GI Joe

Q: Why are comic book adaptations of movies a thing? Do you think any are worth reading? -- Daniel, via email A: You don't see them around too much these days, but when I was a kid, comic book movie adaptations --- official comic book movie adaptations --- were a pretty big deal. Or at least, that's how it seemed to me. See, when you're stuck in the back seat of a Ford Escort on a 600-mile car trip and you want to know more about this new movie that you've been reading about in Disney Adventures, and you're also living in a time before everyone carried a tiny personal computer that could show them literally every comic book, television show, and music video in the world, well, picking up a The Rocketeer: The Official Movie Adaptation off the magazine rack at a gas station was a pretty solid way to kill some time. But then, I imagine that's the problem.

Here's a fun fact about me: My dad once told me that he was late for work every day for a year because I refused to leave the house until MASK was over. Clearly, that show was my entire, all-consuming jam circa 1986, and even though I'm pretty excited about seeing a rebuilt IDW universe that involves GI Joe, Transformers, Micronauts, Action Man and ROM The Space Knight all coming together, the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand is the one that's really got me hooked. And now, we're finally starting to see it come together --- and folks attending September's Granite State Comic Con in Manchester, New Hampshire are going to get a pretty awesome look at it in the form of Ben Bishop's awesome variant cover for Revolution #1.

Everyone loves trivia about their favorite animated features and series, but with over 100 years of animation history behind us right now, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite names in cartoons in this continuing video series. You think you know cartoons? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! This week we're taking a look at America's realest hero of them all, GI Joe! For example, did you know that the "GI" in "GI Joe" doesn't stand for "gastro-intestinal"? It's true. This fact isn't actually in the video, but it is the kind of knowledge you can expect to pick up from this bad boy, which does include a chance meeting at the urinals, a subliminal message for dweebs, and a semi-fictional human who became more fictional when a different fictional human didn't want to be fictional in a different way. It, uh, makes more sense in context, kind of.

This year's San Diego Comic-Con may not have felt as over-stuffed as years passed, but that didn't mean the convention floor wasn't still jam-packed with incredible cosplay. The annual event is still home to some of the biggest and brightest cosplayers in the 'verse, and we were reminded just how talented and creative comic book fans can be when roaming the show floor this year. We managed to track down some fantastic highlights on Saturday, and captured them for all of you to witness here.

What does your favourite superheroes' colors tell the audience about their personalities? Using the same color theory people use to group-think a corporate logo, or paint their room, we've been exploring what it means to superhero comics. Last time we mentioned that The Invisible Woman's blue and white is wise, and elemental, but what does invisible mean as a color? The Wasp's one constant through her many costume changes has been her transparent, flighty wings. And while Kitty Pryde, who also can't seem to settle on a costumes (or a name), isn't transparent as a color, she does actually pass through things.

Next week, Tom Scioli and John Barber's Transformers vs. GI Joe finally proves itself to be too good for this fallen world when it comes to a senses-shattering conclusion. But just so nobody forgets that it's the best thing going, they're going out with the scene I've been waiting to see since the whole thing began: Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV, he of the wrist-rockets, the high collar and the Beryllium Steel mask, is stepping into the spotlight for an all-out slugfest against the Joes --- and it's all taking place on Megatron's head while he tries to eat the sun.

In all honesty, I don't know if there's anything going on in comics right now that's more exciting to me than IDW's Revolution event. It's the unification of most of the Hasbro properties into a single universe that finds the Transformers, GI Joe, ROM the Space Knight, MASK and more being thrown together into a unified story, and for someone like me, it's a pop cultural dream come true. But the one big question I've had since it was announced is "okay, but how's it going to work?" We have, after all, been assured that this wasn't a rebooting of the continuity for Transformers or GI Joe, but since one of those book is about giant robots from space coming to Earth and the other isn't, it seems like that would be something of a game-changer when it comes to world-building. But now, we have an exclusive video from IDW where John Barber, the editor and writer spearheading the new direction, explains it --- and it sounds pretty awesome.

The thing about doing comics based on toy properties is that eventually you're going to want to play with all the toys, and today, it looks like that's exactly what IDW has set out to do. After years of keeping them separated into their own universes --- with exceptions like the senses-shattering, soon-to-be-finished Transformers vs. GI Joe --- IDW is combining almost all of its Hasbro toy properties into a single universe. The shakeup comes in a biweekly event called Revolution, co-written by Cullen Bunn and John Barber, with art by Fico Ossio, which will combine GI Joe, Transformers, MASK, ROM the Space Knight, Action Man and Micronauts into one permanent shared universe.

Even movies about toys need writers. That’s why Hasbro, in an effort to compete with Marvel, DC, and every other company out there trying to create an integrated multiproperty cinematic universe has assembled a writer’s room of talent to figure out how to merge their assorted toy brands, including G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., ROM, Micronauts, and Visionaries, into one streamlined movie continuity. The Hollywood Reporter says the Hasbro writer’s room will meet for the first time on Monday with an impressive roster of talent.

Way back in 2014 when the zero issue hit stands on Free Comic Book Day, Transformers vs. GI Joe kicked off with the death of Cobra Commander. And folks, it was a death - that dude was stabbed straight through the heart by Snake Eyes and then immediately crashed the fighter jet he was flying. So naturally, it only makes sense that he'd return from the dead in the grandest possible fashion.