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03-01-2012, 10:57 AM | #1 |
#voteblackjack
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Northwood, NH
Posts: 35,747
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I recently got a chance to talk with John Barber, the editor of the G.I. Joe line of comics over at IDW, about plans for the books post-Cobra Command and what it was like writing the Retaliation comic book.
Read the full interview over on The Comixverse (formerly Kitty's Pryde) and see some exclusive upcoming art. Comixverse: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. You came aboard G.I. Joe in the middle of the Cobra Civil War. How far along was the the plotting of the story and how much of Cobra Command was plotted? John Barber: It was pretty much set up. Because of the logistics of the 9 issues intertwined that made up Cobra Command, everything really had to be locked in place before we could even get started. Cobra Civil War was all plotted out, and Cobra Command was too, several of those scripts were even in place, approved, and being drawn by Alex Cal. The second season of the G.I. Joe books have been two larger stories, running through the three books. Will this continue after Cobra Command or will each book go back to telling their own stories? (Editor's note: the first batch of questions were asked prior to the last round of solicitations) They’ll get back to telling their own stories, with a different mandate. G.I. Joe will still be about the G.I. Joe team, of course—but the events of Cobra Command will have radically changed the team dynamics and the set-up. Snake Eyes will have a very different status quo as well, that should please a lot of people! And Cobra will maybe the most changed of all, in a way. Still Mike Costa and Antonio Fuso, still great comics, but a very exciting new direction that I can’t explain too much without spoiling Cobra Command. One of the things that made the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero so good was seeing the toys in the pages of the book. I've noticed that there have been more recognizable vehicles, even some from the latest releases of the toys, showing up in the pages of the books, more so then when IDW first started the Joe books. Was there a push to include more direct toy designs? Not any specific push, really—we’re all fans, too, so when Cobra made a big move, it made sense to include some of the toys. Some of the weapons and vehicles are all new, some are classics… I think we’ll see more of that in the future. There have been alot of new Joes created in the IDW books. Do all of these codenames have to be cleared with Hasbro before showing up in the book, even if the character is only one and done, showing up for just that issue and then dying? Everything’s cleared with Hasbro—they’re very much part of the storytelling day-in-day-out, and a very welcome partner they are! They’re all very creative people at Hasbro—and of course, huge fans of the brand, same way everybody working at a comic book company is a big comics fan. So we’re bouncing ideas back and forth all the time, and the names are no different. Somebody that shows up for one panel is, in reality, less a big deal than somebody who comes in and sticks around, of course. But I talk to Michael Kelly at Hasbro every day, just about, and we talk about all this stuff. Joe is a war comic and death is part of that. There is some criticism about the one and done characters, of Joe falling into the Star Trek "red shirt" problem. With Joe there have been enough named deaths, but how do you toe the line between the red shirts and the named? It’s a tough balancing act. You don’t want to off-handedly do away with somebody’s favorite character, right? But sometimes, for the deaths to mean something, it needs to be somebody important. Sometimes, though—like you say—it’s a war comic and we’re losing people that we don’t know. It’s a tricky business. I don’t really have an answer to how we toe the line; sometimes you just have to feel it out. Brainstorm was a fobbit, and recently killed, will we see any other IDW named characters receive a significant role? Yeah, you’ll see some new characters popping up around G.I. Joe #13. One of the fun books that came out during the original run was the Order Of Battle. Any chance of seeing a new version of that? That’d be really cool, wouldn’t it? Logistically challenging, but very cool. So, um, good idea. Maybe. Chuck Dixon has done a good job of setting the Joes up into set squads. Will we see a listing of who is in those squads? Is there a listing? Yeah, there is a breakdown. It’s somewhat fluid—it’s not the same after Cobra Command as before, but that might be something worth running. Man, that’s another good idea. Two for two, Troy! The end of the first season had the Joes discover a Cobra moonbase. It's been long enough, the Cobras are probably dead by now, but will we see the moonbase return? I talked to Chuck about that a while back. Are they dead? Hmmmm… I just noticed in the new Previews that Snake Eyes becomes Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Is this a result of Cobra Command or planned from the beginning of the series? Well—both! That’s what I was hinting at earlier, about the big change on the Snake Eyes series. We’ll have a lot of ninja action, and a lot of mystery going on. Snake Eyes is so enigmatic a character, I think putting him in a situation like Chuck Dixon has, where his motivations become less clear, really casts the character in a very cool light. There are times where you’re not sure as the reader what kind of a game Snake Eyes is playing. And Robert Atkins, by the way, returns to the G.I. Joe books and really brings this action to life in a tremendously powerful way. So, anyway—to answer your question—Cobra Command was pretty much planned from the start, or anyway everybody knew that Cobra Civil War was leading to something like that when the Snake Eyes series started. So in a way, the change to Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow was planned from the beginning. The idea to change the title evolved naturally as it went on.
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Join the New England G.I. Joe Collector's Group: Battleforce New England Join the March of Cobra. Read the epic adventure on Kindle Worlds and visit the page to learn more. https://www.facebook.com/marchofcobra/ |
03-01-2012, 12:42 PM | #2 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Indiana
Posts: 629
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Dude, nice job.
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03-01-2012, 06:07 PM | #3 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Viper's pit
Posts: 837
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Alot of information was given through the interview. Thank you for sharing it.
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03-01-2012, 06:12 PM | #4 |
Deceptiron
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Wandering
Posts: 10,851
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That was a solid interview. It's refreshing when the answers given are informative and don't sound like a sales pitch.
Thanks for posting it! |
03-02-2012, 01:04 AM | #5 |
#voteblackjack
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Northwood, NH
Posts: 35,747
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I wish I had asked more about ARAH and what Alex Cal would be up to next. Loving his work in Cobra Command (except for the berets, he still has an issue with those).
__________________
Join the New England G.I. Joe Collector's Group: Battleforce New England Join the March of Cobra. Read the epic adventure on Kindle Worlds and visit the page to learn more. https://www.facebook.com/marchofcobra/ |
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