboot, likely because they were pressuring DDP for something similar before the license change came about. The atmosphere really is "IDW will reboot continuity, at Hasbro's behest, and all we're waiting for is confirmation."

I just noticed that Herb Trimpe drew that cover. Kind of brings things full circle, the man who drew the first issue in 1982 draws the last issue in this incarnation's version of GI Joe.

Good night, indeed.

_________________

That would be my guess as well, I'm surprised this thread went this far without bringing that up already. I would guess they would do a total re-boot, like they did with Transformers. And at this point, I'm surprising myself by saying I'm not sure that wouldn't be a good idea. Maybe it is time for a fresh re-launch, so my happy memories of past storylines can't get tainted by newer ones I don't like.

I don't think it would be a bad thing if Dark Horse got the series either. They seem to be doing pretty well with the Star Wars titles.

_________________

okok

Reloaded was dead in the water, IMO.

Cobra Reborn was phenomenal! Then GIJoe Reborn was just kind of average... and by the time they announced the ongoing title would be called "Reloaded", the collective sigh and Matrix jokes were already killing it. The writing was on the wall before the series even started, and when they had to bring in a new writer by Issue 10... not a good sign.

Maybe you liked it, but a large majority did not, and showed it via sales. America's Elite seems, to me, like DDP's attempt to bring that grittiness and realism to the main continuity, rather than trying to keep the two seperate.

Cobra Reborn felt like a whole different comic than the Reloaded series. G.I.Joe Reborn felt like it's own thing too separate from both. I was thinking the reboot thing there was going to be pretty good based on that comic. Then they came out with the rest and I didn't like it. Of course not many others did either.

That pretty much sums up everything with Devils Due too. Some issues were great, then you had these others that were not. They seemed to have a good idea every so often but blew it all in one issue. That or drug it out until you didn't care.

_________________

the thing that i don't like about a reboot..

some things are just going to be retold, although with a different spin. If certain things are not the way a majority of people want (say snake eyes/scarlett for example) people are going to be in a tizzy.

I for one don't really care. But does that mean for the first 20 issues I have to follow the adventures of the original 13, or is this going to be completely different?

It will be interesting, and worth checking out.

_________________

I've met the DD crew. Nice enough guys. Approachable enough.

The biggest problem with Devil's Due is that they're more style than substance; more pizazz than skill; more marketing than writing.

After five years of saying "Look at us!" everyone got tired of waiting to see that they were going to do. They never really did anything to advance the storyline, aside from a slew of poorly written deaths, that is.

That's a bit harsh. DD did the following good things:

1. Expanded and evolved the Drednoks from a nasty biker gang into an international crime syndicate.
2. Kamakura, Firewall, Zanya
3. Used otherwise ignored characters such as Claymore
4. Killed Lady Jaye (like it or dislike it, it was well written and harder to dismiss than most of the deaths)
5. Ummm.... well, there is no five, and that's the problem.

After five years of holding the reigns, DD hasn't even crafted 5 good things. And they did a stellar job of making a mess:

1. Snake-Eyes isn't just a ninja, he can self-resurrect!
2. Writers with no affinity for the characters or story dynamics.
3. DD originally seemed to hold to a solid timeline (with actual time passing), but then started to ignore it for a sliding timeline. I prefer solid timelines myself, but if you're going to use a sliding one, stick with it.
4. "Redshirt" style killing off of characters.
5. Larry Hama's piss poor "give me the check" return to the book with the first Frontline story. To be fair, he more than made up for it with the Declassified story arc.
6. Disgusting overuse of a handful of characters. Sorry, guys, but Shipwreck got waaaaaay to much screen time in lieu of characters like Grunt, Ripcord, etc.
7. Sloppy artwork. Looking back at Steven Kurth's (the first DD artist) artwork, it may have been a bit cartoony and exaggerated, but at least you could feel some love and respect for the property. That disappeared with many of the later artists.
8. Brandon Jerwa, who had a much better feel for the characters than Blaylock, was kicked to the curb.

DD fumbled the ball, plain and simple. They polluted Hama's continuity. Though I hate to say it, maybe it would just be better to start anew with a new company.

People sometimes talk about re-boots, re-launches, new story direction and all that like it's just the most horrible thing in the world. But if something like Transformers had stayed locked in G1 then they never would have gotten Beast Wars or Transformers Animated. If Star Trek had stayed locked in no Captain but Kirk then we never would have gotten the Next Gen series. If James Bond had stayed locked in the Cold War then we wouldn't have gotten the rougher tougher new Bond.

Yea okay sometime re-inventing the wheel goes really wrong and leaves no one happy. But sometimes you have to gamble if want a shot at the big pay off. Wouldn't mind a shot at having to discover the GI Joe universe all over again. Plus if IDW is big on Cobra like they are on the Decepticons then I'm going to be one happy little bad guy.

Hrm. How about a DD inspired Zombie Snake Eyes Joemoticon?


bearcatcc

My Gripe with them was that it took them forever to start bringing in lesser used characters. Then when they did they killed them off. So it became obvious the first time you saw a character you hadn't seen in awhile they were going to get killed. Also Marvel was bad with the Snake Eyes/Scarlet over-used dynamic but DD was really bad. At least Hama would introduce some new characters because he had to due to the fact that there were new toys coming out, but DD just kept using the same guys.

I also have to say I've been going back and re-reading the original Marvel comics I have and most of the stories were more engaging and interesting then what DD put out there. The art of Ron Wagner was the best in the entire run and even if there was no action the artwork held your interest because it was so good and well thoughthout. I never really saw that with DD except for Manhattan's special mission and the first couple of issues back in 2002 or 2003

I'm also ready for a reboot of the storyline , as long as it's not like Reloaded. For me I always enjoyed the Sunbow cartoon a bit more and I realize we are never going to have a continuation from where that left off. With a reboot they can bring back characters who got knocked off in the Marvel and DD run and start fresh.

That's the way to go in my opinion.

Also if you read the final page in the comic where Recondo "dies". He is actually still alive just in waiting.

_________________

While we're at it, does anybody understand who the mysterious Agent Delta is? I know he's working with Duke in the current story line, but I thought there was going to be this big reveal of who he was, since everyone was speculating who it would be. As far as I can tell, he's just some random character.

_________________

A bit of a side note question, what was wrong with Reloaded? It seemed like a really good idea, though having never read it I can't know what was wrong with it.

_________________