El Mayimbe aqui with both GREAT news and some sad news which pisses me off!
HOLY SHIT! The creator of the G.I. Joe mythology of the last 25 years, LARRY HAMA, is coming aboard the G.I. Joe movie in some capacity, most likely as a creative consultant!
Larry is like the Stan Lee of the G.I. Joe universe. He created Destro, Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow and Zartan to name a few. Expect a formal trade announcement momentarily.
A very classy move on the part of Hasbro, Paramount, and the filmmakers. I commend them.
Some back story…
Larry Hama is best known as writer of the Marvel Comics licensed series G.I. Joe, based on the Hasbro line of military action figures. Hama said in a 2006 interview that he was given the job by then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter after every other writer at Marvel had turned it down. Hama at the time had recently pitched a Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off series, Fury Force, about a daring special mission force. Hama used this concept as the back-story for G.I. Joe. He included military terms and strategies, Eastern philosophy, martial arts and historical references from his own background. The comic ran 155 issues (Feb. 1982-Oct. 1994).
Hama also wrote the majority of the G.I. Joe action figures' file cards—short biographical sketches designed to be clipped from the G.I. Joe and COBRA cardboard packaging. In 2007 these filecards were reprinted in the retro packaging for the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero 25th Anniversary line.
Many of the characters were named after Hama’s family, friends, and comrades who died during the Vietnam War, or otherwise had hidden historical references. The Arctic trooper Frostbite was given the name Farley Seward in reference to United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, known for Seward’s Folly, the then-infamous purchase of Alaska from Imperial Russia in 1867. Quick Kick, G.I. Joe’s Japanese-American martial arts expert, was named "MacArthur S. Ito" after U.S. World War II Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Japanese Lt.-Gen. Takeo Ito, who was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death in 1946. Other characters were given tongue-in-cheek names: Hovercraft pilot Cutter is Skip A. Stone, named after the pastime of stone skipping.
Hama earned an unexpected female following for G.I. Joe by writing strong female characters (Cover Girl, Lady Jaye, Scarlett) who fought equally along their male counterparts. The title was also praised for unusually positive representations of minorities in a children’s series for the time.
Hasbro sculptors sometimes used real people’s likenesses when designing its action figures. In 1987, Hasbro released the Tunnel Rat action figure. The character is an Explosive Ordnance Disposal specialist, whose likeness was based on Hama.
In December 2007 Hasbro revealed 25th Anniversary comic book figure 2-packs that featured original stories by Hama. These new Hasbro-published issues were designed to take place "in-between the panels" of the classic Marvel series.
Now for the bad news…
According to this disturbing report at IESB, and what I have been hearing for months from my sources but didn’t want to believe, DEVIL’S DUE has lost the G.I. JOE comic license and that is an absolute TRAVESTY! It’s true folks.
When G.I. Joe died at Marvel back in 1994, when the title faded into obscurity and became a relic of the 1980’s, in 2001 a young entrepreneur named Josh Blaylock picked up the G.I. Joe comic license through his company Devil’s Due publishing and made G.I. Joe MATTER AGAIN! There were some half assed attempts by other comic companies to revive the comic before Devil’s Due but Blaylock and his crew were overwhelmingly successful out of the box.
G.I.JOE WAS REINSTATED!
The reason Devil’s Due was successful? Because like me, Blaylock and crew were fans of G.I.Joe and were raised on it. They cared man! They picked up the story seven years later and kept the continuity from the Marvel series. It came out literally the day after 9/11 and completely sold out. The day after a national tragedy, Devil’s Due gave us escapist fantasy. I have been a faithful reader ever since and it was the only comic that I bought and read consistently. I remember going with Kelvin’s two sons to the comic book shop and buying the SNAKE EYES: DECLASSIFIED mini series. Devil’s Due bought on Larry Hama who did excellent work on G.I. JOE DECLASSIFIED and his recent STORM SHADOW mini series which is the last comic I bought.
So because G.I. Joe is en vogue and is now fashionable, Hasbro seems like they are going to whore the comic license to the highest bidder after 7 years of hard and groundbreaking work on the part of Devil’s Due. That is just so wrong, man! It is really hard for me to celebrate the recent casting news because…
…DEVILS DUE MADE G.I. JOE MATTER AGAIN PERIOD! DEVILS DUE ARE THE REAL AMERICAN HEROES!
It is so wrong that another publisher is going to capitalize on Devil’s Due seven years of hard work and SWEAT EQUITY! Hasbro gives the title to another publisher who will probably make a splash for a hot second when the movie comes out, then let it fade into obscurity. I already went through this with Marvel comics and wish to NOT experience this again with the G.I. Joe series.
DEVIL’S DUE are G.I. Joe fans first! Comic book publishers second. They deserve the renewal of the license. Again, they busted their asses on it for seven years and where I come from, hard work pays off and is rewarded.
