G.I. JOE YEARBOOK #1, Marvel Comics, March 1985
This may beg the question "what the hell is that doing in your collection, Siskoid?" and the answer is "it's something I inherited from my kid brother". See, all he ever bought were comics related to the toy lines he collected. And since he really didn't care about comics, all his Transformers and G.I. Joes wound up in one of my boxes. So it's fair game, isn't it?
G.I. Joe Yearbook
Full title: That's the full title.
Strengths: Lots of death and mayhem.
Weaknesses: Like, maybe two pages of original material?
If you were a fan of G.I. Joe and absolutely had to have everything Joe-esque, then the Yearbook must've been a real rip-off. It reprints G.I. Joe #1, then gives you a recap of the next year's worth of issues using selected panels as well as a recap of the cartoon mini-series we all know and love, and finally offers some short character file dossiers that I'm pretty sure were on the back of the action figures. If you still have Cutter in the original packaging, check it out for me, will you?*
*This is extremely doubtful, since no one I know ever felt the need to buy the Cutter action figure.
So what you're left with is a two-page spread of the G.I. Joe secret bunker (if indeed, this spread never appeared before). . That makes it 82¢ a page, and if that's not military spending in action, I don't know what is. If you're NOT a major fan of G.I. Joe, then it's all new to you! (But you're not a fan, so would you really care?)
The layman knows G.I. Joe as 1) an action figure that does the dirty with Barbie when your sister's not looking; and 2) that cartoon with all the military specialists and WWF wrestlers that shoot their guns directly at the ground and never hit a goddamn Cobra goon. And given the training shown in this issue, it's not wonder they can't hit the broad side of a barn:
I mean, how close does a Joe have to be to hit his mark? But good news! The comics are not like the cartoon. There is an excessive amount of killing in this issue. No one with a name ever bites it, but goons? Yes. A whole fishing village, every man, woman and child? Yes. Some of it pretty harsh, like when Zap bazookas a couple of Cobra guys firing at his tank:
Those two guys weren't just killed. They were pulverized. The plot deals with the rescue of a scientist who has been trashing the military. Several Joes actually think about putting a bullet through her traitorous head and call it a day(!), but in the end they manage it, though Cobra Commander escapes with nothing more than a broken wrist (read into this what you will). The scientist learns a good lesson too: the military is actually a force for good. Go Military Complex Agenda!
Then there's the huge recap, which is interesting in its own right. It's got an "Eskimo mercenary", a love hexagon between all the Cobra folks, and Cobra holing up in Springfield. That first year of G.I. Joe might actually make an interesting (i.e. kitsch) read. When you go in with no expectations, you tend to enjoy it more than you should. I'm not deluding myself though...
A note on the copyright listing for this comic: I find it a hoot that Hasbro thinks it can defend a copyright for the name "Flash". Or for that matter, Copperhead, Deep Six, Hawk and Firefly. Seems like they didn't just steal their super-terrorist's name from DC Comics (Kobra is awfully close too, don't you think?).
This may beg the question "what the hell is that doing in your collection, Siskoid?" and the answer is "it's something I inherited from my kid brother". See, all he ever bought were comics related to the toy lines he collected. And since he really didn't care about comics, all his Transformers and G.I. Joes wound up in one of my boxes. So it's fair game, isn't it?G.I. Joe Yearbook
Full title: That's the full title.
Strengths: Lots of death and mayhem.
Weaknesses: Like, maybe two pages of original material?
If you were a fan of G.I. Joe and absolutely had to have everything Joe-esque, then the Yearbook must've been a real rip-off. It reprints G.I. Joe #1, then gives you a recap of the next year's worth of issues using selected panels as well as a recap of the cartoon mini-series we all know and love, and finally offers some short character file dossiers that I'm pretty sure were on the back of the action figures. If you still have Cutter in the original packaging, check it out for me, will you?*
*This is extremely doubtful, since no one I know ever felt the need to buy the Cutter action figure.So what you're left with is a two-page spread of the G.I. Joe secret bunker (if indeed, this spread never appeared before). . That makes it 82¢ a page, and if that's not military spending in action, I don't know what is. If you're NOT a major fan of G.I. Joe, then it's all new to you! (But you're not a fan, so would you really care?)
The layman knows G.I. Joe as 1) an action figure that does the dirty with Barbie when your sister's not looking; and 2) that cartoon with all the military specialists and WWF wrestlers that shoot their guns directly at the ground and never hit a goddamn Cobra goon. And given the training shown in this issue, it's not wonder they can't hit the broad side of a barn:
I mean, how close does a Joe have to be to hit his mark? But good news! The comics are not like the cartoon. There is an excessive amount of killing in this issue. No one with a name ever bites it, but goons? Yes. A whole fishing village, every man, woman and child? Yes. Some of it pretty harsh, like when Zap bazookas a couple of Cobra guys firing at his tank:
Those two guys weren't just killed. They were pulverized. The plot deals with the rescue of a scientist who has been trashing the military. Several Joes actually think about putting a bullet through her traitorous head and call it a day(!), but in the end they manage it, though Cobra Commander escapes with nothing more than a broken wrist (read into this what you will). The scientist learns a good lesson too: the military is actually a force for good. Go Military Complex Agenda!Then there's the huge recap, which is interesting in its own right. It's got an "Eskimo mercenary", a love hexagon between all the Cobra folks, and Cobra holing up in Springfield. That first year of G.I. Joe might actually make an interesting (i.e. kitsch) read. When you go in with no expectations, you tend to enjoy it more than you should. I'm not deluding myself though...
A note on the copyright listing for this comic: I find it a hoot that Hasbro thinks it can defend a copyright for the name "Flash". Or for that matter, Copperhead, Deep Six, Hawk and Firefly. Seems like they didn't just steal their super-terrorist's name from DC Comics (Kobra is awfully close too, don't you think?).
Comments
And for what it's worth, the first few years of the GI Joe comic were actually pretty good (once you make concessions for the style of the time). Almost nothing like the cartoon, especially in terms of tone and plot; it was a bit darker and more realistic (relative to the cartoon, of course)and Cobra's schemes were more involved and intricate than "now I can control the weather! Mwa -ha-ha", at least for awhile.
Granted, I grew up watching GI Joe every afternoon so I freely admit a bias. How I managed to avoid being brainwashed into loving the American Military Industrial Complex I'll never know. Maybe it's because the characters in the cartoon were closer to superheroes than actual soldiers...
First off, I'll readily admit to enjoying G.I. Joe despite my liberal leanings. The comic started off a bit rough but became much much better over time. A couple of my favorite issues told the origin of Snake Eyes using Vietnam as a backdrop. The sad thing is, I learned more about Vietnam reading G.I. Joe than I learned in school.
The two-page spread of "The Pit" appeared in the very first issue of the series, making the article about the cartoon and the odd memo the only original content apart from the Michael Golden covers.
It's funny you mention the copyright stuff. The current toyline has had to slightly alter character names because they couldn't defend them. For example, Flash has become Sgt. Flash for his redone action figure.
There's actually a lot of fun tidbits to learn in the early issues of the comic. In addition to the Vietnam stuff, there were bits abouts military protocol and tradition, as well as some funky acronyms (and not just the ones they made up to name their vehicles).
If the cartoon was more superheroes with a military bent, the comic was definitely more solider with a slight superhero bent, at least early on, before the success of the cartoon began to influence the comic.
Seriously.
Maybe.
If I'm remembering this correctly (it was several years ago and second-hand) someone at the Dept. of Transportation (or a similar agency) took umbrage with the use of Roadblock as a trademarked character name and told Hasbro if they used it as such, they would bring legal action. So Hasbro substituted Heavy Duty for Roadblock in their then-new revival of the 3.75" figure line.
However, in the more recent 25th Anniversary 3.75" figure revival, there is a "classic" Roadblock figure. So maybe they found a way around it, or maybe creating a new figure w/that name was taboo but reissuing the old figure with a new sculpt/better articulation (which is what the 25th Anniversary line does) is okay.
Either way, I believe they are going with "Heavy Duty" in the movie instead of "Roadblock." Roadblock is so much more of an established character amongst Joe fans that I have to believe the use of Heavy Duty instead is more a legal decision than a creative one.
I am so glad I wasn't the only one who knew that Cutter was only available as the Hovercraft pilot....
Right now though, all my toy-related comic energies are squarely focused on Rom. And if I were to try and collect another such series, it would have to be Micronauts.
Reprints are on the way, I just hope they go for a Showcase/Essential type volume instead of an expensive full-color glossy tpb series. IDW put out a Next Men edition in the bulk format recently, so there is hope for an inexpensive line of Joe reprints...