Welcome to G.I. JoeVersity, an (almost) weekly feature where we report on all of the goings on in the exciting world of G.I. Joe, including every new issue of IDW’s G.I. Joe family of comics, and the latest action figure releases and movie news!
Paramount Pushes G.I. Joe: Retaliation to March 2013
Before we dive into anything else, we should probably mention the biggest Joe news story to break in quite a while, and that’s the announcement by Paramount Pictures that they have decided to push back the release date of G.I. Joe Retaliation from June 2012 to March 2013. The official statement from Hasbro, released yesterday, explains that the rescheduling is due to Paramount’s decision to convert and release Retaliation in 3D. Hasbro President and CEO Brad Goldner said, “It is increasingly evident that 3D resonates with movie-goers globally and together with Paramount, we made the decision to bring fans an even more immersive entertainment experience.” All this, after an extremely successful and expensive advertising push that included a Super Bowl teaser, a brand new wave of the movie-inspired toys hitting stores right now, and the Rock headlining this year’s Wrestlemania, has led some to wonder if there isn’t something else going on.
Fans, of course, began speculating almost immediately as to what might be the real reason for the change. Some optimists have suggested that releasing the movie between the overwhelming success of The Avengers and just before The Amazing Spider-man was making Paramount nervous, and instead of letting Retaliation get lost in the mix, the move back to March was done in an effort to help spotlight the movie. The more pessimistic crowd are flat out convinced the movie’s utterly terrible and Paramount just doesn’t want to put it out so they’re keeping it off the radar. Personally, I’m betting the truth’s somewhere in the middle.
I figure this almost unheard of month-before-release shuffling has something to do with the poor opening of Hasbro’s latest property-based motion picture, Battleship. Deemed a bomb before the weekend was even over, Battleship lived up to just about everyone’s expectations and was a colossal train wreck of movie. The tragedy of it all, though, is that Battleship actually made it to theaters and had a fair shot at succeeding, unlike G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which now has the unforgiving stink of internet comment sections all across the world tainting it.
As someone who couldn’t care less about 3D, I’m genuinely disappointed by this news. I was pretty excited about seeing the movie next month. After the universally panned G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, it really seemed like Retaliation was going to pull off that all to rare instance of a fan-redemption, surpassing ROC to become a springboard for a new golden age of G.I. Joe. But it’s going to be hard for fans and movie-goers alike to forgive and forget and embrace a movie that they’re now suspicious, or heck, even remember to go see nine months from now.
“Cobra” #13 by Mike Costa and Antonio Fuso
This week’s “Cobra” #13 marks the first post-Cobra Command issue, but that doesn’t mean things are going to slow down.
In one of the series’ most elegant openers, Ronin faces off against a small unit of Vipers intent on killing her. Like some much in Cobra, the staging and movement defies everything you’d expect to see in a G.I. Joe comic, and perfectly illustrates why this book is one of the best.
Costa and Fuso are perfectly synced-up. From top to the bottom, from good guys to the bad, these two consistently deliver one of the most intriguing character-driven narratives around, and this issue’s scene between newly appointed head-honcho Duke and Ronin tells more story in three pages than most big two comics tell in an entire issue.
We saw Chuck Dixon play with Duke in his new role a little over in “G.I. Joe” this month, and Costa picks up that same thread here. But manages to give Duke just a little extra swagger, and it works well, not just for the scene, but for the character as a whole. This issue goes a long way towards making Duke something other than Diet-Hawk. He’s confident, smart, and assertive, and a man who’s clearly determined to make G.I. Joe his own thing, and as a fan, that’s pretty thrilling.
Continued belowBut Duke’s not the only Joe doing a little recruiting. We cut from Japan to Las Vegas, Nevada, where Flint has set up shop inside the Gemini Hotel and Casino. Chameleon and Firewall have been recruited to his team, and we join them as Flint gives the grand tour of the place, and lays out their mission in Vegas.
Chameleon’s not sold on the whole “Joe’s in Vegas” thing, and even less so when Flint reveals who the new, leaner and meaner, budgetary constrained Joes are leaning on as a backer. I’ll give you one clue: it’s Tomax. Chameleon struts her stuff and shakes things up pretty good by pulling heat and popping off a few non-fatal rounds at Tomax. It’s a great scene, and again, one that’s beautifully executed and played for wonderful effect by this creative team.
This issue ends with a pretty startling reveal, and one I didn’t see coming. It’s something that both old and new fans alike should enjoy, even if new fans aren’t exactly sure of its significance. Which isn’t surprising, because that’s really one of the true strengths of “Cobra” — the ability to take all of the toys and concepts we grew up with and turn a new light on them, and re-energizing the property and its mainstays over and over again.
Gallery of Joe
I’ve had a G.I. Joe sketchbook for a while now. I carry it with me to just about every show I go to, and last weekend, I was lucky enough to be a guest at XCon in Myrtle Beach, SC, where I was able to get a few awesome additions to my ever growing collection.
Nemesis Enforcer by Tim Seeley
Scarlett by Randy Green
Road Pig by J. Walker
Joepourri
-Online guest registration for JoeCon 2012 is now live. [GIJoeCon.com]
-It’s on now! SyFy Games has officially added Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow to the list of playable characters in G.I. Joe: Special Ops. [SyFyGames.com]
–What’s on Joe Mind — the world’s #1 G.I. Joe podcast — has another special episode discussing this week’s push back of G.I. Joe: Retaliation. [WOJM]
That wraps it up for this week’s installment of G.I. JoeVersity, but be sure and come back next week when Chuck Dixon joins us again to discuss “Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow” # 13.
Have a question for the G.I. Joe creators or me? Email is at chad@multiversitycomics.com
