For G.I. Joe fans who have been following the property for only a few short years, this may come as a surprise, but believe it or not, there was a time, not very long ago, where Roadblock wasn’t a household name.  In fact, he wasn’t even on Hasbro’s radar.  A victim of lost trademarks, it seemed inevitable that Roadblock would simply fade from the consciousness of the G.I. Joe faithful and no longer be a major part of ongoing canon.

Sure didn’t turn out that way, huh?

I must give credit to long time Joe buddy Todd of Magnum 6 Delta for prompting me to put this post together, and considering the G.I. Joe: Retaliation motion picture on the horizon, and the potential for redefining the core characters of the Real American Hero brand, the timing couldn’t be better.  Click the “Read the Rest of this Story” link below to check out the full article.

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With the latest whirlwind of IDW news, many of us were pretty concerned about the potential fate of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic.  Well, thankfully, according to Larry Hama himself on Facebook, it seems like this comic will still be around for a while, which brings a huge smile to my face.

New comic day hits tomorrow, so we’ve got a 5-Page preview for you right here!

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G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #177

Larry Hama (w) • Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema (a) • Herb Trimpe, Frenz (c)

The stakes are higher than ever! Cobra Commander has discovered the danger in the midst of Broca Beach, and has begun his preparations to face off against the Blue Ninjas. Meanwhile, DUKE, SCARLETT and STALKER split off on their own from G.I. JOE in order to head to Broca Beach. And with SNAKE EYES and BARONESS en route as well, this could be the showdown to end all showdowns. Prepare for the final confrontation in G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #177!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:

Larry Hama variant sketch cover cover!

Bullet points:                                                                                             

• Featuring stunning art from industry legends Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema!

Over the weekend conversation about the IDW G.I. Joe comics reached a fever pitch as rumors circulated about titles “scaling back” and there were even specific rumors of just a single ongoing title existing.

Slowly but surely over the past few days, those rumors have been put to rest by folks at the ComixVerse, The Terror Drome, and Mike Costa himself.  Well, add another name to the pile of folks who are saying this “streamlining” either isn’t going to happen or is going to be much less than initially thought.  Larry Hama.

The writer of the Real American Hero title confirms via Facebook that as far as he knows, RAH isn’t going anywhere.  His exact quote:

“ I am dialogueing RAH#180 right now, and am writing to plot to to RAH#183 as well. Just talked to Carlos @ IDW, and he sai nothing about cutting backl I fact there are going to be Mexican editions, and I;m going to write one of the letter columns.”

Issue #180 was just solicited for July, so #183 would scope out to around October, so there certainly doesn’t appear to be any scaling back on the radar.  I’m glad to hear it.  With Larry Hama and Mike Costa being my two favorite comic writers at the moment, hearing them both say specifically that they’re not going anywhere is a big relief.  Hopefully it stays that way!

So the recent news about IDW streamlining their G.I. Joe releases caused me to check these solicitations with a little trepidation, but turns out if they are scaling things back at all, it’s not happening until after July.  The solicitations at least still show our normal compliment of G.I. Joe related titles.

To see the full lowdown click the Read The Rest of this Entry link below.

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While folks are probably used to seeing Mr. Hama at various conventions around the country in recent years, I don’t hear many tales of him doing signings at comic book stores.  Well, consider that changed!

Hub Comics out of Somerville, MA is featuring the godfather of G.I. Joe as a special guest, and you can find out all of the details right here.  He will be appearing Saturday, April 7th from 11am to 4pm.

Now something that folks might not know is that the owner of Hub Comics is a long time G.I. Joe fan and historian, Tim Finn, who is currently working on an extensive coffee table book documenting the Real American Hero.  He has posted updates to this terrific project on his WordPress site A Real American Book.  So obviously Mr. Timm and Hub Comics are big friends of the G.I. Joe brand and anyone in the Boston area should hit it up and show their support!

Check out Hub Comics’ website right here!

G.I. Joe fans around the world were eager and willing to check out G.I. Joe: Operation Red Retrieval when it hit late last year, and now director Mark Cheng and star Joe Barbagallo are partnering to form a new production company, Planet Nerd Rage.

Thriving on the micro-budget concept, this production company takes big ideas and makes them look big without big money.  It has the promise of some very cool things for the micro budget film phenomenon.

So why would G.I. Joe fans care, you ask?

Well, a couple of projects currently in the works involve one of all of our favorite creators, Larry Hama.  The first project is based a novel that Mr. Hama wrote several years ago, entitled The Wrong Chinaman, and another project is entitled Ghost Source Zero, with a script by Cheng, currently being worked on by Larry Hama as well.  It would seem like a match made in heaven.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled to Planet Nerd Rage, and for more information, check out Episode 47 of What’s on Joe Mind where Mark Cheng, Joe Barbagallo, and Larry Hama himself made this exciting announcement!  We were very honored that they chose our podcast to release this information to the wild, and we will all be closely following the progress of these works and this studio.

And it’s a whopper!  We had initially scheduled this episode to post an interview with Flint Dille, and we certainly accomplished that…but not only that, we also feature G.I. Joe legend Larry Hama, and G.I. Joe: Operation Red Retrieval masterminds Mark Cheng (director) and Joe Barbagallo (Beachhead).  Mark, Joe, and Larry come on the show to make a very special announcement, and you will hear it FIRST right here on the podcast!

Check it out on our Podbean Page, or listen via the embedded player below.  Don’t forget, show notes are after the jump!

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This past weekend over the pond in Southampton, UK, Gary from What’s on Joe Mind and James “KuuKuuSon” Kavanaugh, Jr.  are attending the UK G.I. Joe/Transformers convention Roll Out Roll Call 3!

And if you think they’re flying all the way over there without posting a couple special editions, you don’t know them very well.  Fresh from the floor of Roll Out Roll Call, you can listen to these special editions below:

I’ve heard word that many comic shops didn’t get these issues in this week, so if that’s the case, you may want to turn away, lest have some spoilers heaped upon you.  Larry Hama has been exploring this somewhat strange “Blue Ninja” storyline for a while now, and yes, it continues here…but something strange happened.  It’s kind of grown on me.

Kind of.

To check out the full review click the Read the Rest of the Story link below.

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One thing IDW has done a fantastic job of with their G.I. Joe titles is making sure we have a G.I. Joe presence almost every week at the comic store, and this week is no exception!  The always impressive G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero hits on Wednesday as well as the second “season” of G.I. Joe.

Cobra Command and the Blue Ninja saga both rage on, and you can see 5-Page previews for both titles from IDW below.

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G.I. Joe: Ongoing Vol. 2 #11

Chuck Dixon (w) • Alex Cal (a) • Dave Wilkins, Will Rosado (c)

The Commander demands annihilation! COBRA’s horrific war escalates and the Joes are fighting for their lives in the killing fields. The new Cobra Commander unleashes weapons of unimaginable horror in a scorched earth strategy that will turn the Southeast Asian country of Nanzhao into a lifeless wasteland. Will the Joes stand or run? You already know the answer to that one, don’t you?

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:

Variant David Williams interconnected cover!

Bullet points:

• PART 7 of Cobra Command!

[View with PicLens]

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #176

Larry Hama (w) • S L Gallant (a) • Herb Trimpe, Gallant (c)

It’s pure pandemonium, as three sides rush to track down the leader of the Blue Ninja menace. Can Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes and Baroness find a way to aid each other in their quest for vengeance? Or will their animosity toward each other give their common enemy the upper hand? Tension runs high as the Blue Ninja threat escalates in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #176!

FC • 32 pages • $3.99

*Variant covers:

Larry Hama variant sketch cover cover!