GI Joe Special Missions #4, June 2013
When I was a kid, G.I. Joe never looked like this.
Of course, there’s an easy explanation for that. I grew up with the original Joe’s somewhat vanilla representations of America’s fighting forces. I loved them, as did most of my friends, but character development was not in the 60s line-up.
Characters like “bad girl” Baroness here were the result of Hasbro’s re-introduction and revamp of the brand in 1982. Marvel Comics was essentially paid to create colorful heroes and even more colorful bad guys. And they delivered, mainly with the creativity and guidance of writer Larry Hama.
The rest, as they say (Ok, I say it a lot) is history.
IDW became publisher of record shortly after I cane on board in 2008, and has had some terrific success with various iterations during the last dozen years.
This Special Missions series is a fine example, with script by Chuck Dixon and terrific visual storytelling by fan favorite Paul Gulacy.
I acquired a few pages from this series, including this dynamic splash, but another one of these pages comes with a unusual annecdote, which I will share down the road. (I’d bet you can’t wait, but I’d lose.)
And so, 2020 finally comes to an end. Whew. Here’s looking forward to a much better 2021. We will be back on Thursday, January 7, with a special year-opening series on… well… that will be telling. See you soon, and thanks again for visiting.
