In our last exciting episode, Tim sweated not getting into New York Comic Con 2025, talked with artist friends, and announced his ten-years-in-the-making comic book from BOOM! Studios, The Center Holds, written by Larry Hama and drawn by Mark Bright! Then he and writer/producer Nick Nadel got lunch with Janice Chiang off-site, and returned to the Javitz Center for the second half of the day!
Continue readingFiled under Convention Reviews
*** BIG NEWS I’VE WAITING TEN YEARS TO ANNOUNCE! ***
I don’t want to bury the lede here, since my con reports are long. My comic book is being published by BOOM! and it’s written and drawn by Larry Hama and Mark Bright!
And yes, that is a big surprise for you, dear reader.
Filed under Convention Reviews
Last weekend was the official 2014 G.I. Joe Convention, an annual event organized by Fun Publications. FunPub runs the official G.I. Joe fan club, and running a convention (two, actually) for nitpicky toy fiends is a thankless job. Despite the fact that I’m writing this book and I’m a G.I. Joe crazy person, this was only my second JoeCon, though I kept reminding people I’ve attended like 16 BotCons (the Transformers convention, including the first one, where I was the youngest pre-registrant, because I was a Transformers crazy person.) For those of you familiar with either convention, I’m writing today’s post with a little more general of an audience in mind (hi, Dad), so there might be some obvious facts in here. For those of you turned off by 3500 words, there’s a picture for every paragraph — almost all are enlargeable — and I’ve divided this post into three sections we’ll call “Friday,” “Saturday,” and “Sunday.” Also, “Introduction.” Continue reading
Filed under Convention Reviews, General Musings
I wanted two things out of this anniversary: One, a big fight with lots of characters. More like issue #50 than #100 and #150 — a large-scale choreography of people and vehicles over geography. And issue #200 checked that box. Two, I wanted guest artists and back-up stories. I didn’t get this, but I’m still a happy reader.
Filed under Comics Reviews
Told at many conventions and in many interviews is the prehistory of G.I. Joe, how Larry Hama pitched a military comic to Marvel called “Fury Force.” He sketched out six heroes — covert military types — along with a motorcycle, a van, and a secret base underground base. And later grafted it onto Ron Rudat’s G.I. Joe action figure designs, and made it the through line for the monthly G.I. Joe comic book.
Fury Force had a helicopter, too.
Filed under Comic Books, G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes
Photos of Larry Hama’s signing at Hub Comics in Somerville, MA, 07 April 2012, are now up here. No log-in required. Lots of shots of Hama sketching G.I. Joe characters.
Filed under Hub Comics
Larry Hama may now be an annual fixture at the Official G.I. Joe Collector’s Convention, and has attended more and more conventions in the last few years what with G.I. Joe back in the spotlight, but did you know he’s never signed in Boston? Hama’s visit to Hub Comics (19 Bow St.) this Saturday April 7th will be his first-ever Boston-area appearance! (Somerville isn’t technically in Boston, but it’s 2 miles from Boston, and borders Charlestown and Cambridge, which both border Boston.) The signing is from 11am to 4pm, and Hama will be sketching as well. Bring your Wolverine, Generation, Batman, Marvel Premiere, Daredevil, and Mort the Dead Teenager comics to get signed! And Hub Comics will have every in-print IDW collection for sale:
Metered street parking available. MBTA-wise on the 85 and 87 bus lines/near the 91, 86 and CT2.
Filed under Hub Comics
Photo by Jamie Meditz
Not much touted here is the fact that I own a comic book store. It’s a recent development, and with our renovations still ongoing (shelves, paint, lights, awning, website), it’s a little harder to blog and write. On the plus side, our customers always have IDW’s full line of G.I. Joe comics and graphic novels to choose from. Both myself and the store are in this week’s issue of DigBoston, a free arts and nightlife newspaper, and I manage to give some attention to Real American Hero.
A longer version should be online in a week. Thanks to interviewer Corey Estlund, photographer Jamie Meditz, and art director Scott Murray for the kind coverage.
Filed under Back issues, Hub Comics, Reading comics
This is a fun one. Between the occasional Wizard or ToyFare article, G.I. Joe fan website, and Hama’s own Facebook page, it’s not too hard to find shots of Larry and G.I. Joe toys. It is hard to find any where the toys outsize him. But then the USS Flagg outsizes us all.
I don’t know where the original Polaroid (seen here as a photocopy) is from, but I have a lead I can look into (and should have already!), but my guess is either at Hasbro in Rhode Island or Toy Fair in New York City, February of 1986 or 1987. Probably not the Marvel office in NYC. Less interesting, but still a captured moment in time from the same series is another angle, sans Hama.
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
A Real American Book! 
