the vynsane asylum

Fuck the movieverse. That was one seriously shitty flick.

And while I thought the "Resolute" movie was cool, I don't need to follow the adventures of another Joe team. Hama or not.

The only redeeming factor of the movie was Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who should've played Cobra Commander in a totally different movie.

Oh, and the toys, most of which were far better than that POS movie deserved.

I'm just glad Billy is alive. He went out like a bitch in that DDP run.

I've got to say, there's one thing that concerns me slightly.

GIJoe Renegades will be about the Joes on the run from Cobra and the US government. It premieres in October. In the press release, they mentioned that Larry Hama was writing a tie-in comic.

GIJoe #155.5: Cobra has convinced the Jugglers that they need to subcontract national security to Cobra.

GIJoe #156: The cover is a "Wanted" poster of several prominent Joes (I've heard some bitching that Duke is there, and Hama didn't like Duke, but I'm sure it's a recognizability thing). In front of them are two Cobra Troopers with American flags on their uniforms.

GIJoe #157: The cover is Rock 'n' Roll (?) shooting out the window of a police car with clear Cobra markings. The solicitation reads "Relentless Cobra hit teams go after the disbanded and outlawed G.I. Joe team. The beleaguered Joes converge on their pre-set rallying point, determined to launch an organized counter-attack and bring the fight back to Cobra. Meanwhile, cohesion within Cobra ranks begins to deteriorate as Dr. Venom returns from the dead!"

Ladies and gentlemen, I think the continuation of the classic series IS the tie-in to Renegades. There was some pretty insane, over-the-top shit in the old series, but Cobra becoming legit and declaring the Joes to be illegal seems a bit too much. And I hope to God that Dr Venom is not returning physically, but only as a program of some sort.

They did a "Joes on the Run" story line back in the 80s/90s anyway. It was right after the Cobra Civil War I'm pretty sure. In any case, whatever Hama has planned it's not permanent, it piques the interests of both old readers and newbs coming into the GIJoe property, and he never stagnates on one story idea for long. I could never catch my breath with him.

Well, Renegades is definitely different enough from ARAH that it's not a tie-in.

However, reviews of Hearts & Minds seem to indicate that IDW-verse Mindbender worked on the first atomic bomb back in the 40s, and hasn't aged since? Huh?

Not comic related, I just read the cast breakdown and character synopses for the new 'Renegades' cartoon. Lady Jaye is Latina? Snake-eyes is now just a mercenary that Scarlett occasionally hires? And inspired by the insipid film, Ripcord is once again the go to African-American. I guess everybody forgot Stalker?

And,heh, Charlie Schlatter is Doc Mindbender. Wasn't he TVs Ferris Bueller?

Looks like Ripcord is now permanently black and Dial-Tone a girl. They're both this way in the new IDW series, Resolute, and the movieverse (Dial-Tone was an "off-camera" figure). Not sure what's up with Lady Jaye, especially with them not changing her name from the whitest name on the team and her code name being a play on a letter than isn't pronounced as such in Spanish. That one didn't take much thought. If it had, they would've realized it was a bad idea.

I'm willing to wait and see on this, since the creative team is pretty solid. It may suck, but I'm not going to damn it before I see it. The only real problem I have at this point is that so many of the team seem to be rookies.

GIJoe Origins 19 was fucking awesome. Joe Benitez on a SILENT ISSUE of pure Snake-Eyes asskicking badassery. It was so awesome, even though I gushed about in the WCDYBTW topic, I had to come here and reiterate that it was fucking awesome.

Larry Hama's insane sense of humor continues to surprise me twenty years later.

We've got names like "Skip A. Stone" and "Seward Farley." The Dreadnoks have first names of Tom, Dick, and Harry, and last names Winken, Blinken, and Nod (albeit spelled differently). The Eskimo hitman takes his name from Bob Dylan's "Quinn the Eskimo." Snake Eyes gets his third costume by stealing various parts from three Cobra torturers that look like the Three Stooges. Bongo the Balloon Bear (which is insane all by itself) is named "Candy Appel."

And I just discovered this little gem in the Wikipedia article on Monty Python (where I was trying to find out where the hell the name Monty Python came from):

The Spanish Inquisition would burst into a previously unrelated sketch whenever their name was mentioned. Their catchphrase was "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!". They consist of Cardinal Ximinez (Palin), Cardinal Fang (Gilliam), and Cardinal Biggles (Jones). They premiered in series two and had sporadic cameos in series two and three.

Yes, Dr. Biggles-Jones, who worked undercover in Cobra and designed the new body for Megatron, is a Monty Python reference.

Speaking of. I got three more issues at a convention on Saturday. I paid $10 for 8,9, and 14 in VFn+ condition. Which leaves the total number I need for a complete run of ARAH to 4. Of course, I'm also missing some issues of Special Missions but those I'm hoping will be easier to track down. Then there's that damnable "Special" with the McFarlane-esque cover. And way down on my priority list is the DarkHorse series with the Frank Miller covers. But only for the covers.

The big pieces missing from my collection are 154, 155, and the McFarlane special. The comic shop closed down and I couldn't get the two final issues (despite having pre-paid for them, goddammit), and I mistakenly thought the GIJoe special was a reprint of 60, not 61 with McFarlane art. (Why hire someone to draw an entire issue, then shelf it so someone else can draw it, only to dig it up and publish it after the series has ended and when the guy hates your guts, just because he hit it big? Weird.)

I'm also missing 154! The other three are 13, 18, and 24. And 7 issues of SM.

Here's a review and pic of the cover from GIJoe Cobra 12.

When he says he got "geek-bumps" after "Yo Joe." gets said, He ain't lying.

If you only get these in TPB (I'm looking at you 'nark), I suggest you find an online dealer and order this issue. You'll want it in your collection.

GOD. DAMN. NEWSARAMA!

It does no fucking good to say "Caution: Spoilers ahead," then immediately post the fucking spoiler. You have to put a buffer zone in there or something.

Not sure about the whole "He who kills the most Joes becomes the next Cobra Commander" angle, though. It sounds like it's getting dangerously close to the "huge body count entirely for shock value" that the Big Two have been hung up on for years.

Whatever happened to death scenes like Cool Breeze, where a throwaway character who's been around for five pages gets shot and it makes you want to cry like a schoolgirl?

Killing off Cobra Commander required gaining the permission of license holder Hasbro, though IDW's marketing and public relations director AnnaMaria White stated that a decision has not yet been made if the death will be reflected elsewhere in the brand.

I hope the fuck not. "Adam DeCobray" is fucking badass in Renegades, and we all remember how poorly this went over the first time in RAH. I'd hate another arbitrary "Ripcord is now black" or "Bumblebee cannot talk anymore" to screw up everything.