What the hell, some G.I. Joe!

[seriousfic]

So the Joes are in South America to do something involving a coup. This being G.I. Joe, Cobra, Destro, a fruit company cartel, and other sinister forces are at work. But in the midst of all that, our boys pay a visit to the embassy.







Happy Memorial Day everyone, and remember to check for angry gun-wielding soldiers before you do any flag-burning.



Tags: creator: larry hama, publisher: marvel comics, title: g.i. joe

Comments

[foxhack]

Do ho ho ho the Reagan picture in the final panel.

[rordulum]

Wow. I actually remember this from the old Action Force/GI Joe back up strip in Marvel UK's Transformers comics.

Even as an 8 year old, the gung-ho patriotism of it grated badly.

Though I would like to see just how many of his own bones he'd break by trying to fire that .50 cal whilst holding it like that.

[terrykun]

One of Roadblock's bones broke once. He immediately glared at it until it re-set itself.

[seriousfic]

You're complaining about gung-ho patriotism in a G.I. Joe comic? Isn't that like complaining that a Spider-Man comic is too lighthearted or that Lady Gaga is wearing something ludicrous?

[rordulum]

Well, considering it was an unwanted freebie at the back of Transformers, I reserve the right to criticize it. I could never figure out why Marvel tried to market this stuff in the UK.

Hell, my distaste for gung-ho patriotism (of any nationality) probably stems from this nonsense.

[seriousfic]

No one ever mentions the blind jingoism of the Autobots. Was there a single one of them that didn't have an Autobot tattoo?

[icon_uk]

Transformers Armada Wheeljack

[jlbarnett]

they're soldiers. It's not a tattoo, it's for identification purposes.

[cmdr_zoom]

Different country, different culture. In England and most of the UK, nationalism seems to be something to be embarrassed and/or nervous about.

[barnesarama]

Except of course every even-numbered summer, when every white van and third car is decked out with St Georges Crosses - at least until we get knocked out in the quarter-finals...

[rordulum]

Not embarrassing or nervous. Just unnecessary. Hard to be nationalistic when you live in a cosmopolitan, ever evolving society.

Nationalism, by definition, is exclusive, and UK society isn't, as far as I'm concerned.

[icon_uk]

I think you have to differentiate between pride in ones country, and the more extreme forms of Nationalism. Most British people are at least fairly proud of their country (Not always about every part of it), that;s very different from the likes of jingoism or the likes of the BNP.

And I have to say that the American obsession about the Stars and Stripes just baffles me.

[jlbarnett]

so you're okay with someone going into another country's embassy and destroying it?

[thormonger]

Good on ya, Roadblock!

[feyandstrange]

Wow. I am astonished at how wrong this all is in about twelve different ways and how much it bothers me. The freakin' flag is hung the wrong way! And why is it on a wall? What, the Embassy forgot to requisition the usual flagpoles? Why is the Ambassador still here at all if there are looters in the building? Where the hell are the Marine Guards and why aren't they stopping the looters? Or are they all on the roof with the Ambassador and last staff out waiting for a copter like they should be? Does this embassy not have anti-vehicle barriers or is Roadblock's truck designed to drive over anti-tank measures? Are they seriously going to make an Ambassador ride bitch in that Baja jeep full of Joes? Is Roadblock seriously rescuing a flag when he should be rescuing living people?

Knowing too much is not the other half of the battle, I guess.

[halialkers]

I'm pretty much pro-America, but there is enough wrong in this particular instance of "patriotism" to choke a blue whale.

[philippos42]

Is this Mike Zeck work?

[geoffsebesta]

Mike Zeck never rendered this inelegantly or was influenced as Giffen so clearly. I'm betting later Trimpe.

I'm totally willing to be wrong about this, of course.

[geoffsebesta]

Curiously, I heard about an incident today at a protest in Chicago against the Israeli raid on the aid convoy. They were outside the Israeli embassy, Somebody set an Israeli flag on fire, over the objections of many other demonstrators, and burned it up.

This comic is a perfect analogue of the situation.

How would you feel if an Israeli commando had appeared with a machine gun and threatened the protesters' lives?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I'd say it takes on a different meaning when an embassy, ya know sovereign turf that's supposed to be protected by international law, is invaded.

And I fail to see how it's an analogue, as the guys didn't have a gun pointed at their heads.

[geoffsebesta]

Well, the Joe team is at an embassy. They aren't in America. They're in a sovereign country, threatening a local protester. Do you see my meaning now?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Err, no. First, by international law, being in an American embassy is the same as being in America.

Second, he's not a protestor. He's a member of a riot, ransaking the place and willfully destroying property that isn't his in any way and not something he has any legal or moral right to do whatsoever.

That doesn't mean Roadblock has any right to shoot him, but said person was hardly some innocent protester expressing their freedom of protest.

[geoffsebesta]

"And I fail to see how it's an analogue, as the guys didn't have a gun pointed at their heads."

That's my question. How would you feel if a Mossad commando had come out of the embassy and, politely, threatened their lives if they burnt an Israeli flag?

Leave aside the inside/outside question, it's a very big deal but it's also distracting from what's essentially an emotional issue about patriotism and nationalism.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Inside/outside and the circumstances are actually very important to this discussion. As much as you want to, you simply cannot brush over the fact that in the scan above, the man is a criminal committing a criminal act on sovereign territory.

I hold to different standards when a person respects the law, and when someone else violates it.

[aaron_bourque]

G.I.*Joe: winning hearts and minds wherever they go.