GI JOE: AMERCA'S ELITE LAUNCHES IN JUNE WITH $0.25 ISSUE

[MattBrady]

Press Release

DEVIL’S DUE ANNOUNCES NEW THEME TO G.I. JOE COMIC BOOK SERIES

Series re-launches in June with a 25¢ issue

This summer, Devil’s Due Publishing (DDP) will introduce a new theme to its G.I. JOE line of titles, focusing on a smaller, more streamlined team with a rotating cast of guest stars. G.I. JOE #43 will be the last issue of the current G.I. JOE ongoing series when the world is turned upside down after a new menace hits both G.I. JOE and COBRA. And the changes will last forever. The new series will be titled G.I. JOE: America’s Elite.

The final two issues of the current series (#42 and #43) will each be 42 pages and cost $4.50. Exclusive preview images can be seen in the near future at www.devilsdue.net.

June will see the release of G.I.JOE: AMERICA'S ELITE #0, priced at an amazingly low 25¢. Issue #1 follows in July.

Some big-name creative talent takes over the reins. Joe Casey steps in as the new writer and newly signed exclusive DDP artist Stefano Caselli is on pencils. Current G.I. JOE writer, Brandon Jerwa will begin work on a top secret project that ties in with this title, and Tim Seeley begins drawing an equally classified upcoming project that is going to be his best work yet.

“The ‘new’ G.I.JOE will take place about one year after issue #43,” said Josh Blaylock, President of DDP. “Some of the characters will have gone through major changes and we’ll be tackling the age issues with the characters and the challenges each faces. The current series will end with a bang, that much you can bank on. And, yes, not all the key players will survive the series---on both the G.I. JOE and COBRA sides.”

Devil's Due. Reminding everyone that pop culture IS our culture.

[adamcasey]

I followed G.I. Joe for the first couple of issues when it started three or so years ago. I might give it another whirl with the new series.

[BriGuy]

Sweet. I'll check it out.

[ElijahSnowFan]

...ANOTHER DAMN RELAUNCH.

is there any publisher out there, anywhere, anywhere on this planet, who will sell me a comic book series that will NOT run for 40 issues, stop, then start again using the SAME FREAKING CHARACTERS? is there any publisher out there who will make major changes in a book WITHOUT ENDING IT?

i've been reading GI Joe since the Marvel years, missing only five or six. when it went to Devil's Due, i thought there was a chance that they would at least keep the book consistent. but they started Reloaded, and now this.

i expect it from DC and Marvel. i had hoped -- in vain, and stupidly -- that i could finally read a series without interruption.

i'm so stupid sometimes -- as they say, that brick wall you keep running into isn't going to move the next time, either.

[Alfonso]

Wow, another publisher releasing another 25 cent issue, I'm impressed. Unfortunately, I have even less interest in this than I do in Red Sonja (though I'll willingly purchase both of them). This looks like the last of the 80's craze titles that hasn't returned to the grave yet.

I think the reason all the 80's nostalgia has disappeared is that people began to realized how unspectacular the properties actually were and realized why they had disappeared in the first place.

[Drax]

Casey's name alone will get me to buy the $.25 issue. But I have no fondness for anything JOE, so it would have to be amazing for me to pick up the next issue. Then again, before Casey I didn't care much about Wildcats either and that turned into a favorite.

[Jed Saxon]

Originally posted by ElijahSnowFan
...ANOTHER DAMN RELAUNCH.

is there any publisher out there, anywhere, anywhere on this planet, who will sell me a comic book series that will NOT run for 40 issues, stop, then start again using the SAME FREAKING CHARACTERS? is there any publisher out there who will make major changes in a book WITHOUT ENDING IT?

Blaylock explained it all in a HUGE interview (which can be found at www.yojoe.com/ ). Sales were dropping, because the retailers stopped ordering it and they had to do something. DDP is a small publisher and they don't have a Jim Lee to pimp a book, no matter how badly written, into Diamond's pole position.

but they started Reloaded

And? Reloaded was a start from scratch, like Marvel's Ultimate line, a chance for new readers to step in. adly no one bought it and it is cancelled with #14.

The only thing I'm sad about is that they took Brandon Jerwa away from the book.

Originally posted by Alfonso
I think the reason all the 80's nostalgia has disappeared is that people began to realized how unspectacular the properties actually were and realized why they had disappeared in the first place. [/b]

Have you actually read any issues?
G.I. Joe was/is a hell of a series. Brilliant written, cool characterizations and lots of action. Like ThunderCats (except for the last two miniseries) the merchandise was developing and the creators took is serious and not as some sorz of work-for-hire.
Same goes for Masters of the Universe, but Mattel's stubbornness and idiocy ruined the toyline and the comic book as well. CrossGen ruined MVCreations.
Transformers sold pretty good, but Dreamwave made more than one bad business decision it seems and now they are gone, too.
Voltron and Micronauts were also pretty good.

Just because it's a toy franchise and just because Grant Morrison isn't writing it, doesn't mean, it's a bad franchise.

Originally posted by Drax
Casey's name alone will get me to buy the $.25 issue. But I have no fondness for anything JOE, so it would have to be amazing for me to pick up the next issue. Then again, before Casey I didn't care much about Wildcats either and that turned into a favorite.

Here in Germany, the G.I. Joe toyline was discontinued pretty fast, so I never grew up with the Joes and I have only a handful of the Marvel books. But when DDP launched it, I was curious and I loved the series (as well as the Frontline-spin-off). You really might wanna give it a try. After Brandon Jerwa took over as a writer (with issue #26), the series got really, REALLY good.

[Sean Walsh]

Originally posted by Jed Saxon
Blaylock explained it all in a HUGE interview (which can be found at www.yojoe.com/ ). Sales were dropping, because the retailers stopped ordering it and they had to do something. DDP is a small publisher and they don't have a Jim Lee to pimp a book, no matter how badly written, into Diamond's pole position.

The Michael Turner and Talent Caldwell contributions (some covers and a 3-part backup story) did help sales quite a bit. But definitely not in the Jim Lee way of helping sales.

And? Reloaded was a start from scratch, like Marvel's Ultimate line, a chance for new readers to step in. adly no one bought it and it is cancelled with #14.

Reloaded started off with better sales than the regular Joe book. But after a couple months they really tapered off and are now well below the regular book's sales.

[I am MODOK]

I'll be there. I'm a big GI Joe fan, so I have to check this out. I've really enjoyed the current series recently, so I'll be sad to see it go, but Jerwa on another book gives me hope. (Although I hope it is not a ninja title.)

[Alfonso]

Originally posted by Jed Saxon
Have you actually read any issues?

Yes. Sadly, none of what I had read of Transformers, Thundercats, GI Joe, or Masters of the Universe had been very impressive. The art of Transformers was nice, but that's not enough to get me to appreciate the property.

[MicroZone]

Originally posted by Alfonso


I think the reason all the 80's nostalgia has disappeared is that people began to realized how unspectacular the properties actually were and realized why they had disappeared in the first place.

GI Joe. Millions of toys sold since it's debut in the early 60s. Easily the most popular boys' toy line ever made. Over 100 episodes of animation. Over 200 comics just in the US.

Transformers. Million of toys sold since it's debut in the early 80s. Record breaking sales of it's debut took over a decade to top. Over 500 episodes of animation made, with 50 more on the way this season. Over 150 individual comics in the US. Over 300 in the UK. And then there's that movie coming up in 2006. What's the executive producer's name again? Guy that did E.T. and Indiana Jones? Real loser there, yeah?

If these are your idea of unspectacular properties, you're either talking out of your ass or your expectations are blissfully ignorant of reality.

Or maybe a bit of both.

[walterk]

I never got into GI Joe back in the late 80s/early 90s; and even mostly resisted the current series for the first couple years. I finally -really- got into it this past year, and caught up on back issues back to # 22 or so. I also picked up the first Marvel trade, and another book about GI Joe in general...

And I've found that sure, it's based on an 80s property, but while it has its roots in that, it's actually pretty relevant--concept-wise--to the present day, post-9/11 world.

I'm not at all thrilled about YET ANOTHER "reboot," but I'm glad that # 1, the series isn't being outright CANCELLED, and # 2, they're NOT going to say that the last 198 issues never happened.

And hey...a 25-cent issue...I'll TOTALLY be behind that!

back to lurking,

~Walt

[SkyWarp]

My question is, "What is Jerwa's top secret project?"

That could be the REAL winner here. Can we get it to be just 25 cents too? hehehe

At 25 Cents we should all go out and buy extra copies for all of our friends and aquaintances. Get them hooked on the book. that is about 7 extra books we can give away for the same price of the one we would have read ourself!

MAJOR marketing tool if we take advantage of it and do it right!

[grphxkindaguy]

Originally posted by ElijahSnowFan
...ANOTHER DAMN RELAUNCH.

is there any publisher out there, anywhere, anywhere on this planet, who will sell me a comic book series that will NOT run for 40 issues, stop, then start again using the SAME FREAKING CHARACTERS? is there any publisher out there who will make major changes in a book WITHOUT ENDING IT?

i've been reading GI Joe since the Marvel years, missing only five or six. when it went to Devil's Due, i thought there was a chance that they would at least keep the book consistent. but they started Reloaded, and now this.

i expect it from DC and Marvel. i had hoped -- in vain, and stupidly -- that i could finally read a series without interruption.

i'm so stupid sometimes -- as they say, that brick wall you keep running into isn't going to move the next time, either.

I couldn't agree w/you more!!! Relaunching w/a #1 issue causes only a *temporary* surge in sales...

I think its a last hail-mary pass by Devil's Due, to save the GI Joe franchise...and themselves!!!

Good luck to DD, but I think most 80's nostalgia properties are dying out...if not dead already, like Thundercats & MOTU.

[goofball814]

Originally posted by Jed Saxon
Blaylock explained it all in a HUGE interview (which can be found at www.yojoe.com/ ). Sales were dropping, because the retailers stopped ordering it and they had to do something. DDP is a small publisher and they don't have a Jim Lee to pimp a book, no matter how badly written, into Diamond's pole position.

YES!!!! It is ALL the retailer's fualt for not ordering this book. The fact that the book has NEVER had any direction has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the declining sales. The fact that the DDP books do nothing but tell the EXACT SAME stories as Marvel told 15 years ago ALSO has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the declining sales. The FLOOD of G.I. JOE comics has NOTHING to do with declining sales....

Originally posted by Jed Saxon

Have you actually read any issues?
G.I. Joe was/is a hell of a series. Brilliant written, cool characterizations and lots of action.

I've got pretty much all the DDP GIJOE comics here (except for GIJOE/TRANSFORMERS 2, that just sounded so aweful that even my love of both properties wouldn't allow me to purchase that POS). They are anything but "Brilliant written, cool characterizations" They have 40 issues, and to date, only about 3 or 4 panels TOTAL have been dedicated to any character building. The series jumps from one Marvel re-hash storyline to the next Marvel re-hash storyline.

Originally posted by Jed Saxon


Like ThunderCats (except for the last two miniseries) the merchandise was developing and the creators took is serious and not as some sorz of work-for-hire.
Same goes for Masters of the Universe, but Mattel's stubbornness and idiocy ruined the toyline and the comic book as well. CrossGen ruined MVCreations.
Transformers sold pretty good, but Dreamwave made more than one bad business decision it seems and now they are gone, too.
Voltron and Micronauts were also pretty good.

The thing is, with all of these properties, they all pretty much have just a "cult" following. People who read them, or watched them on TV, as children in the 80s and 90s and really loved them. In order to grow the audience beyond that core group of people, you have to do something to make them want to read the comic. WOW!!! them with art (Seeley does that, Pat Lee did it with TF) Give them a story so good you HAVE to read it (NONE of these properties have done that. You don't get that when you rehash old storylines (either from comics or TV show). And you also may want to stick with your big guns (Optimus Prime hadn't show-up in the DW series YET, and they were up to issue #10)

Originally posted by Jed Saxon
After Brandon Jerwa took over as a writer (with issue #26), the series got really, REALLY good.

To me, this is the funniest yet. At least Blaylock attempted, but Jerwa, it's totally like reading bad fan-fiction trying to improve on previous storylines, but proving that the fan, while a huge fan, has really no knowledge of how to write comics...

[hellwithout]

Originally posted by Sean Walsh
Reloaded started off with better sales than the regular Joe book. But after a couple months they really tapered off and are now well below the regular book's sales.

The reloaded book started off with good hype because of the awesome covers Tim Bradstreet did and the first issue in which Paul Jenkins wove a fantastic story. However, John Ney Reiber told a luke warm story that while interesting, never really picked up like I expected it to. i think it had something to do with the constant shift in artists but I'm not sure. The Dixon issues have been fantastic though and I wish he could have saved the series. Either way, I'm still hooked on the Joe kool-aid that Devil's Due supplies for me.

[Matches Malone]

It's a shame we're not "Amerca" 's elite spellers. For shame, MattB.

[mrpoizun]

Originally posted by Matches Malone
It's a shame we're not "Amerca" 's elite spellers. For shame, MattB.

Hey, a typo is a lot better than all the people who don't know the difference between "to", "too", "2" and "two".

[Alfonso]

Originally posted by MicroZone
GI Joe. Millions of toys sold since it's debut in the early 60s. Easily the most popular boys' toy line ever made. Over 100 episodes of animation. Over 200 comics just in the US.

Transformers. Million of toys sold since it's debut in the early 80s. Record breaking sales of it's debut took over a decade to top. Over 500 episodes of animation made, with 50 more on the way this season. Over 150 individual comics in the US. Over 300 in the UK. And then there's that movie coming up in 2006. What's the executive producer's name again? Guy that did E.T. and Indiana Jones? Real loser there, yeah?

If these are your idea of unspectacular properties, you're either talking out of your ass or your expectations are blissfully ignorant of reality.

Or maybe a bit of both.

Dude, the action figures were fucking great, but I'm talking about the properties as CREATIVE properties. Especially if you take away the flash of the animation, the collectibility of the toys, and you boil it down to static images and a story on a page, you see what's actually there and it's not very impressive.

[MicroZone]

Again:

GI Joe: over 200 issues in 20+ years. (Actually closer to 250)
Transformers: over 150 issues in the US & over 300 in the UK.

If you consider this unimpressive you're a fool. How many other titles that launched in the 80s (toy based, mutant spin-off, whatever) lasted that long? How many new titles from the 90s? How many new comics published today do you
think will ever reach issue #80? Or #155? Or #332?

Unimpressive my foot. In a nation the size of Britian Transformers used to sell 200,000 a week. In the US, GI Joe outsold Uncanny X-Men thru most of the 80s. And that was back when Claremont was supposedly at his peak.

Do you see any other toy-based comics running like that? Power Rangers sellls right up there with Barbie year in, year out. Can't sell a comic book to save it's life tho. Even when Marvel handled it.

Heck, do you see ANY comic as successful as these two franchises have been without an X, Spider, Bat or big red "S" in the title today?

[BriGuy]

Originally posted by SkyWarp
At 25 Cents we should all go out and buy extra copies for all of our friends and aquaintances. Get them hooked on the book. that is about 7 extra books we can give away for the same price of the one we would have read ourself!

MAJOR marketing tool if we take advantage of it and do it right!

I am in complete agreement with this. Whenever one of these .25 books comes out I buy multiple copies to pass along to those I think would be interested in it. Like the Hellboy movie? Here's a copy of Hellboy: the Corpse. Watch/play with G.I. Joe as a kid? Here take a look at what they're doing with it now.

[2000 Flushes]

I'll buy this just because I feel it's the least I can do to show support for G.I. Joe as a property and DD as a publisher. I really hope they don't go the way of Dreamwave.

G.I.Joe is what got me hooked on comics in the mid-80s, and the only stuff I read for years. The Marvel title soard from #93 to somewhere around #115 (with a few earlier runs being equally impressive -- #26 to #43, for example).

Blaylock's run was great, but Jerwa has been a little hard to follow for me. However, Jerwa's Chuckles story in GIJOE:Frontline was one of the best stories since the reinvention.

Personally, I don't care for revamps, but I'll buy it. If a #1 helps sells, fine. But I can't help thinking that it's not a good sign.

Still, look at what Joe Casey did with Wildcats 3.0 -- was that not incredible? -- and maybe this thing will last.

2k

P.S. Let's see some more Mike Zeck covers --- his Joe stuff was just as good and in some cases better than the mainstream superhero stuff (again, check out Joe #43).

[Marker]

Originally posted by adamcasey
I followed G.I. Joe for the first couple of issues when it started three or so years ago. I might give it another whirl with the new series.

I too got the first couple of issues to wet my appetite of the retro-80s mania craze a couple years back. I'll give the first story arc a try for the relaunch.

So recap for me anyone in case I missed the various G.I. Joe titles so far...Frontline, Master and Apprentice 1 & 2, Reborn, Reloaded and versus Transformers.

How bout a new mini, revisting those cobra-la characters from the moive?

[PhilKost]

Originally posted by Marker
So recap for me anyone in case I missed the various G.I. Joe titles so far...Frontline, Master and Apprentice 1 & 2, Reborn, Reloaded and versus Transformers.

So far from Devil's Due we have had:

Original Continuity:
GI Joe #1-40 (currently, will end with #43)
GI Joe Frontline #1-18
GI Joe Master and Apprentice #1-4
GI Joe Master and Apprentice II #1-4 (Currently going on, issue 2 will be out next week)
GI Joe Battle Files #1-3 (A source book for the GI Joe books)

Alternate Continuity:
GI Joe vs Transformers #1-6
GI Joe vs Transformers II #1-4

Reloaded Continuity:
Cobra Reborn (one-shot)
GI Joe Reborn (one-shot with lead in to Reloaded #1)
GI Joe Reloaded #1-14 (#13 just came out today, and #14 will be the last issue in this current volume)

Also from Dreamwave:

Alternate Continuity:
Transformers: GI Joe #1-6
Transformers: GI Joe - Divided Front #1 (then the company went under)

That wraps up GI Joe comics from 2001 till the present.

Phil

[Jed Saxon]

Originally posted by Sean Walsh
The Michael Turner and Talent Caldwell contributions (some covers and a 3-part backup story) did help sales quite a bit. But definitely not in the Jim Lee way of helping sales.

Well, it's still DDP and not DC. I mean the Mark Waid back-up did virtually NOTHING to the sales of Voltron (which was also great).

I know enough people that onl look for DC and Marvel - they actually stop reading the previews after the Marvel section. So it's no wonder many of those titles fail.

Reloaded started off with better sales than the regular Joe book.

Oh. Didn't know that. Thanks.

Originally posted by Alfonso
Yes. Sadly, none of what I had read of Transformers, Thundercats, GI Joe, or Masters of the Universe had been very impressive. The art of Transformers was nice, but that's not enough to get me to appreciate the property.

Ok, I have a complete other opinion than you - I liked them all (except for TF: G1 and Micromasters - horrible writing).

Originally posted by goofball814
YES!!!! It is ALL the retailer's fualt for not ordering this book. The fact that the book has NEVER had any direction has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the declining sales. The fact that the DDP books do nothing but tell the EXACT SAME stories as Marvel told 15 years ago ALSO has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the declining sales.

I loved the writing and the set-up. I don't think it was directionless or rehashing (but I haven't read G.I. Joe past #50 except for a handful of issues yet).

The FLOOD of G.I. JOE comics has NOTHING to do with declining sales....

Flood? G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe/TF V1-2 (mini series), G.I. Joe Frontline (cancelled), Reloaded (soon to be cancelled) and Master & Apprentice I+II (mini series). I wouldn't call that flood (at least not in x-book dimensions).

(except for GIJOE/TRANSFORMERS 2, that just sounded so aweful that even my love of both properties wouldn't allow me to purchase that POS).

You missed a lot of fun. They even brought back the people of Cobra-La (and this is just for the G.I.Joe universe what the Giffen-league is for DC - a playground to make fun out of it ).

To me, this is the funniest yet. At least Blaylock attempted, but Jerwa, it's totally like reading bad fan-fiction trying to improve on previous storylines, but proving that the fan, while a huge fan, has really no knowledge of how to write comics...

Dunno but I don't think so. I think he did a pretty good job. Still does or I wouldn't buy G.I. Joe anymore (it's not like those characters are something from my childhood I feel related to). If those books would've been horrible, I would've cancelled them (like I did with G1).

Originally posted by hellwithout
John Ney Reiber told a luke warm story that while interesting, never really picked up like I expected it to. i think it had something to do with the constant shift in artists but I'm not sure. The Dixon issues have been fantastic though

For me it's vice versa - I loved Rieber's writing (while hating his writing on Cap and Tomb Raider) and Dixon's first issue nearly made me wanna drop the book. Thank god he got better with his second issue.

Originally posted by Alfonso
Dude, the action figures were fucking great, but I'm talking about the properties as CREATIVE properties. Especially if you take away the flash of the animation, the collectibility of the toys, and you boil it down to static images and a story on a page, you see what's actually there and it's not very impressive.

You do know that those guy who hold the license won't allow everything, do you? You can't just make Cobra Commander a child molesting mass murderwer, because Hasbro would withdraw the licence immediately.
Look at what Val Staples had planed for MotU (he even wanted to dig deep in MotU history with He-Ro et al) - a fanboy's dream come true. But Mattel just wouldn't allow that. So don't blame the creators - blame the licence holders (who sometimes have a good reason to do such things - they don't want negative press, because they still want to sell their toys to kids).