Sunday's Hasbro panel was promised to hold some big news... and it certainly delivered. Neal Hoffman (brand manager) revealed that the GIJoe design team had a new member in the form of Larry Hama! Starting with Wave 3, Larry would be writing all-new comics for the comic packs featuring stories set throughout the original run. (Preview pages were shown for two of the issues but unfortunately my camera batteries were dead. Thanks to the fleet feet of Justin "General Hawk" Bell, I was able to shoot pics of the proto figures shown but missed the preview pages.) The first story dovetails the events of Issue #21 of the original Marvel series, telling the events that took place "between the pages" of the original story. This comic pack will feature new decos for both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. The second comic back will feature a cover depicting Cobra Commander surrounded by a crowd of young Fred series Crimson Guards and will tell the tale of Springfield and Cobra's rise to power-- from the perspective of the young boy who works at the video arcade.
Neal and the team also mentioned that, while the comic packs may feature "more cartoonish" paint decos, characters who are debuting in comic packs will have more realistic color schemes. (Case in point: Torch, Ripper, and Hawk all feature standard paint decos.)
The Dreadnoks in pack #30 are based on existing tools (Torch from Gung-Ho and Ripper from Buzzer) but the accessories are all new. Ripper will feature working "jaws of life" and the fuel tank on Torch's back pack is removable.
25th Anniversary Comic Packs |
Issues #1, #21, #24, #30 |
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torch01.jpg |
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