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10-27-2010, 06:17 PM | #1 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Northern Virginia
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I hope this isn't too off-topic or comic-centred for this forum, but bear with me for a sec.
I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan, and have always wondered whether Larry Hama might be one too. Clutch seems like an obvious nod, and there's even a direct Bruce lyrical reference in the first issue of the comic. But later also in the series, there seems to be Springsteen type imagery sprinkled around - Broca Beach is a run down, abandoned beach town with a boardwalk on the Jersey Shore. Is it just me, or is this meant to represent the Asbury Park, immortalised in Bruce's early work, but fallen into disrepair by the 80s? I haven't read those comics in a while but I seem to recall a connection one way or another. The early to mid 80s saw Springsteen rise to prominence as an early supporter of Vietnam veterans - it seems like a natural connection. Are there any other Bruce/Joe fans out there, and are there any other connections I've missed so far? And what about other major pop culture references? I seem to remember in one of the recent comics a rapper shows up for an issue or two, and is captured together with a few of the Joes. He is rapping away to himself, something that to me seemed like a slick lifting of Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. Anyone else pick up on this? What do you think? |
10-27-2010, 06:28 PM | #2 |
We get insurance, right?
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I'm a Joe fan, a Springsteen fan, and a veteran (but not from the Vietnam War). I'd think that Larry Hama being a vietnam vet, who lived and worked in NYC, might have appreciated Springsteen aswell. Then again, maybe it's just the fact that they were both artists working near each other geographically, around the same time, and were inspired by similar things. Maybe someone will ask him if he does a panel.
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10-27-2010, 07:26 PM | #3 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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Probably the biggest reason Springsteen references showed up in the early comics is that Springsteen was really popular in the early 80's, so he would just be on the public's mind. It would be like a current comic making a Lady Gaga reference.
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10-27-2010, 08:21 PM | #4 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: West Coast, Canada
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I'm a huge Springsteen fan, even more so than a Joe fan. I'm glad there's finally someone else out there who feels the same. Years ago I posted on another Joe website that I felt Hama was a Boss fan because of that "Thunder Road" "Asbury Park" reference in issue #1. I don't recall getting much discussion out of my post, no Boss fans I guess. Glad to see another one out there in JoeLand. I'm looking forward to the Darkness box set next month.
Springsteen didn't hit critical mass in videos and on the airwaves until "Born in the USA" in '84, issue #1 of GIJOE hit in June '82. Springsteen had a big following before '84, but referencing him in a comic book before '84 (when all the band wagon jumpers came along) would have been obscure for a kids comic. Hama clearly wasn't trying to cash in on Springsteen's name, he was a fan. Last edited by Flophouse; 10-27-2010 at 08:31 PM.. |
10-27-2010, 08:36 PM | #5 |
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There's a whole joke there about where society is headed, but I'll just let it alone.
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10-27-2010, 08:51 PM | #6 |
Filecard Maker
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: NJ
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If memory serves there's a Springsteen like character in one of the early TF comics as well.
not exactly of any importance just throwing it in the pot. |
10-27-2010, 08:53 PM | #7 |
Banned
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i am legitimately the only jersey resident that don't like bruce. i dig the stone pony, asbury is cool, hell the asbury park press is groovy, but not bruce.. ok ok, i don't dislike bruce, i just don't like the music.. and it's odd cus jersey loves bruce like ,, well,, south jersey loves philly..
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10-27-2010, 08:55 PM | #8 |
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yeah, he was in my social studies book in the 80's. why?? i have no clue, but i remember my old buddy rob yelled out in class, my ma told me he's my cousin.. he definitely was popular in the 80's..
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10-28-2010, 11:16 AM | #9 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Northern Virginia
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Thanks for the responses.
I just went back to my comics last night - the issue titled "Mean Dog" (it's one of the last in G.I.Joe Classic 9) definitely sets up Broca Beach as the "Cobrafication" of Asbury Park in all but name. (This should be interesting for any Jersey people who care about Absury, even if they don't like Bruce). We know Clutch is from Asbury Park, right? He and Rock n Roll return to a town he clearly used to spend a lot of time in. He comments on how everything has changed (even the town's name). The place has a boardwalk, carnival rides, pretty much everything that it might have had prior to the big riots in the early 70s. In the late 80s and 90s, Asbury Park had become quite the ghost town - and there was a real need for someone to come in and clean the place up and make it habitable again. What we're seeing here is Hama imagining what would happen if Cobra decided this would be a great opportunity for them. Very clever. It makes me wonder how many other cultural references there are in the comic that go over my head. |
10-28-2010, 11:30 AM | #10 |
#voteblackjack
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Northwood, NH
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I don't think the Broca Beach and Asbury Park thing has anything to do with Springsteen.
Clutch was from Asbury Park, why Hama chose there probably has more to do with the culture of the Jersey Shore area back in those days and fitting in with how he envisioned Clutch's character. Broca Beach would be a reflection of the real Asbury Park, because that is the town it was meant to be, not because of any Springsteen connection. I think the only connection is that both did "tales" of the same area at different times. It's more coincedance then anything else IMO.
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