So I'm reading the comics for the first time...

...and loving it!

I think I'm on issue 36. Great stuff. Wish I would have known it existed back in the day, but I'm the oldest and comics were not around during GI JOE's run.

Any veterans out there?

Anyone reading them for the first time like me?

I have to read them for the first time. I have to set a time apart for it.

I am also reading them again...The first Civil War is the best!!

I am buying and rereading them, love the comics.

I almost to the end of the run, the older issues are by far the best...they just get a bit weird later on.

ska_lives wrote:

I almost to the end of the run, the older issues are by far the best...they just get a bit weird later on.

I have to agree with you. I made it to issue #120 or so, and I totally lost my interest in it. The first 50 issues are definitely the best.

While I grew up watching the Sunbow cartoon, reading the comics gave me a greater understanding of certain character dynamics (if nothing other than Snake Eyes v Storm Shadow). So my mental concept of GIJoe is a mesh of the two. However, it's like the comic title continued longer than it should have. Somewhere shortly after issue #100, things get really flakey and Hama began recycling plots. I'm still reading the comics as they come out, but it's a bit like a car accident - you don't want to look but you can't turn away. After 20 years, Hama is recycling plots again and the art varies from fair to unrecognizable.

Edit: I meant to add that a lot of the Special Missions comics are fantastic! Dunno if it was the lack of stress from writing a one-off or what, but they often feature tidy plots and solid teams. Gained a bigger understanding of who Chuckles is, too.

Yeah the main series gets a little dull for a while but it picks up and gets great again, I love Andrew Wildman's run on the art near the end!

I love Special Missions too. Check out Gi JOE European missions and Action Force Comics. They take the Joes you know and make them their own. Cool solo stories Destro SS, SE, etc, they make Footloose a British SAS bad ass, they use vehicle drivers a lot in the main cast (85'/86') Heavy Metal and Crank Case are major players. Tons of great stuff, I've incorporated a lot of it into my Joe world. It's a fresh an interesting take.

The comics weren't (commonly) available over here at that time, except for the special missions. I've got all of them, loved to read them as a kid.

Tim 121RVC

I had read some as a kid, but I really got into them a few years ago when Sidewinder ask me and my brother to help start the GI Joe Review Podcast

http://gijoereview.wordpress.com/

We have reviewed up to issue 58

I am more aware of the comics (started with #23 where the JOEs capture Cobra Commander in Switzerland) and then picked up a bagged 3-pack that had the raid on the Treasury Department.

Never really saw the cartoon, since I didn't get that channel out of NYC.

Have all the comics, and all of the Marvel ones on my computer.

Somewhere on joecustoms I have a list of all the characters, designs, and alternate uniforms that should have been produced. That might come in handy on here. Not sure if I can find it...

I've just finished re-reading the Marvel series for the second time a couple months ago. Those first 70 issues or so have some really great stories. IMO, the arc where Stalker and his team are captured in Borovia is one of the best storylines in comics. Loved the use of the ninjas in that one....one of Hama's last great ninja stories until the mythos got bogged down too much in mysticism and Arashikage mind tricks.

I love the tight storytelling of Special Missions. I think it's a very underappreciated title.