It’s an exciting time to be a G.I. Joe or Transformers fan.
Continue readingImage Comics – Skybound – Kirkman – Transformers – Announcement – Musings – Reaction
Filed under General Musings, Reading comics
A Real American Book! 2022 in Review
For more than a decade, I’ve counted my book-writing year to run from February to January, because of school break. And it’s late February, so it’s time to update you on what I’ve done all year.
Continue readingFiled under Behind the Scenes, General Musings, Talking Joe podcast
G.I. Joe #300 and Thoughts on Final Issues
Note: While this writing has been posted after G.I. Joe issue #300 went on sale, it was written before that date.
After a healthy, 12-year run, G.I. Joe is ending. Again. But this time, it doesn’t hurt.
Continue readingFiled under Back issues
Assembly Required 2022 – The Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 3 of 3
Filed under Convention Reviews
Assembly Required 2022 – The Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 2 of 3
Filed under Convention Reviews
Assembly Required 2022 – The Real American Book! Convention Report / Part 1 of 3
Filed under Convention Reviews
Remembering Andre Blais
I’ve gotten a little used to posting remembrances of G.I. Joe alums from the worlds of animation, comics, and toys, where the departed were born in the 1940s or ’50s. It’s sad, although it makes sense. But I was caught off guard this summer to learn that Andre Blais had died. He didn’t work on G.I. Joe, but for me, he worked around it. Longtime readers of this blog have “met” him, as Andre was my photographer from 2008 to 2017.
Continue readingFiled under Book Behind the Scenes, Photography
Silent Interlude Redux: a Review of the G.I. Joe 40th Anniversary Special, Part 2
In Part 1, I offered some context for the new G.I. Joe 40th Anniversary Special via a trio of Marvel Comics “Tribute” issues wherein top artists of today each redrew a page from a classic Marvel story. I started making an analogy that comics like these resemble popular song remakes. I’m going to return to that analogy later, but since the selling point of this new G.I. Joe work is each new artists’ take, and the ability to see this story anew, first thought I would riff on each page.
Continue readingFiled under Comics Reviews, Reading comics
Silent Interlude Redux: a Review of the G.I. Joe 40th Anniversary Special, Part 1
I can’t write about this week’s double-sized G.I. Joe comic book special without first looking back a few years at something similar published not by IDW, but by the House of Ideas. In 2020 and 2021, Marvel Comics created a precedent with a trio of oversized remake comics. These were Fantastic Four Anniversary Tribute #1 (that premiere issue plus the wedding of Sue and Reed from FF Annual #3), Captain America Anniversary Tribute #1 (Cap’s origin/Red Skull’s debut from 1941’s Captain America Comics #1 plus Cap’s return in Avengers #4) and Giant Size X-Men Tribute #1, a double-sized redo of just that original issue from 1975). But these weren’t reprints.
Continue readingFiled under Comics Reviews
A Real American Book! 