2009 is shaping up to known as “Year of the Joe” as there will be a new animated series titled GI Joe: Resolute, a full length live action blockbuster movie titled GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and a new Hasbro toy line of GI Joe figures. Sweet. I have kept my VCR in large part so I can watch the tapes I have of the 80’s cartoon (I have the first 100 episodes and the Cobra-La movie on seven tapes that I bought off of eBay about a decade ago). Yes, I love GI Joe that much.
Regarding the cartoon, esteemed comic writer Warren Ellis is penning the script for the new Joe series which will all of one hour long – there will be 10 five minute episodes and one 10 minute concluding episode of this dark adult themed “Ghost in the Shell” inspired cartoon. The bootleg trailer of Snake Eyes slicing open Cobra Soldiers is pretty bad ass but no one knows yet if it will be released as webisodes, TV episodes or straight to DVD and I frankly do not care.
Regarding the movie, while the fanboy universe is currently panning it, I have to say that the Snake Eyes costume looks, to reuse a phrase, pretty bad ass and I’m keeping my finders crossed. The Wikipedia entry reports that the film is an origin story set 10 years in the future, showing the rise of the Cobra Organization. The director Stephen Sommers said, “For people who know nothing about it, it’ll make sense. And to people who love this stuff, it’ll show where they all came from.”
Know you know all about the cool Joe stuff coming and remember, as Duke, Flint, Lady Jay and others always said, “Knowing is half the battle” The other half I suppose is actually watching these goodies when they debut.