GI Joe: Saturday Morning Adventures (IDW)

[thechase]

IDW Publishing is tapping right into the nostalgia of 30- to 50-something fans with a new G.I. Joe limited series based on the well-loved '80s cartoon, right down to the aesthetics of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero animated series.


Written by Erik Burnham with art from Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado, the four-issue GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Saturday Morning Adventures is billed by IDW as a "special send-up" of the original cartoon - with an over-the-top plot couched in storybook mythology, a la the kind of adventures of the original cartoon, to boot.



In the Saturday Morning Adventures, a group of GI Joes including Sci-Fi, Gung-Ho, Roadblock, Scarlett, Duke, Flint, Lady Jaye, and Beachhead (based on the cover art by Schoening) will go up against the latest Cobra scheme, 'The Aladdin Initiative,' which IDW's announcement describes as Cobra's "most versatile weapon yet."



Though the release doesn't flat out say it, Schoening's art indicates that 'The Aladdin Initiative' involves Cobra coming into possession of Aladdin's lamp, a powerful wish-granting artifact from the well-known Arabic folktale, which was, of course, adapted into the Disney film.


GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Saturday Morning Adventures is couched decidedly in nostalgia for "how straight-up weird" the original '80s cartoon was, states Burnham.


Despite the nostalgic cartoon sensibilities of GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Saturday Morning Adventures, it's hard not to notice the optics of a militia of predominantly white "Real American Heroes" fighting a group of super terrorists over a visible metaphor for the treasures of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) global region, considering the United States' modern history of colonialism and warfare in the MENA region.



Perhaps there's an opportunity to pick up the baton of the '80s cartoon's educational moral segments to give readers some salient facts about the history of conflict over resources in the MENA region.



GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Saturday Morning Adventures #1 goes on sale in February 2022 with a main cover by series artist Dan Schoening, and variant covers from Megan Huang and Billy Penn.

www.gamesradar.com/gi-joe-cartoon-comic/

[BlackoutCreature]

The fact that this doesn't mention Snake Eyes at all fills me with hope and optimism for the GI Joe franchise.

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2021 11:04:57 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

The fact that this doesn't mention Snake Eyes at all fills me with hope and optimism for the GI Joe franchise.

Right. G.I. Joe is practically on its death bed and you think the solution is not featuring its most popular character?

Ask someone at Marvel about sales on X-Men comics that proudly don't feature Wolverine, or someone at DC about Justice League comics without Batman in them.

[BlackoutCreature]

Nov 19, 2021 16:42:21 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Nov 19, 2021 11:04:57 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

The fact that this doesn't mention Snake Eyes at all fills me with hope and optimism for the GI Joe franchise.

Right. G.I. Joe is practically on its death bed and you think the solution is not featuring its most popular character?

Ask someone at Marvel about sales on X-Men comics that proudly don't feature Wolverine, or someone at DC about Justice League comics without Batman in them.

If X-Men and Justice League were on their death beds maybe they shouldn't be featuring Wolverine and Batman.

[Bang Bang Bart]

Nov 19, 2021 16:42:21 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Nov 19, 2021 11:04:57 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

The fact that this doesn't mention Snake Eyes at all fills me with hope and optimism for the GI Joe franchise.

Right. G.I. Joe is practically on its death bed and you think the solution is not featuring its most popular character?

Ask someone at Marvel about sales on X-Men comics that proudly don't feature Wolverine, or someone at DC about Justice League comics without Batman in them.

I mean, a movie that revolved around Snake Eyes didn’t really leave an impact in the box office, so…

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2021 17:21:23 GMT -5 Bang Bang Bart said:

Nov 19, 2021 16:42:21 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Right. G.I. Joe is practically on its death bed and you think the solution is not featuring its most popular character?

Ask someone at Marvel about sales on X-Men comics that proudly don't feature Wolverine, or someone at DC about Justice League comics without Batman in them.

I mean, a movie that revolved around Snake Eyes didn’t really leave an impact in the box office, so…

Because the final few G.I. Joe fans thought it looked like a shit movie that had little to do with the source material.

That's like blaming the character of Jem because they made a shitty movie of her.

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2021 16:52:46 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Nov 19, 2021 16:42:21 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Right. G.I. Joe is practically on its death bed and you think the solution is not featuring its most popular character?

Ask someone at Marvel about sales on X-Men comics that proudly don't feature Wolverine, or someone at DC about Justice League comics without Batman in them.

If X-Men and Justice League were on their death beds maybe they shouldn't be featuring Wolverine and Batman.

They have literally taken Wolverine out of X-Men and Batman out of Justice League and it sales either decrease or at the very least, don't increase.

[BlackoutCreature]

Nov 20, 2021 8:24:03 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Nov 19, 2021 16:52:46 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

If X-Men and Justice League were on their death beds maybe they shouldn't be featuring Wolverine and Batman.

They have literally taken Wolverine out of X-Men and Batman out of Justice League and it sales either decrease or at the very least, don't increase.

And neither franchise have been on their death bed after featuring them.

[Deleted]

Nov 20, 2021 8:25:24 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Nov 20, 2021 8:24:03 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

They have literally taken Wolverine out of X-Men and Batman out of Justice League and it sales either decrease or at the very least, don't increase.

Neither franchise have been on their death bed after featuring those two characters for years.

No, but we aren't at all talking about the current state of those franchises.

We are talking about what has happened in the past 20 years when franchises drop their top character.

At this point it feels like you're just disagreeing with me for the sake of it.

If you don't like Snake Eyes that's fine,I personally don't give a shit which G.I. Joe characters you like.

I'm just saying taking one of the few things from the franchise that helps keep it on life support is not the solution to making it successful again.

[Mozenrath]

GI Joe being on its death bed is kind of a stance I have trouble agreeing with given the wildly popular figure line right now. If anything, it'd been a victim of its success, with people having extreme difficulty getting the Target exclusives.

That said, it is a franchise that has had a lot of issues with finding its place. Like, it seems to try to leave one foot in targeting youth and another in embracing a more serious aesthetic, with the problem being that I think it often leaves it in a place of not knowing what it wants to be or who it wants to be fore. Doesn't help that Renegades was short-lived, given they at least were trying to do something new.

[BlackoutCreature]

Nov 20, 2021 8:29:55 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Nov 20, 2021 8:25:24 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Neither franchise have been on their death bed after featuring those two characters for years.

No, but we aren't at all talking about the current state of those franchises.

We are talking about what has happened in the past 20 years when franchises drop their top character.

At this point it feels like you're just disagreeing with me for the sake of it.

If you don't like Snake Eyes that's fine,I personally don't give a shit which G.I. Joe characters you like.

I'm just saying taking one of the few things from the franchise that helps keep it on life support is not the solution to making it successful again.

You're the one who made the comparison in the first place. If you don't feel it's apt then why are you blaming me for pointing out the holes in it?

My point is if the franchise has been spotlighting this character for all these years and it's supposedly left them on their death bed, maybe they should try spotlighting other characters? At this point Snake Eyes has become GI Joe's version of Hal Jordan. He might be popular with the hardcore fans but he doesn't click with the greater potential audience outside the comic book crowd who associate the role with John Stewart or Kyle Rayner.

The average person on the street just does not associate GI Joe with ninjas and sword fights and Asian mysticism, it's not how they remember the franchise from their childhood. Instead of constantly telling them they're wrong and trying to change how they see the franchise, let's instead work with them and give them what they want and expect - colorful characters in a mildly sci-fi military story about things like devices that can control the weather.

[wildojinx]

As for Snake Eyes, this is based around the cartoon. Aside from the first miniseries and a few early episodes of the cartoon, Snake Eyes didnt make much of an impact on that show. Even the DIC cartoon only did one episode focusing on Snake Eyes.

[James Fabiano]

I honestly don't think of Snake Eyes when I think of the animated series.

Is he like Boba Fett where his reputation was increased by his fanboys, even though he didn't do a lot in the media most people remember?

And every issue of this had better end with a Knowing Is Half The Battle segment. If they're going to embrace the cartoon, go all the way.

[thechase]

Nov 20, 2021 10:03:45 GMT -5 James Fabiano said:

And every issue of this had better end with a Knowing Is Half The Battle segment. If they're going to embrace the cartoon, go all the way.

The comic is meant to be a send up, so if there's anything like that, it really ought to be the spoof PSAs.

"PORKCHOP SANDWICHES"

[thechase]

GI Joe: Saturday Morning Adventures#1

Cobra Commander is in possession of a magic lamp and summons a genie, the genie will grant him three wishes. Cobra Commander of course asks for unlimited power, but the Genie tells him he cannot grant him that, or dominion over hearts and minds of others, nor can he resurrect the dead. Cobra Commander is incensed, but Destro suggests something, and eventually the Genie agrees to enlarge several of COBRA's B.A.T battle droids, making them a 'colossal' problem for the Joes.

And James, you get your wish, there's a PSA at the end of the issue...a fanboy is upset at what's going on in the comics, so he decides he's going to troll the creators on the internet. Mainframe sabotages his computer and tells the kid that being a jerk over a difference of opinion makes them the villain of their own story. Now the kid knows, and knowing is half the battle

[schizo]

The only question I have when I read about this was

WHO WANTS A BODY MASSAGE?

[Kevin Hamilton]

Have kids been given any reason to care about GIJoe in decades? Legit question as I don't know. The action figures&comics are pretty much for adults who grew up with it yes?

None of the movies have been aimed at kids really; in fact I think they'd be pretty bored by em since they wouldn't know the characters and such.

If it's dying in any sense, it seems like that'd be why. Those of us who grew up with it are middle aged or getting there.

[Deleted]

Just so people know, IDW has lost the license.

Even if you like it, don't get too attached.

Even Larry Hama's series continuing the 80's storyline and numbering is ending with #300.

[thechase]

Feb 17, 2022 14:23:13 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Just so people know, IDW has lost the license.

Even if you like it, don't get too attached.

Even Larry Hama's series continuing the 80's storyline and numbering is ending with #300.

This was a limited four issue series to begin with, but hopefully it inspires the next licence holder to try something similar.

[wildojinx]

Feb 17, 2022 9:49:45 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Have kids been given any reason to care about GIJoe in decades? Legit question as I don't know. The action figures&comics are pretty much for adults who grew up with it yes?

None of the movies have been aimed at kids really; in fact I think they'd be pretty bored by em since they wouldn't know the characters and such.

If it's dying in any sense, it seems like that'd be why. Those of us who grew up with it are middle aged or getting there.

You could argue the same thing about most of the rebooted 80s toy/comic franchises. My Little Pony and Ninja Turtles (maybe Teen Titans Go since thats mostly based off the 80s team) are the exceptions.