Demythify: New G.I. Joe Retaliation Trailer, Poster & More Channing Tatum, IDW’s Second New Series & G.I. Joe Renegades Still MIA! (With Bruce Willis & Dwayne The Rock Johnson)

Columns, Features, Media, News, Official Images, Top Story, Trailers, Video

Thanks for popping by and checking out my weekly Monday Demythify column. Hope you enjoy this week’s topic covering most aspects of the multi media platform called G.I. Joe!

With IDW publishing taking the opportunity presented by the new G.I. Joe Retaliation movie to relaunch part of its G.I. Joe comic book line in 2013, it looks to be a good year of new and old fans alike. As we’ve reported, “starting in February 2013, G.I. Joe will relaunch with a new #1 helmed by comic book writing heavyweight Fred Van Lente and artist Steve Kurth. The following two months will also see the debuts on two new ongoing series announced to be G.I. Joe: Special Missions in March by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Paul Gulacy with and G.I. Joe: Cobra Files by writer Mike Costa and artist Antonio Fuso in April 2013“.

Last month we focussed on the new adjectiveless G.I. Joe series and this month we have news on the second new series, G.I. Joe: Special Missions. Before we get to that, we have some G.I. Joe Retaliation movies news to share.

2013 will be the year of G.I. Joe or so Hasbro and IDW Publishing hopes. With mixed reviews and poor box office performances of previous Hasbro movie offerings like 2012’s Battleship starring Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna, looks like the studio is taking its time to ensure the release of its G.I. Joe Retaliation movie has the winning conditions to hit box office gold. Several of the cast from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra have been replaced with silver screen heavyweights like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson of WWE Wrestling fame and action star icon Bruce Willis.

Something interesting was noticed in the new international poster (see left) released earlier this month: Channing Tatum seems to be getting star billing again alongside The Rock and Willis. Why is this a bit of a backtrack and surprise from Hasbro? Well…

…Early word was that one of the casualties from the original cast was Channing Tatum’s Duke – a character who has bene front and center of every G.I. Joe small screen offering since the 1980’s. Not only was Tatum’s role mentioned to be a small one, a “pass the baton” role to the new actors, but it was also reported that he died in the film. With test screenings showing viewers clamoring for Duke to live and with actor Channing Tatum’s star on the rise – being named People Magazine’s 2012 Sexiest Man Alive and news that he and wife Jenna Dewan-Tatum are expecting their first child in 2013 – the new teaser trailer video from Yahoo! Movies gives Tatum’s Duke a lot more screen time giving it an almost buddy movie like feel with Johnson’s Roadblock. We also see the continuation of the Zartan – Cobra’s super spy with an uncanny ability impersonate anyone – subplot from the end of the first film and lots of explosions and ninjas.

Check out the newest trailer below.

G.I. Joe Retaliation hits screens on March 27, 2013 with blu-ray and DVD releases expected in June 2013.

At the same time, I just picked up my blu-ray of the first and seemingly only season of the G.I. Joe Renegades cartoon series. No word on a season 2, but with the new G.I. Joe Retaliation borrowing so heavily from the “Joe on the run” angle of the cartoon, rumors circulating is that a new cartoon series with a new take may follow the movie some time in 2013 or 2014.

Ok, now to IDW’s G.I. Joe comic book relaunch – not continuity reboot. With the main G.I. Joe series having the team front-and-center and a now a known quantity by the media, looks like G.I. Joe: Special Missions will focus on a new covert team lead by Scarlett. From the cover it looks a fave of mine Stalker is back.

My initial thought was that since this is IDW’s second ‘Joe series launch, replacing the current Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow book, that presumably this is the book where Snake Eyes would hang his mask. However with Snake Eyes not on the covers, it may be that he will be part of Flint’s G.I. Joe team set to debut in April 2013’s G.I. Joe: Cobra Files – stay tuned as more information is expected on that new series at this time next month.

The new March 2013 shipping G.I. Joe: Special Missions book is penned by long-time IDW G.I. Joe scribe and comics veteran Chuck Dixon with equally iconic comic artist Paul Gulacy. In addition, Cobra’s Baroness seems to be the team’s focus early on.

Good to see IDW freshening things up and focussing on characters that new and old fans would recognize. I do think IDW’s G.I. Joe line has had some of the most compelling comic book stories published in the last 2 years despite DC Comics’ New 52, Marvel Now and Valiant’s Summer of Valiant sucking up a lot of the attention of fandom.

While I have not counted myself as a G.I. Joe fan, despite having a fondness for the 1980’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon series, and discovering G.I. Joe Renegades on TV 2 years ago, the comics started to appeal to me with the Cobra Civil War mega-story a few years ago that kicked off with the assassination of the original Cobra Commander. That showed me that anything can happen in IDW’s comic series and I’ve been a reader ever since with the series Cobra being my fave.

Anyhow, below we have IDW Publishing’s news release heralding G.I. Joe: Special Missions, the March 2013 solicits for this new series with all the covers involved.

Yo Joe! ;)


Publisher Announces New Creative Team and New Era!

Dixon and Gulacy Declassify G.I. JOE: SPECIAL MISSIONS!

The new series goes undercover this March!

San Diego, CA (December 14, 2012) – As part of the re-launch of G.I. JOE comics, based on the iconic brand from Hasbro, IDW Publishing is thrilled to announce G.I. JOE: SPECIAL MISSIONS!

A new ongoing series helmed by comics legends Chuck Dixon and Paul Gulacy, G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS chronicles the G.I. JOE team members still operating undercover in the wake of many of their identities being exposed to the public. Tying directly into the story of Fred Van Lente and Steve Kurth’s G.I. JOE, Special Missions’ first arc shows how the evil BARONESS ends up high and dry in the eponymous G.I. JOE book.

As the raven-haired saboteur extraordinaire martials her forces and attempts to find her way back into the fold of multi-national terror organization COBRA, SCARLETT must put together an elite team to covertly de-fang the storied villainess! Calling on the best covert operators the G.I. JOE team has to offer, readers will be treated to adventures starring beloved characters like BEACH HEAD, MAINFRAME, TRIPWIRE, HARD DRIVE, ICE BERG, and STALKER, just to name a few!

“Special Missions was always my favorite of all the original, classic G.I. JOE comics,” said an enthusiastic Dixon. “Larry Hama and Herb Trimpe did an amazing comic as well as monthly tutorials on comic book storytelling. I’m knocked out to get a shot at this title and having Paul Gulacy work with me is one of those too-good-to-be-true scenarios!”

“I could read Chuck Dixon writing hard military stories all day long,” said series editor Carlos Guzman. “Nobody’s better at telling covert action stories than Chuck and Special Missions is him at his best, telling the most action-packed stories of his distinguished career. And when he’s paired up with his longtime collaborator Paul Gulacy? You can’t ask for more than that.”

An espionage-fueled counterpoint to the explosive media madness of the ongoing G.I. JOE title, G.I. JOE: SPECIAL MISSIONS is a must-read for all G.I. JOE fans. If all that weren’t enough, the inaugural issue will feature a cover by Brandon Peterson, a wraparound cover by Jamal Igle, and a special Untold Tales of G.I. JOE cover by Jim Rugg!

Harkening back to the classic Special Missions and featuring one of the most battle-tested creative teams in comics, G.I. JOE: SPECIAL MISSIONS promises to be an instant classic!

G.I. JOE: SPECIAL MISSIONS #1 – (FC, 32 pages, $3.99) is in stores March 20th, 2013. Diamond Code: JAN130356


G.I. Joe: Special Missions #1 Solicitation

G.I. JOE: Special Missions #1—SPOTLIGHT

Chuck Dixon (w) • Paul Gulacy (a) • Sean Chen, Gulacy (c)

A NEW BEGINNING! The legendary team of Chuck Dixon and Paul Gulacy lead the G.I. Joe team undercover and into action! The BARONESS tries to get back into COBRA’s good graces—and it’s up to SCARLETT to assemble a team to take the villainess down!

*2 regular covers will be shipped in a 1-to-1 ratio

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

G.I. JOE: Special Missions #1—Subscription Variant

Chuck Dixon (w) • Paul Gulacy (a) • Brandon Peterson (c)

For subscription customers only… enlist up at your local comic shop! A variant Baroness cover by Brandon Peterson! Only for loyal subscription box customers!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

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John is a long-time pop culture fan, comics historian, and blogger. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Comics Nexus. Prior to being EIC he has produced several column series including DEMYTHIFY, NEAR MINT MEMORIES and the ONE FAN'S TRIALS at the Nexus plus a stint at Bleeding Cool producing the COMICS REALISM column. As BabosScribe, John is active on his twitter account, his facebook page, his instagram feed and welcomes any and all feedback. Bring it on!