Snowcat ’85 Art Comparison

It’s sure been awhile since I posted here!

Today’s post has three pieces of art. All come from the 1984 “G.I. Joe Briefing Book” a thick three-ring binder of photocopies and memos that some folks writing for the Sunbow cartoon had. It was reference for all the character and vehicle names and looks, a page or two for each. Many entries start with a high-contrast black and white photocopy of some Hasbro package art, followed by a black and white photocopy of a Marvel Productions color model cel.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Animation, G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art

A Real American Book! 2024 Year in Review

An artifact of being a teacher and having Winter Break is that my 2024 book-writing year ran late February ’24 to early February ’25 rather than a normal January-December. First up, the non-book things:

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Book Behind the Scenes, Writing Process

Anatomy of a Signing – Tom Reilly at Hub Comics

I’ve been meaning to finish and post this for two months, but holidays and other store events got in the way. But with Hub Comics and the Tom Reilly event there getting a mention in this week’s new issue of G.I. Joe (cf. the end of this post), I took that as a sign.

To jump to the exciting part: people were surprised I got Tom Reilly at my shop the week that G.I. Joe issue #1 was released. How did I do it? I asked.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Hub Comics, Talking Joe podcast

Larry Hama and Ron Wagner Panel at AR ’24

This deserves its own post here at A Real American Book!. On November 9th, I moderated the “Living Legends: Larry Hama & Ron Wagner” panel at Assembly Required, a great G.I. Joe convention held annually in Des Moines, Iowa. These two guys are smart and funny, and it was a pleasure to run the chat.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Convention Reviews, G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Assembly Required 2024 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 4 of 4

Jump back to [Part One/Thursday] [Part Two/Friday] [Part Three/Saturday]

SUNDAY – – – – –

In the lobby I saw Sam Damon heading to the sliding glass door with his suitcase, and we said goodbye. I met Larry Hama in the Hilton’s restaurant for breakfast. We talked about his young adult graphic novel trilogy for Abrams’ new YA imprint. (Hama has been talking about these for awhile. Their titles haven’t yet been announced, but 10 months back Abrams issued a press release for the rollout.)

Continue reading

1 Comment

Filed under Convention Reviews, Talking Joe podcast

Assembly Required 2024 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 3 of 4

Jump back to [Part One/Thursday] [Part Two/Friday] Jump ahead to [Part Four/Sunday]

SATURDAY – – – – –

Once again, I woke up earlier than I’d planned. Foolishly, I missed the 9am Cartoons and Cereal block. This takes place in the panel room, with a video projection of four G.I. Joe episodes. Past years have mixed ’80s Sunbow, ’90s DIC, and even 2010’s Renegades. I regret missing this, but between exercise, needing a meal that would sustain me longer, and doing a little prep for my panel, I kinda forgot. Maybe the milk and cereal would be still be out an hour later and I could have second breakfast? I don’t know what episodes played, but with the Iron Grenadiers theme of the convention, I was thinking of Destro-centric animated half-hours. Maybe “Sins of our Fathers,” with Destro’s ancestral home? (I’m going to jump ahead for this next photo, that 90 minutes later, after the first panel, I checked. While the milk was still out, the cereal had all been gobbled up.) Click to enlarge all photos in this report.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Convention Reviews

Assembly Required 2024 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 2 of 4

Jump back to [Part One/Thursday] Jump ahead to [Part Three/Saturday] or [Part Four/Wrap-up]

FRIDAY – – – – –

A nice reminder that morning light and sunset are different colors, even to my not-great camera phone. This would be the first of three days in a row that I woke up long before my alarm, a combination of timezone shifts, the end of Daylight Savings a week prior, the phenomenon of the hotel/different bed, and general convention excitement and anxiety — don’t sleep in or you’ll miss something! (Click all photos to enlarge.)

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Convention Reviews

Assembly Required 2024 – the A Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 1 of 4

If you’d like to read about airports or Des Moines’ skyway system, check out my 2022 and 2023 reports. For the 2024 report, I’m jumping right in, minus this sign on the way from the airport to the hotel. Why, yes, that meatball is a spear-wielding Centurion. (It wasn’t dark out, my camera was just exposing for either the illuminated sign or the restaurant exterior, and can’t do both.) Jump ahead to Friday/Part Two] [Saturday/Part 3] or [Wrap-Up/Part 4]. Click all photos to enlarge.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Convention Reviews

Back Issues – G.I. Joe and Otherwise

Two similar tasks are taking up part of the month. One is sorting, bagging, boarding, and pricing a few hundred copies of G.I. Joe-related titles at Hub Comics in advance of the Tom Reilly signing on November 16th. The other is re-bagging and boarding all my comics at home, particularly my Marvel G.I. Joe-related titles, as my wife and I recently moved.

Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under Back issues, General Musings, Hub Comics

Photoshoot #18

Expert/pal Chris Murray lent me a one-of-a-kind G.I. Joe toy item, as well as a rare pre-production bauble, when I saw him at JoeFest in August. We had loosely worked out that I would photograph them in his hotel room, but I didn’t bring a proper camera or lights, and I’m not enough of a photographer that I could light these items properly. Chris generously let me take them with me. I offered to mail them back a few weeks later, but Chris was concerned about shipping mishaps, and said he’d take them back in person at the next G.I. Joe convention in November. I had assumed I would attend that show, but hadn’t locked it in — three months was a long ways off and it’s hard to plan your next trip during your current trip. But that settled it, I would be attending Assembly Required in November 2024. Now I had three months to photograph these two pieces of treasure. This week I did. Make that the passive voice, have them photographed.

Continue reading

Leave a comment

Filed under Book Behind the Scenes, Photography