Leaky Suit Brigade

A Blog About All Things GI Joe

Tag Archives: G.I. Joe


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New Stuff From IDW Limited

Hey guys,

A couple days ago I mentioned in a post that I bought some stuff from IDW Limited. Well, here it is! First up is a one of a kind sketch cover of GI Joe Infestation with Cobra Commander by Germanico. I have to say it looks badass and makes me want to buy a couple more sketch covers from IDW.  Second, I picked up the Cobra Civil War Lithograph Gallery. It is prints of 9 covers from the Civil War, all the variants with CC’s head/helmet and another character.

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I also may have some big news about some really cool IDW Joe stuff in the next day or two. I’m efforting that in my free time. Hint: original art.


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Some eBay Auctions I Won

I added to more items to the growing collection. First up in a MIB Tiger Rat. I have posted several times on here about my love and appreciation of Tiger Force. It really caught my eye as a kid and became my absolute favorite Joe sub-team. This gets added to the collection of MOC and MIB TF stuff I have collected. I now only need the Tiger Paw for a complete MIB collection of the vehicles. I have all the TF figures MOC (except for the international ones, the prices on those $600 and up are not something I want to splurge on yet.) This auction had really good timing because of the David Jensen estate auctions. He was a no-name collector who amassed a HUGE collection. His estate’s auctions got front paged on http://www.Hisstank.com and the prices rose too high and all the auctions went for a premium. So while others had to pay as much as $213, I got my for less than half of that.

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Next up is a 1983 Hiss Tank Driver prototype (Edit: this is more likely the 2000 Rip It test shot, because the plastic appears to be different than that used in the 80s.) It is a first/test shot of the figure. It will go nicely with the growing prototype collection I have. Now if only I could find any 2Up of a GI Joe, that would be awesome.

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Toys For Tots

I’ll keep it short and sweet, there are a lot of kids out there who aren’t fortunate enough to have the great Christmas days that many of us, including myself remember. So, if you can, please that the time to donate to Toys for Tots. Even just one toy will make a big difference. 

While I was in Cleveland, I came across a store selling Iron Man, Star Wars, and Transformers toys all for $5, so I couldn’t resist and bought some and dropped them into a Toys for Tots box.

As a bonus, Infinite Hollywood will MATCH your donations if you send them a picture of you donating toys to Toys for Tots. I sent them a picture of my donation and they contacted me back right away saying they will match my donation. Click on the banner below to check out their sight and have them match your donations!

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Weekend Buys!

I went to Cleveland for the weekend to visit the in-laws and I was able to stop by a vintage toy store/comic book shop called Big Fun Toy Store. It was an awesome shop. They had a ton of ARAH figures and vehicles as well as a bunch of the original Marvel GI Joe comic books. I passed on the figures and vehicles because I had them all, but I picked up 12 comics. Just a couple odd issues here and there for a complete Marvel GI Joe run! I also managed to find “Countdown to Zartan” at a local discount store for $5 and couldn’t pass that up, especially since I don’t have the DVDs yet.

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IDW GI Joe Reboot #1

I just pre-ordered a signed copy of the new GI Joe reboot for 2013! Its signed by Fred Van Lente and is available at Dynamic Forces, check it out! A scan of the cover page is below. While I was there, I also picked up the GI Joe #1 variant cover signed by Mel Rubi! It is a cover exclusive to Dynamic Forces.

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Update on IDW Limited GI Joe Blue Label

I spoke with one of their community managers and asked him a couple questions about the difference between Blue, Black and Red Labels:

The difference is typically in the art. We commission the artists to do more elaborate, more time intensive work.

Blue Label is also stamped with the Blue foil imprint, bound in blue and has a blue satin bookmark ribbon. So there’s some really nice small touches.

The GI Joe art should be in the office soon and we will definitely be passing along previews of it. Can’t wait to see it!


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Comic Book Resources Interview with Chuck Dixon

Comic Book Resoures has a great interview with Chuck Dixon about the IDW comics. Specifically, he talks about an homage to Hama’s #21 silent issue with Dixon and Atkins creating their own silent issue for Snake Eyes #21. He also talks about the upcoming reboot. Take a look by clicking the link or read the relevant GI Joe text below:

CBR News: Chuck, catch people up on what’s been going on lately in “Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow.”

Chuck Dixon: It’s been crazy. Snake Eyes was believed dead by the G.I. Joes but in actuality he’s returned to the Arashikage — the ninja clan that raised him. Due to his actions with his old clan, the G.I. Joes discover Snake Eyes is alive and working for the bad guys, although all of his operations with his ninja pals has harmed COBRA only. Still, he’s seen as a security threat to the USA and the G.I. Joes. That brings us to the arc “Target: Snake Eyes” in which the Joes (led by Scarlett) go to take out their friend. “Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow” #21 is an aftermath to the events in that arc.

Why homage the classic silent issue from “G.I. Joe” #21 in “Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow” #21?

IDW asked me if I was up to it. I wasn’t sure but took the challenge and it worked out well — I have [artist] Robert Atkins to thank for that. To make a wordless comic story work, an artist with strong storytelling chops is essential. I didn’t work like Larry Hama did on the original “G.I. Joe” #21 — I wrote a full script. Larry actually drew the layouts for his classic issue.

In the original story, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were at each other’s throats. Is this the case once more?

To tell you anything about the issue would give too much away. I will say Storm Shadow and the Hard Master meet for the first time in a long time.

Did you read  “G.I. Joe” #21 when it first came out? There was nothing else like it at the time coming from a mainstream publisher.

Absolutely, I read it when it came out. It’s a real landmark. I was blown away when Jim Sterankoopened “Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” with three wordless pages, and here was Larry doing an entire issue only in pictures. I think it should have had more impact on mainstream comics; a return to pure visual storytelling, but Larry was seen as an outlier in comics. Pioneers always are, right?

Does this new story tie-in to the continuity of the original at all, or is this a completely new universe next to the old Marvel title?

I think of it as a soft re-boot or re-imagining. I’m really not changing a whole lot. I suppose the biggest change is roping in some stuff from the cartoons and making them comic book canon for this continuity, but the G.I. Joes are the ones you know and COBRA is just as badass. I took an “if it ain’t broke…” approach to this issue.

How does writing a silent issue change your creative approach to storytelling?

More panels. Grid only. It has to look like a sequence of static images telling a story, not simply a comic book story with the word balloons left out. There’s a big difference. I have to have a lot happening in order to give the reader the feeling they haven’t been cheated by the lack of words. Also, lots of visual tricks and plenty of rewards and surprises for the reader. These kinds of issues rely on a lot of action, but the action must carry a through story with a payoff or it’s just an extended action sequence.

Have you done silent issues in any of your other comic book work?

I did a wordless issue once before when I was working on “Way of the Rat” at CrossGen, so I knew what I was in for. I also did a couple of wordless stories when I was working on “Batman,” but they were short stories.

What else is coming up in your “G.I. Joe” comics?

We’re shaking things up a bit on the “G.I. Joe” titles. I’ll be starting (or re-starting) “G.I. Joe: Special Missions” — it was always my favorite “G.I. Joe” title and it’s cool to get a shot at it. My first arc is Scarlett and her Spec Missions team against the Baroness in an underwater heist story. Paul Gulacy is on the art, so I’m thrilled.