GI Joe 206... Jem, Transformers, and you can't be serious can you?

[ozaline]

Two of these are probably just cute in jokes... but wow, am I ever surprised by the one that isn't.





It started as a rather mundane day for the Joes.



GI Joe: Action, Adventure... Hot Dogs!




I always thought it'd be neat if Jerrica, and Zartan's Hologram tech came from the same source.





What could be more mind blowing than Transformers? Well Transformers are known to the Joes through the two Marvel crossovers... but..




So yeah... the Joes are sitting on top of an Eldritch Abomination. There's a contingent of GI Joe fans who hate the scifi, and Ninja elements... this issue is not their friend.

Comments

[hotfoot]

Looks like this story is...

More than meets the eye.

8)

[grumman]

Huh. I did not see that coming.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Neither did eye.

[icon_uk]

There have been a couple of fanfic and fancomics about where Jem REALLY got the hologram tech

Given their heavy bass lines and general themes, I'd have thought Cobra Commander would have been a Misfits fan or, given his ego, The Stingers. Maybe the soprano range blocks signals better...

I wonder if this is a Cobra-La type Eldritch Abomination?

[ozaline]

Larry blocked Cobra La from being put into the classic comics, and when he wrote a comic pack comic for a Cobra La toy he basically wrote a story that made no sense, and with references to things that didn't exist.

He was also as far as I know against putting the Transformers into the book (though he did write the G2 crossover), so this is was very unexpected... of course things do change over time.

Synergy being based on Cybertronian tech makes sense, it's similar to the idea that the Japanese timeline for the Transformers cartoons places GI Joe between seasons 2 and 3 of Transformers (explains where the Joes got lasers from). Though I still like the idea of Zartan, and Jem getting the tech from the same source... I think I might write into the letter page on this concern.

[cainofdreaming]

Cobra-La was used in the Joe/Transformers crossover (Black Horizon, I think), so they've got past Larry's vigil before.

[ozaline]

Larry isn't very concerned with what happens in other versions of GI Joe from what I've seen, also he has no control over projects he's not involved with, since he's work for hire, and has no ownership over GI Joe. So the Devil's Due TF thing, has no impact on the likelihood of it being Cobra-La here.

http://www.comicvine.com/gi-joe-a-real-american-hero-8-lt-falcon-vs-nemesis/4000-227237/

This is the one time he wrote Cobra-La, and as I said the comic is beautifully non-sequitor.

So I wonder what he's got up his sleeve... I'm not totally ruling out Cobra La, maybe he found a way to use them that works for him, but I'll be very suprised if it is CL, and also excited, because it'd have to be the best thing ever.

[q99]

I can see having a different POV on introducing a major setting element he disliked, and merely crossing over.

[jkcarrier]

Cobra Commander prefers Three Dog Night (skip ahead to 2:00):
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/076041c13b/the-ballad-of-g-i-joe

[philippos42]

How would you even be a (Hama, comic) GI Joe fan who hated the ninja elements?

I mean, I guess I can get it in theory, but that book was swarming with weird ninjas from the beginning.

[jmacq1]

Not quite the beginning. Snake-Eyes was there and all mysterious and such, but he didn't really start "Ninja-ing out" until the semi-famous "Silent Interlude" issue (#21), which not-so-coincidentally was also the first appearance of Storm Shadow and the Red Ninjas.

So...it was almost two years in (at least in the comics) before the ninjas started becoming a major part of the mythos. Of course it mushroomed big time from there, but in the beginning it was more sci-fi military. It's totally correct to say there were "fantasy" elements from the beginning though.

As a longtime G.I. Joe fan, there's quite a divide in the fandom among those that think G.I. Joe should basically just become a slightly more colorful "Call of Duty" and those that embrace the sci-fi/fantasy/ninja elements and believe it's what sets the franchise apart from just being a generic military action story.

Basically it's a variation on the typical "Adult fan thinks the franchise should grow up with him/her" theme.

[ozaline]

There was a slightly earlier hint of the Ninjas, I wanna say issue 9? But I'd have to double check... when Snake-eyes is subjected to the Brainwave scanner for the first time, Dr. Venom sees a snippet of his Ninja training.

But yes, that's exactly what it's like.

[terrykun]

How much meat?

ALL THE MEAT!

[zechs80]

Well this is TRULY outrageous.


......


Someone had to say it.

[zechs80]

Is it wrong of me to think when I read that giant eye then the earlier Easter Egg to think we were also getting an Inhumanoids crossover? Like, that's Decompose's eye. What? A man can dream can't he?

[penguinzero]

I thought the exact same thing, so you're not alone. I guess when they're loading up on references to other big 80s cartoon/toy lines, there's only so many places the mind can go...

[ozaline]

Huh... interesting theory.

[jmacq1]

Oh man, I hadn't even thought of that, but it actually makes a ton of sense when you figure this issue had nods to two other Sunbow cartoons (Jem and Transformers) worked in....

I think you've totally figured it out.

And it will be awesome.

[donnblake]

Is it Godzilla? Godzilla seems like he would fit here.

[icon_uk]

Godzilla was my first thought too, I don't know who has the rights to him at the moment, Dark Horse?

[skemono]

No, IDW has the rights to Godzilla as well as GI Joe & Transformers right now. So they could totally do that.

[ozaline]

huh that'd be neat... but I'm just trying to get a sense of scale... isn't that eye a bit big for Godzilla?