2019 marks 55 years of G.I. Joe toys, and between IDW’s continuation of Marvel’s “G.I. Joe” series from the 1980s and a Snake Eyes film in development, the Real American Heroes still have plenty of fans. Paul Allor and Chris Evenhuis’s new “G.I. Joe” series, debuting today, puts a decidedly 21st century twist on the story, moving our Joes to an underground espionage tale. As we said in our advance review of the first issue, “[i]t’s a series for those that miss that USS Flagg toy from their childhood, but also watch Homeland and The Americans while they’re surfing eBay for that Flagg.”
We talk more with writer Paul Allor about the series, its influences, and the question we asked in our Reader Poll when IDW announced the series in June: who’s your dream team of Joes?
Your GI Joe series has all the classic elements of GI Joe – – Duke, Scarlett, Cobra – – but there’s a distinct modern and subversive flair to this story. The Joes are still fighting Cobra but Cobra is now the government, so it’s a fight from the underground. Tell us more about this world the Joes find themselves in and what fans can expect.
Paul Allor: As you said, Cobra is no longer a shadowy terrorist group, but is instead a world power, controlling large swaths of the globe. Consequently, GI Joe is less of a purely military organization and more of a civilian resistance force. And many of our Joes are just ordinary people, fighting back against tyranny in any way they can — while learning the high cost of doing so.
GI Joe is going to be a story about everyday heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. It will be crafted, at first, largely around one-shot missions, in a format that will allow us to stretch out and really explore the world of GI Joe. At times it will be fun, at times it will be brutal. It will show the horrors of war, the dangers of fascism and the beauty and grace that can be found in even the worst of situations.
The other thing readers can expect is really gorgeous art and coloring from Chris Evenhuis and Brittany Peer — just exquisite, fantastic visual storytelling, delivered in a sleek, bright and modern package.
What influences, be they current or historical, did you look to in order to bring this new “G.I. Joe” world to life?
PA: Like most of my work, there’s a pretty hearty stew of influences at work. But in terms of real-world historical influences, our book combines modern warfare – – where non-state resistance groups fight larger, more powerful enemies to a perpetual standstill – – and World War II’s Office of Strategic Services, the “Glorious Amateurs” who were recruited from the civilian populace to become spies, assassins and saboteurs.
There’s a theme of hope and humanity as the spark to light society’s darkest hours in this series, much like your 2016 miniseries “Tet.” What messages do you want readers to take from this “G.I. Joe” series?
PA: Oh, thank you. That’s very kind. “G.I. Joe” is a book with things to say about courage and valor, about teamwork and loyalty and the high cost of fighting back against tyranny. But I’d rather let people find and interpret those messages on their own. And if, instead, they just want to be entertained, I think this book will work for that too.
This isn’t your first “G.I. Joe” series. Were you a fan of the Joes before you started writing the comics? Did you read any of the previous series, either at IDW or Marvel?
PA: I came to comics late in life, but I was a huge fan of the early IDW stuff. And from there I dived deep into Hama’s run, which I’ve read through a few times now — and I still dip into Special Missions and some of my favorite ARAH issues and arcs on a pretty regular basis. Our book is very different, obviously, but I think that DNA is still very clearly in there.
The week IDW announced this series, our Reader Poll asked fans of the site to pick their GI Joe dream team of seven Joes. Who’s your dream team?
Continued belowPA: Well, Hasbro and IDW were very supportive about letting me craft the team I wanted, so my dream team is the one that’s in my comic! Though there are certainly a lot of other characters I’d like to work with, and whom you’ll see popping up throughout the run.
Chris Evenhuis is your artist on this series, and he brings an interesting look with his artwork. It reminded me a fair bit of Archer. How has this collaborative process worked? What does his style bring to your script?
PA: Chris and I have been working together for years, and our storytelling instincts are in pretty tight sync at this point. Chris is amazing at crafting strong, clear action sequences, and he’s also a master at character work — put those two skills together and you have a killer combination for “G.I. Joe.”
Many of your series – – “Clue,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and “G.I. Joe” are steeped in nostalgia. What’s your secret to balancing the nostalgia with a modern interpretation to bring in new generations of fans?
PA: Oh, that’s an interesting question. I guess the secret is that I’ve never thought of anything I write as being “steeped in nostalgia.” That’s just not something I try to service at all. I do try to retain the core of the property, and what people love about it, no matter how much we change or update. But I do that for every licensed property, regardless of how new or old it is.
Your portfolio includes both creator-owned and licensed work. Which one is easier to write, and which one is more emotionally rewarding? (Recognizing that these can be two very different answers, or even the same answer!)
PA: I don’t think there is a tremendous amount of difference, to be honest! When working on licensed comics, you’re penned in by a lot of rules: about the tone, about what the characters can do, about the greater story you’re serving. With creator-owned comics, you still have all of that, it’s just established internally rather than externally. You determine the tone, set the rules and boundaries, develop the characters and the storytelling style. So for me they’re both incredibly hard and moderately emotionally rewarding, ha.
Is there one character in comics that you haven’t written for yet that you look at and go, “damn, I would love a shot at writing them.” Who is that character and what spin would you put on him/her/them?
So many! So, so many! But I’d rather not lay out my spin on something that I may have a chance of writing, someday.
But, okay, because it’s such a bizarrely long shot: I really want to write a Crystal Castles comic. I mean, a bear fighting witches, ghosts and evil trees in a spooky caste? Heck yes!
So, yeah, Bentley Bear, a virtuous and optimistic wizard, has that optimism tested when he wakes up from hibernation and discovers a world taken over by evil. From there it’d be an action-packed story, filled with joy and humor and pathos and not an ounce of cynicism.
Are there any other projects on the horizon that you can share with us that we haven’t covered?
PA: Yes! In November I have a creator-owned book coming out called “Goth: Young Lovers at War,” with Seth Adams and Josh Jensen. It’s the first in a series of one-shots about Goths throughout the ages; a moody, lush and romantic story about an ancient Visigoth couple who love each other enough to destroy each other.
On the licensed front, October sees “Power Rangers: The Psycho Path,” a deep, pathos-fueled dive into Karone’s relationship with her evil creations, the Psycho Rangers, and “Star Trek Voyager: Mirrors and Smoke,” a twisted look at the mirror-universe Voyager crew, starring Kathryn Janeway, the Pirate Queen of the Delta Quadrant.
And then in November, my “Samurai Jack: Lost Worlds” trade drops, collecting four one-shots featuring everyone’s favorite time-displaced hero at odd, interstitial moments in his greater journey.
So, yeah. Go buy all that stuff. ALL OF IT.
