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07-28-2018, 09:04 AM | #21 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Val Verde
Posts: 2,345
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Ever the ARAH comic fan, I always considered my Joes to exist in the Marvel Universe. I never really dug the way Zartan’s abilities were portrayed as holographic in the comics, though, so in my head he was a mutant.
Here’s some garbage I wrote a while back that sums up the origins of Zartan in my Joeverse: “Emil Zartan was born in Nice, France, the second of four siblings, to a retired colonel in the French Army and his French-Algerian wife. Emil's early upbringing was of the upper middle class, his father's family being the owners of a commercial fish distributor. His father was a cruel, domineering, and physically abusive man, and his parents marriage dissolved just before the eldest son, Sourac, left for university. With Zartan's mother gone and Sourac out of the house, Zartan's father relocated Emil and his two younger siblings to Melbourne, Australia. Emil was withdrawn and unpopular at school, and his education was marred by several violent incidents, forcing him to change school several times. When Zartan reached adolescence he began to manifest a mutation which gave him the ability to take on the physical appearance of others. The Zartan family apparently had a penchant for this kind of genetic aberration, and his Sourac was also apparently able to change his face, although with no where near level of ability of Emil. When Emil was 13, Australia was shocked by the murder of three students by a fourth at the private school he attended. All four of the children involved were among Zartan's regular tormentors. Although the authorities were convinced of Zartan's classmates guilt, Emil's father suspected the truth and kicked his son out, sending him back to his mother in France. Zartan’s mother was in ill heath, however and died shortly after his return. Not wishing to go back to his father, he used his ability of impersonation to survive. Little is known about this period of his life, but a string of unsolved murders, all involving male students returning home from boarding school, indicates how he may have been surving during that period. Upon reaching his majority, Zartan found himself with no identity and no real prospects. At age 17, hoping to secure an identity and slake his need for violence, he made his way to Marseilles to enlist in the French Foreign Legion. Just as he was about to enter the recruiting office he was stopped by an older man - his brother Sourac. Sourac Zartan had left home to study science at university in Marseilles. He earned a doctorate in physics and was now a respected professor at that same university. However, Sourac had embarked on a criminal education in tandem with his university one. Adopting the Alias ZORAK and an outlandish costume he rose quickly through the criminal underworld in Marseilles, eventually heading a massive criminal organisation controlling most of smuggling, drugs and prostitution in the south of France. Sourac took his younger brother under his wing, mentoring and nurturing him in the ways of death. It was arranged for Zartan to attend the military academy at St. Cyr and several martial arts schools in the east. He honed his deadly skills fighting as a mercenary in the conflicts in South East Asia and the various brushfire wars of Africa. Finding the father figure he had never had, Zartan worked tirelessly for his brother. Enforcer, Assassin, spy, mercenary - the newly minted ZARTAN had made a name for himself - anything and anywhere where there was money and blood. Eventually the two brothers would have a falling out when Zartan took an assignment that had him spending almost a year in Japan. Zartan returned to Australia. There he reconnected with his younger brother Sander, a troublemaker who had recently washed out of the Australian SASR program and earned himself a dishonourable discharge. Sander, now going by the alias ZANDAR in the style of his brothers, had recently become part of an outlaw motorcycle gang known as the Dreadnoks. The Dreadnoks were founded by four SASR members who found themselves disillusioned upon their return from Vietnam, and their membership was originally open only to veterans and mercenaries. Specialising in gun and drug running, extortion, mercenary work and general mayhem for hire, the gang had grown to include chapters in 10 countries. Zartan fit right in, and using the skills he had learned working for Zorak, he soon found himself leader of the gang, whose profits and membership had skyrocketed under his control. By the beginning of 1979, finding himself with his own criminal empire, he sought to expand his operation further by relocating his headquarters to South Florida in the United States and taking over drug distribution there. On the eve of Zartan's move from Australia, the French media reported that a physics professor, one Sourac Zartan, had been found dead on the steps of his university building, an arrow through his throat ....”
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Needs : AOCI Lamprey Vests, (or similar), ROC Flash helmets, ROC Shipwreck flippers, 25th Dusty Torsos (or similar), BBTS Bull (Taurus) head, Snake Eyes V.52 forearms. |
07-28-2018, 05:43 PM | #22 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 211
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I'm pretty fond of the Renegades version of Zartan. Still leader of a biker gang, good at imitation, steals an experimental disguise suit that bonds to his body. Every version is pretty cool in it's own way though.
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07-28-2018, 08:59 PM | #23 |
endlesssummerofthedamned
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Midway, PA
Posts: 3,773
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I think my version of Zartan is an amalgamation of most of the ideas listed - above all, a master of disguise. But also a ninja. Also exhibits some genetic anomalies. Also a mercenary. Also a thief. Also utilizes some experimental technologies enabling him to visually alter his appearance or disappear entirely.
I also like the fact that the black over his eyes has been more recently proven to disrupt certain facial recognition programs. That seems very prescient for a character made back in the early 80s, though I doubt that was the intended purpose.
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Trade: http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-jo...uff-trade.html Feedback: http://www.hisstank.com/forum/buy-se...nstrelboy.html Disclaimer: The aforementioned post is the express opinions and ideas of the poster, and do not imply that those who have taken the time to read these views on this open forum should share or agree with them. |
07-28-2018, 09:38 PM | #24 |
o-ring or nothing
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: In the 1980's
Posts: 5,697
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He's just your run of the mill biker, assassin, thrill seeker, ninja, technological genius, master of disguise, gang-leader/ninja-leader psychopath with sympathy for troubled youths. What's not to get?
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08-08-2018, 11:11 AM | #25 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Italy
Posts: 1,495
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He's an experiment for military uses.
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My G.I.JOE collection: http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/brow...&imageuser=444 Me: http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/show...&cutoffdate=-1 |
08-08-2018, 11:51 AM | #26 |
Fuggin' Hawesome!
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: "Yes, I can hear you, Clem Fandango."
Posts: 4,415
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he's got the shinning.
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08-08-2018, 01:35 PM | #27 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Somewhere
Posts: 93
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Well, according to his file card, he's assumed so many different identities that even he doesn't know who he is, right? Well, that makes who or what he is a huge mystery. I like grounded things so I think he is just that damn good at what he does and like many of you, I feel he just has the tech to further his talents. If I had to theorize, that tech comes from Cobra, especially since we don't know how long he's been with Cobra or how long he's been doing his job.
In short: Tech, but I like not knowing where it's from or how it works or who he is and how he does what he does...That kind of sounds like an answer he would probably give to this question. |
08-08-2018, 03:04 PM | #28 |
ha!
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Earth?
Posts: 3,438
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Cmon, you guys saw game of thrones! It’s simple science.
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08-08-2018, 05:10 PM | #29 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 1,586
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I see him as an agent/spy/assassin type with a specialization in disguise. I guess he could have some ninja training - I feel like ninjas are done to death in G.I.Joe, although I do appreciate that Zartan's ninja skills seem to be more in the area of disguise and subterfuge rather than combat - which I understand is closer to the real historical meaning of ninja. So perhaps he is actually the greatest ninja of them all?
It baffles me that he became connected to the Dreadnoks - that's a pairing that doesn't make sense to me at all. I could see the Dreadnoks being led by Buzzer or even Zandar/Zarana, with Zartan as their puppet master. But I can't imagine Zartan spending time with them or leading them on roadtrips on a bike. |
01-25-2022, 02:10 PM | #30 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: Planet Earth
Posts: 1
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Sorry to necro an old thread...
Larry Hamma is the writer who wrote the file card and wrote the stories concerning the relationship between Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Zartan (Hard-master, Soft-master, etc). According to him--at least back in 1985--Zartan was an enhanced human, genetically altered with Chameleon DNA. This was revealed on page 13 of issue 48 of the story written by Larry Hamma. In those stories (roughly issues 45-47) Zartan infiltrates G.I.Joe disguised as Rip Cord and Doc performs a blood test on him (not knowing he is Zartan). This revealed that Zartan had been genetically modified with chameleon DNA. In a fight between Gung Ho and Zartan, it was revealed that Gung Ho could not best Zartan in a fight because Zartan had enhanced strength / agility resulting from the same process. This doesn't "negate" all of the other facets of his character, such as his training as a spy, martial arts, languages, and being a master of disguise. Those would be the reasons he was selected for the augmentation process to begin with. The writer that creates a character pretty much is the ultimate authority. Last edited by MajesticLizard; 01-25-2022 at 02:16 PM.. |
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