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G.I. JOEversity: Fred Van Lente on G.I. Joe #3 & 4 [Interview]

By | June 4th, 2013
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Hey there, Joes, and welcome back to G.I. JOEversity, Multiversity Comics’ regular look at all things G.I. Joe! You might’ve noticed we took last month off, but we more than make up for it this time around with! In our triumphant return, we’ve got “G.I. Joe” writer Fred Van Lente’s commentary on not just one, but TWO issues of the smash hit series from IDW Publishing. So strap in as we talk to FVL about “G.I. Joe” #s 3 and 4!

NOTE: If you’re reading this, we assume you’ve read the issues discussed. So there are plenty of spoilers ahead, soldier — so no whinin’!

G.I. Joe #3
Story by Fred Van Lente

Art by Steve Kurth

CHOOSE YOUR PATH! You become DUKE, leader of the G.I. JOE team, as he begins his journey to become a Real American Hero! You make the life or death decisions! Or—is Duke just being tortured horrifically at the hands of the Baroness, and this is way of dealing with it—a never-ending branching series of “Might Have Beens?” Or… is it both?

Fred, you really blew me away with “G.I. Joe” #3. Without a doubt, the series’ best issue yet (but you kinda know that already, don’t you?)! But I’ll heap praises on you later. Right now, let’s jump right in and talk about this issue.

Fred Van Lente: Thanks! I was pretty proud with it when I turned it in, but it’s nice to see it get such a strong reaction.

No kidding, this one’s a strong contender for best comic of the year, G.I. Joe or otherwise. With this issue, IDW’s G.I. Joe starts to feel unashamedly like comics. And that’s not meant as a slight; that’s as a genuine compliment to you and Steve. Comics are the best! They’re why we’re here right now. And I’ve mentioned this to you before, I think, but with G.I. Joe, I never go in looking for the same reading experience as, say, The ‘Nam, or Our Army at War, etc… The whole premise leans pretty heavy on the fantastic, and Joe’s always pulled from superhero tropes just as much as it has from military fiction. That said, are you making a conscious effort with the series to kind of pull that stuff in more?

FVL: Sort of. I mean, the Adventure Team was mentioned from the very beginning, and there is a lot of more advanced tech the G.I. Joes (and Cobra) use, but I did want a slightly grittier feel to the first arc. This is basically Black Hawk Down in America. Still, I wanted to get a sense of fun in there — as much fun as ethically allowed with this high a bodycount, I guess!

The issue opens with a daring rescue by the Joes to save Duke that sees Roadblock get taken out and… well, let’s just say that there’s a lot of red on him and the rest of the team. It’s quickly revealed, though, that the whole thing’s imagined — and what an awesome way to introduce the scope of the issue! But with such a shocking blow to the Joes right up front, did you have any trouble getting this opening scene approved?

FVL: No, not at all. We have very specific “exit wound” guidelines from Hasbro, believe it or not, so Steve and I have a pretty good idea.

“Exit wound” guidelines. Man, Hasbro thinks of everything.

As they prep Duke for further interrogation, the Baroness calls Dr. Singh “Dr. Mindbender” again, and under his breath, he tells us he’s giving up on trying to correct others’ and just accept it. I have to know, Fred, is this it? Is Singh finally going to ditch that Nehru labcoat next issue and replace it with his bare chest?

FVL: Plus pimp hat.

Bonus!

I know I could probably look it up, but is all the Neuropetide Y stuff that Mindbender mentions true?

FVL: Why, yes it is, thanks for asking: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/02/13/lessons-in-survival.html

Mindbender dives into Duke’s memories to coax the G.I. Joe all-clear passcode out of him. We start with Duke as a kid, having a blast with some 12″ G.I. Joe stuff. Who’ve we got there on page 5 — besides the Intruder, Strongman from Another World? Did you have these when you were a kid?

Continued below

FVL: I only had just Joe himself. He fought Mego Green Lantern, Spider-Man and Human Torch a lot. I lost Human Torch’s outfit almost immediately so he was just this naked sexless dude with a flaming head. No wonder Joe didn’t like him.

By the way, how amazing is this commercial?

FVL: Apparently, Intruder is the enemy of G.I. Joe…

You and Steve couldn’t hear me, but I was literally applauding Eagle Eye G.I. Joe’s moment on page 6. But more on that later…

FVL: He used them on the Intruder:

Page 7. We fast forward to Duke and his mullet getting turned down for West Point. Who’s idea was it to put the John Wayne posters on Duke’s wall?

FVL: Mine. You got to figure his nickname came from somewhere…

Duke references a “townie orphan” named “Monk or Monkey” getting his commission. Who’s this refer to (“Monk” Meyer?)?

FVL: You will find out soon enough…

Some of Duke’s dialogue in “G.I. Joe” #3 is from his original figure’s file card, right? Nice Easter egg, and it makes me wonder, how much do the original file cards play into your take on these characters?

FVL: Hey, they were written by Larry Hama, so they are basic canon. I’m only going to deviate them

Page 8, we see Duke’s Q Course language training, and this is a really great scene. So, are you yourself a big fan of Arabic poetry? Fair warning: based on how you answer this one, you might be getting called “Well Read, Fred?”

FVL: I’m a big Rumi fan from when we profiled him in “Action Philosophers.”

But I’d say my knowledge of Arabic poetry begins and ends there. Though my wife just got me a book of Hafiz’s verse, but he doesn’t count ‘cuz he’s Persian.

On page 9, we see Duke singing The Beatles’ “Octupus’s Garden” as he goes through waterboarding conditioning. Great song, but is it Duke’s favorite Beatles tune?

FVL: He strikes me as more of a Hank Williams, Johnny Cash type.

We see Classic G.I. Joes Mike Power and Bulletman at Duke’s graduation? Since Joe and these other guys obviously have real world inspirations in the Joe-verse, does that mean there are Strongmen from Other Worlds out there, too?

FVL: (laughs evilly)

We catch up with Duke at volatile moment in his relationship with Ms. Ismat. We find out where he’s coming from here later on in the issue, but… with the Cover Girl revelation from G.I. Joe #1, Duke’s kind of an asshole to the ladies sometimes.

FVL: True, but he’s so damn handsome they put up with it. For now…

Duke’s being stationed in Trucial strikes a chord with fans of the classic series, but beyond that, why was it important to have Duke visit the Persian Gulf?

FVL: This is one of those things from the file cards that needed to be updated. Obviously, the ’80s G.I. Joes all have Vietnam War referents, while our guys participated in the Middle East wars from the first Gulf War onward.

Pages 15 & 16. Duke’s quick on the draw, but he ends up taking out roughly ten guys without any cover. Did he purposefully train these guys to be s*** on the trigger?

FVL: They’re pretty disheveled looking aren’t they? Despite Duke’s best efforts they don’t seem to be very good shots…

Page 17. Yeah, I’m going to pretend like I’m not super thrilled to see Major Bludd. Convinced? Is this just you doing a little bit of world building, or do you have something planned with the not-so-good Major?

FVL: I believe he’ll be appearing in one of the other two books soon.

I didn’t pull the issues, but how much of what Hawk says to Duke in his recruitment seen calls back to the original scene from G.I. Joe: Origins?

Continued below

FVL: Yup! This is stuff you didn’t see in Larry Hama’s story from #0. Fans love that stuff, and rightly so, and we wanted these new revelations to fall “between the raindrops,” as they say.

Pages 18 & 19, and here we go. Eagle Eyes Joe’s code speak from earlier comes back and pulls everything together. How proud are you and Steve of this scene? I’ll say, the whole thing was incredibly touching and caught me completely off guard.

FVL: I agree! I was happy with it on the script page, but what Steve did with this really blew me away.

Pages 20 – 22. Duke gives up the passcode, and seemingly punches his own ticket. But then we get another wonderfully planned, well layered moment, and again, things aren’t what they seem. Talk to me a little bit about the construction of this issue, and do you feel like it accomplished what you wanted it to?

FVL: As you might be able to tell from the solicitation, I originally tried to do it “Choose Your Own Adventure” style, but after banging my head against the idea for a week, I eventually realized the issue would have to be three times the size to accomodate branching plotlines with multiple conclusions. However, in the process of driving myself crazy I generated almost all the scenes that comprised the issue you just read, so it wasn’t exactly wasted time.

G.I. Joe #4
Story by Fred Van Lente

Art by Steve Kurth

HOMEFRONT! DOC has only precious minutes to save a teammate’s life as the forces of COBRA close in—and her injuries prevent her from performing the operation herself. Is another G.I. JOE member ready for a crash course in battlefield surgery? Plus: Can ROADBLOCK & Co. convince the people of Warrenton to turn against COBRA? All this and the return of SCRAP IRON! WHO DOESN’T LOVE SCRAP IRON?!!?

Okay, let’s talk about #4, then. We catch up with the injured Docs who’s just been found by Polly. And we haven’t really talked about the new Polly, have we? Historically, of course, Shipwreck’s sidekick has been a parrot, but you’ve added a modern twist, and updated things just a bit. What can tell us about the new, field tech version “Polly?”

FVL: I’m doing a project with my buddy Nick Dragotta of (current) East of West fame and because of that we went to a think tank in an old pipe organ factory in San Francisco where they actually had a DARPA contract to build lightweight military drones about this size. Except in SF they were made of cardboard, which was amazing! So when I got the G.I. Joe gig I wanted to incorporate bleeding edge military tech into the series, and this seemed a natural fit.

Then Hashtag takes a quick glance down at the angry mob and pledges to tell the world the truth about Warrenton. With her life in danger, it’s hard not to see their whole situation as being very black and white — good versus evil — but it’s deeper than that, and reflects the world outside all our windows. In your mind, what’s the truth of Warrenton and what would you have the Joes take away from it?

FVL: Ask me that same question next issue. (grins)

Thanks to Polly and some roof hopping, the Joe team’s back together, and in this scene, I found myself wondering how much time has passed since the Skystorm crashed in #2?

Also, with Duke captured, Roadblock’s definitely taken a leadership in this opening arc, and I’m sure his portrayal in G.I. Joe: Retaliation influenced that a little. How do you reconcile comic Roadblock and movie Roadblock?

FVL: My Roadblock, whom I had to develop well before the movie came out (though yeah, his prominent role here was influenced by that) is a bit rougher around the edges. He’s an excellent cook, too, as we’ll see shortly.

In #1 they left in the afternoon and the sun just set in this scene. In #3 the whole Duke brainwashing thing took under an hour. So, it’s been barely 5-6 hours. Time flies when you’re fighting for your life!

Continued below

Page 6. And speaking of Roadblock, nice reference to Red Rocket Burger. Was that you or something Steve tossed in? And what’s your favorite item on the RR menu?

FVL: That was me. And I really recommend the Pork Chop Sandwiches.

Page 7. Roadblock plays rough with a viper, and takes him out. I know some hardcore fans of the animated series who just refuse to believe that Joes kill, but…panel 2 kind of says it all, doesn’t it? And later in the issue, Cover Girl snipers two vipers. As someone who does an amazing job of pulling in stuff from all G.I. Joe, what kind of conflicts, if any, have you had about what to put in and what not to put in?

FVL: Hasbro has pretty much given me free rein, save for some salty language I’ve had to trim here and there, which is understandable, given G.I. Joe’s primary role as a kids’ toy line. They’re way less picky about this stuff than, say, Marvel, is for example.

We also get to see Quick Kick showing some interest in Doc? Can’t wait to see where this goes. Any teases?

FVL: Ask me that same question next issue. (grins)

As the team prepares to take the Warrenton mall, Roadblock gives the team their orders without saying a word. What can you tell us about Roadblock’s hand signals? How much of what we’re seeing is actual military silent ops training, and how much is FVL?

FVL: It’s all actual — I have an actual SWAT training manual, and I took the hand signals from that.

Page 15. The Baroness reports in to Destro, who wastes no time getting his MACKcullen on (sorry). Of course, their IDW relationship has always been a little antagonistic, but it looks like you’re tweaking that some. And last issue, we saw Singh humorously accept that people are just going to call him Mindbender anyway, so he might as well get used to it. Is there a conscious effort to move some of these characters back to center, or am I just seeing what I want to see?

FVL: Well, no, I am definitely moving them back to center, if only because that’s my frame of reference for where they are. Expect to see Baroness and Destro’s relationship grow and develop over the next few issues.

Page 16. And later, Hashtag gets the jump on the Baroness and threatens to put her down! Bluster, or has she found her inner soldier?

FVL: Ask me that same question next issue. (TRIPLE grin)

Page 17. Okay, so Shipwrecks saves Doc and Quick Kick, prompting a “badass” reaction from both of them. Has Shipwreck won over two of his teammates? Will they go to bat for him in front of Duke?

FVL: Sure. I don’t think Shipwreck needed to win anyone over, he was just seriously injured until this point and didn’t really have an opportunity to contribute until now.

Page 18 & 19. Cover Girl frees Duke from the brainwave scanner, and speeds up his recovery with a faceful of AR stock. What kind of long term psychological effects will the events of last issue have on Duke? And why do you think Cover Girl and Duke have… well, whatever they have?

FVL: This will be revealed over the course of the next few issues. (I wasn’t going to type “Ask me next issue” again, I swear.)

Page 21. Croc Master gets the jump on Roadblock, and… how great is Croc Master? Obviously we love the guy, but why do you think he’s such a divisive character?

FVL: Is he a divisive character? I guess I can see that — he is one of the more overtly “super-villain-y” Cobra operatives. Originally I wanted to use Big Boa, but in the IDWverse Chuckles killed him, that big meanie.

Page 22. Scrap Iron! Is this the first IDWverse appearance of Scrap Iron? And thinking about him in relation to the awesome opener of G.I. Joe #2, why is it important for you to have Cobra’s personality heavy villains in the mix?

FVL: He is, yeah. As I’ve said from day one, if you can’t have fun doing a toy comic, why the heck do it in the first place?

Continued below

Truth. G.I. Joe #4 was another great issue, Fred! What can we look forward to next month?

FVL: The explosive finale to “Homefront”. No, that is not a euphemism.

Excellent. And, um, I could be reading things wrong, but I feel like we’ll have some big stuff to talk about next issue… maybe?

FVL: I’d say that’s a fair bet, yeah. 😉


//TAGS | G.I. JoeVersity

Chad Bowers

Chad Bowers has been reading comics for most of his life. His transition from fan to professional is a work in progress. He’s the co-founder of ACTION AGE COMICS, creator of the webcomic MONSTER PLUS, co-creator of AWESOME HOSPITAL, THE HARD ONES, and DOWN SET FIGHT (coming soon from Oni Press) with Chris Sims. He reviews comics, writes G.I. JoeVersity, and co-hosts The Hour Cosmic for Multiversity Comics! If you've got nothing better to do, you can follow him on Twitter or Tumblr.

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