Why is IDW re-starting with #1's again?

[captain mal]

and is the Larry Hama ongonig series done already? I only see mention of the three new #1's... no mention of Larry's series...

[Owner of a Lonely B.A.T.]

I think Larry's series its still continuing as is.

But as for the all new number one's...its an old recently continuously employed sales tactic.

Companies feel #1's are a good jumping on point for new readers who feel alienated by jumping in later in runs.

Its also a way to generate interest in a book for old readers....supposedly.

Me? It just annoys me.

[MightyMegs]

Gimmick. Just like the Cobra Commander thing. Gimmick.

[Stormgard]

I think a more natural question would have been, why go from "Cobra" to "Cobra II" last year in the middle of a major story arc.

It's possibly a little gimmicky, but I'm hoping this new series business indicates they will be going in a new direction. The MASS device thing took so long to get going and was so underwhelming overall - I hope they move away from that. I like the idea of three parallell stories that relate to one another but are still somewhat separate - it will be interesting to see where that goes, and I quite liked Issue 1.

[darkwise]

I think a more natural question would have been, why go from "Cobra" to "Cobra II" last year in the middle of a major story arc.

It's possibly a little gimmicky, but I'm hoping this new series business indicates they will be going in a new direction. The MASS device thing took so long to get going and was so underwhelming overall - I hope they move away from that. I like the idea of three parallell stories that relate to one another but are still somewhat separate - it will be interesting to see where that goes, and I quite liked Issue 1.

Gimmick aside, Cobra and Cobra II were the two best mini-series that I have read in years. Who would have known that I would become a Chuckles fan?

[Trooper13]

Gimmick aside, Cobra and Cobra II were the two best mini-series that I have read in years. Who would have known that I would become a Chuckles fan?

This. Chuckles went from being kind of a joke to the coolest Joe. While I think it's part gimmick, I also think it's about how Dixon views himself, or his aspirations. He's stated repeatedly how he think of the previous IDW Joe work as "Season 1". I think he really wishes he was the Joss Whedon of Joe, or something stupid like that. Cobra and it's subsequent minis and specials are head and shoulders above the rest of this universe. They really deserve critical acclaim.

While I personally LOVED the slow tense build up of the main Joe book, it left alot of the Hama-heads complaining. So Dixon has become kind of Hama-lyte, in the sense that he's now got his very own deus ex machina, and she's going to be pulling double duty in the new Snake Eyes series, and in the Core book. He went from writing a slow, deliberate, espionage/military thriller, to writing the "annoying adventures of the autism awareness action heroine, and her mystical mentor mime".

While it's so far, so good, we're only one issue in. I'm interested to see how everything plays out with the Cobra title, and how the quality of story is affected by getting roped into Dixon's web.

[Jettfire]

Gimmick. Just like the Cobra Commander thing. Gimmick.

That's some gimmick. Weaving it through multiple books over two years and then restarting most of your line based on the follow through of said gimmick.

Wait, does "gimmick" mean "storyline"?

[Owner of a Lonely B.A.T.]

I actually liked the slow build as well, but I honestly feel there playing catch up...they spent sooooo long building that they generated too much negative fan reaction that they needed to do some last minute to generate some interest.

I really think the death of CC was just that...an "Oh crap people are bored we better do something big" reaction.

[Trooper13]

I actually liked the slow build as well, but I honestly feel there playing catch up...they spent sooooo long building that they generated too much negative fan reaction that they needed to do some last minute to generate some interest.

I really think the death of CC was just that...an "Oh crap people are bored we better do something big" reaction.

Yeah, it does kind of feel that way, but it's amazing that if they were playing catch up, that the Cobra team pulled it off that amazingly. That story read like a perfectly natural progression. Hell, they could make that into a film, ala Bourne or modern Bond and it would be HUGE. It was that well done, imo.

Conversely, Dixon's Joe to me almost seems to have gone from that slow, calculated build, to an almost farce. Almost like going from watching Patriot Games and halfway through when you got up to take a leak someone popped in Tropic Thunder. While there are still good story elements in there, and some good characterizations, there's ALOT of crap, too. The sad part is that the majority of good story left in Dixon's book is really just bleed over from the events of the final Cobra arc.

Speaking of writers, and great stories. Who wrote the Monk arc in Origins? That was AMAZING, imo. That had a great mix of suspense, and action. That is more like what Dixon's book needed to go, imo.

[Stormgard]

I'm open to the whole killing off of CC - but only time will tell if it pays off. Of course the real hand grenade in a book like this would be to kill off several main characters all at once to make space for some new characters.

Imagine if say this CCW storyline ends with a handful of major characters dying:

Either Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow, either Destro or Baroness, either Zartan or Firefly, and either Stalker or Flint. Just think about the space that would open up in the book for new characters.

Until the Cobra series, Chuckles was just a 3rd rate Joe with a silly shirt. I'm sure they could really bring out some other under-the-radar characters and build whole story arcs around them.

I'm thinking of people like Mercer, Falcon, Psyche Out (if that Infestation series wasn't part of the IDW continuity), Wild Weasel, hell even one of the Dreadnoks.

[Trooper13]

I'm open to the whole killing off of CC - but only time will tell if it pays off. Of course the real hand grenade in a book like this would be to kill off several main characters all at once to make space for some new characters.

Imagine if say this CCW storyline ends with a handful of major characters dying:

Either Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow, either Destro or Baroness, either Zartan or Firefly, and either Stalker or Flint. Just think about the space that would open up in the book for new characters.

Until the Cobra series, Chuckles was just a 3rd rate Joe with a silly shirt. I'm sure they could really bring out some other under-the-radar characters and build whole story arcs around them.

I'm thinking of people like Mercer, Falcon, Psyche Out (if that Infestation series wasn't part of the IDW continuity), Wild Weasel, hell even one of the Dreadnoks.

I'm DYING to see them bring back Wild Weasel and flesh him out. He was cool in the few panels he got in the Zartan Origin, and given how awesome this universe has been to some of the second and third tier characters, I bet he'd be completely badass.

[MightyMegs]

That's some gimmick. Weaving it through multiple books over two years and then restarting most of your line based on the follow through of said gimmick.

Wait, does "gimmick" mean "storyline"?

Gimmick is lack of story or good writing. Like stretching out, over two years, the intro of Cobra Commander... wait, he's dead... stick around for another year to wrap this up. Oh, but we'll kill off some Joes... well, Joes we made up just for killing. And if that doesn't excite you... we're going to start it all over from #1!

Yeah, that's friggin' Shakespeare right there.

[GI Guppy the third]

"annoying adventures of the autism awareness action heroine, and her mystical mentor mime".



I think I've said enough how much the "autism" comment really pisses me off. He just seems like he can't cage his ignorance. I remember his rants about The Midnighter and Apollo being gay.

[Trooper13]

I think I've said enough how much the "autism" comment really pisses me off. He just seems like he can't cage his ignorance. I remember his rants about The Midnighter and Apollo being gay.

I hear ya. One of my closest friends' child has autism. I want to like Dixon, but there's just something about how this whole thing has gone down that's left me with the impression that he's a total d'bag. :/

[Macross7]

I think they should have stuck with the numbering they had going & just put "Part X" up at the top of the cover where Cobra Cival War" is.

Wonder if they will do what they are doing with Transformers in a few months. The number will jump to #125 or somthing. This number is from adding up all previous TF comics no matter what # they had on their cover. I've seen Marvel do that. They restart books then later go back to the original numbering, counting the restart #s on top of what they stopped the original number at. Really plays havoc with ordering comics. FF stops at #450 and the next higer number is #500. Unless you remember there are 50 issues in the restart, you'll think you might be missing them. NOTE: That was an example. I have no idea what the numebrs actually were.

[homer_sapien]

Somebody help me out. There are no decent comic stores near me so I have to buy my Joe comic online. I just read IDW's main Joe book and don't want to bend over on shipping buying a single issue each month so I wait a few months and catch up a few times a year. Now I just finished Issue #27. Which of the new #1's continues from there?

[Stormgard]

Unhelpfully enough, I think they kind of all do.