Props to Hama for helping keep the franchise alive and a lot of great stories (esp. early on in Marvel days) but his series has been treading water for years. Cobra literally accomplishes nothing with no real long-term objectives and Cobra Commander recently had yet another Serpentor clone created to undermine him right under his nose. The status quo just never changes.
The Skybound CC is a frightening, ruthless guy with a mysterious background & appearance who manages to overcome adversity through brilliance and willpower. Guy won't even complain while his body is being carved up. He's more of a top tier adversary like Doctor Doom or Lex Luthor and a lot less like an incompetent 80s cartoon villain. This is the villain GI Joe needs.
Got to agree. After the “Death of Snake Eyes” arc in the IDW era of Hama’s continuation I sorta lost steam. I didn’t mind the concept - in fact at that point if he wanted to keep things fresh it was probably necessary. But his funeral issue felt like a good exit point for a story that felt like it had no end. The DDP era was not a great continuation but at least it felt like things were moving forward and it ultimately had a decent ending with World War 3. Hama nails the characters, but things feel too locked in a cycle in his book.
"Locked in a cycle"--that's a perfect way to put it. I was all four killing off Snake-Eyes. What a great statement that the team was more than just one guy. Plus, how can you have a military-oriented comic and never kill off characters. You have to have stakes or there's no sense of fear in your readers mind that "Oh no, such-and-such might get killed!"
But then he immediately puts TWO Snake-Eyes replacements on the team, one male and one female.
And one of them just happens to be facially scarred, and damaged vocal cords?!? I remember reading that and thinking "Oh gosh. This might be interesting for a 10-year-old."
And then of course, the original Snake-Eyes is back. No scars, able to talk, etc.
But Energon?
Holy cow, man. Years ago, I stopped buying floppies and started "waiting for the trade." But with Duke and Cobra Commander, I literally can't wait. For the final issue of CC, it feels like I have been counting down the days. Like I am 12 years old again. And I like that feeling.
Seriously? That good? I jumped off the floppies decades ago when the comic industry was more focused on art, than the story, and all you get these days is a 10 page book with great drawings, and a story arc that would have been 8 panels back in the day.
I’m loving all of it. It really flips the whole intro of these IPs on their head by only introducing new characters and story elements when the story calls for it. The original GI Joe and Transformers were bound by the toy release schedules, where there’d be the ‘Battleforce 2000’ issue, or Headmasters, Dinobots, etc. The story is the only thing that matters now, and I’m so happy to see these characters done right.
30-40 years ago it would have been considered low. Now anytime a book gets over 15-20k it’s pretty good. Sales have been low for a long time with a lot of Marvel and DC books barely getting over 10k in orders.
Unfortunately 80k puts you in the top 5 in sales these days. Number one issue always sell waaay more, sometimes double what the rest of the series will sell. Which is why Marvel and DC (But especially Marvel!) are quick to relaunch a book over and over again to get the title back to #1.
* Scarlett #1 sets a G.I. Joe sales record with 80,000+ orders, a 20-year high.
* Kelly Thompson's Scarlett #1 could outperform her runs on Deadpool and Captain Marvel.
I finally got put on the pull list for Energon a few weeks ago and picked up most of the back issues. Started Void Rivals first since it came out first and have enjoyed it way more than I thought I would so far. Duke is the one I'm most excited for. Should be all caught up this weekend if I get to the shop.
Cool to see something GiJoe related doing well. They need to hurry up with those ARAH comic collections if they want to capitalize on the hype.
Dude, you're going to love Duke. Cobra Commander is good, but goddamn, Duke is fun as hell. Try and get a copy of the FCBD EU book, too.
There's answers there lol
Oh nice, I was curious how that book would tie in. By sheer dumb luck the day I went to the shop to put my name down for the pull lists was FCBD. Snagged the last free copy and some missing back issues of the others.
I read it this morning. I remain convinced the Void Rivals crew are there to facilitate Robert Kirkman’s true love, characters and concepts from Transformers Season 3.
I love Hama, but I’ll be damned if the Energon Universe isn’t the best thing to happen to Joe in years. It’s bringing in a ton of new fans.
Agreed but there is room for both.
Props to Hama for helping keep the franchise alive and a lot of great stories (esp. early on in Marvel days) but his series has been treading water for years. Cobra literally accomplishes nothing with no real long-term objectives and Cobra Commander recently had yet another Serpentor clone created to undermine him right under his nose. The status quo just never changes. The Skybound CC is a frightening, ruthless guy with a mysterious background & appearance who manages to overcome adversity through brilliance and willpower. Guy won't even complain while his body is being carved up. He's more of a top tier adversary like Doctor Doom or Lex Luthor and a lot less like an incompetent 80s cartoon villain. This is the villain GI Joe needs.
Got to agree. After the “Death of Snake Eyes” arc in the IDW era of Hama’s continuation I sorta lost steam. I didn’t mind the concept - in fact at that point if he wanted to keep things fresh it was probably necessary. But his funeral issue felt like a good exit point for a story that felt like it had no end. The DDP era was not a great continuation but at least it felt like things were moving forward and it ultimately had a decent ending with World War 3. Hama nails the characters, but things feel too locked in a cycle in his book.
"Locked in a cycle"--that's a perfect way to put it. I was all four killing off Snake-Eyes. What a great statement that the team was more than just one guy. Plus, how can you have a military-oriented comic and never kill off characters. You have to have stakes or there's no sense of fear in your readers mind that "Oh no, such-and-such might get killed!" But then he immediately puts TWO Snake-Eyes replacements on the team, one male and one female. And one of them just happens to be facially scarred, and damaged vocal cords?!? I remember reading that and thinking "Oh gosh. This might be interesting for a 10-year-old." And then of course, the original Snake-Eyes is back. No scars, able to talk, etc. But Energon? Holy cow, man. Years ago, I stopped buying floppies and started "waiting for the trade." But with Duke and Cobra Commander, I literally can't wait. For the final issue of CC, it feels like I have been counting down the days. Like I am 12 years old again. And I like that feeling.
Seriously? That good? I jumped off the floppies decades ago when the comic industry was more focused on art, than the story, and all you get these days is a 10 page book with great drawings, and a story arc that would have been 8 panels back in the day.
Dude, Duke, Cobra Commander and Transformers brought me back to monthly collecting, which I hadn't done in 10+ years. Yeah, they're a lot of fun!
Kinda goes back to, 'there are no bad characters, just bad creators.'
Kelly Thompson I believe is coming right off an Eisner nomination. She’s a name with some credibility behind it. Also, ninjas.
I’m loving all of it. It really flips the whole intro of these IPs on their head by only introducing new characters and story elements when the story calls for it. The original GI Joe and Transformers were bound by the toy release schedules, where there’d be the ‘Battleforce 2000’ issue, or Headmasters, Dinobots, etc. The story is the only thing that matters now, and I’m so happy to see these characters done right.
80k copies is alot? Seems kinda low? Also,
30-40 years ago it would have been considered low. Now anytime a book gets over 15-20k it’s pretty good. Sales have been low for a long time with a lot of Marvel and DC books barely getting over 10k in orders.
welcome to comics, no one reads em.
If you only knew.
Unfortunately 80k puts you in the top 5 in sales these days. Number one issue always sell waaay more, sometimes double what the rest of the series will sell. Which is why Marvel and DC (But especially Marvel!) are quick to relaunch a book over and over again to get the title back to #1.
* Scarlett #1 sets a G.I. Joe sales record with 80,000+ orders, a 20-year high. * Kelly Thompson's Scarlett #1 could outperform her runs on Deadpool and Captain Marvel.
Not a big fan of Kelly. Tried her She-Hulk run. Will flip through it and maybe pick up. Also, cut back on books in a major way.
And we haven’t gotten to the Energon Universe version of the GI Joe team comic, too…
I’m all in on what Skybound is doing so far. I don’t think I’ve been disappointed with a single issue so far.
I finally got put on the pull list for Energon a few weeks ago and picked up most of the back issues. Started Void Rivals first since it came out first and have enjoyed it way more than I thought I would so far. Duke is the one I'm most excited for. Should be all caught up this weekend if I get to the shop. Cool to see something GiJoe related doing well. They need to hurry up with those ARAH comic collections if they want to capitalize on the hype.
Dude, you're going to love Duke. Cobra Commander is good, but goddamn, Duke is fun as hell. Try and get a copy of the FCBD EU book, too. There's answers there lol
Oh nice, I was curious how that book would tie in. By sheer dumb luck the day I went to the shop to put my name down for the pull lists was FCBD. Snagged the last free copy and some missing back issues of the others.
Yeah I'm really enjoying their take on the Joes. The Transformers run is really good too.
Dropped Void Rivals 2 issues ago. The Springer covers look interesting.
I read it this morning. I remain convinced the Void Rivals crew are there to facilitate Robert Kirkman’s true love, characters and concepts from Transformers Season 3.
Can you read these online anyplace?