G.I. Joe: World on Fire Review

Hey, this is Steve Bloom, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hi, this is John

Barber. You are listening to The Pull Bag. You

will provide me with great pleasure. You've just

jumped inside The Pull Bag. Join TFG1 Mike and

the rest of the comic crew here at the GCRN as

they make their great escape into comics. From

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and Xenoscope, we have everything right here.

We cover things like Transformers, He -Man, Super

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all that and so much more. It's all inside the

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So, without further ado, it's time to talk about

the comics we're reading right now. Here inside,

The Pull Bag. Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag.

This is episode 521. I'm, of course, TfJr and

Mike. And joining me, I think, for the first

time. You haven't been on this show before, have

you? I don't think so. I don't read movies, instead.

I think this is the first time we've done comics

together. Yes, this is Eduardo M. frying something.

Friar. Think like Friar Duck, Friar Lawrence,

Deep Friar. Never mind that, I'll join you. Just

call me Friar Duck. But we are here to talk about

IDW Publishing's GI Joe World on Fire. 10 -issue

series from IDW Publishing. There is also a one

-shot called Castlefall, but that will be later

in June that we actually review that, but we're

going to talk about the 10 -issue series from

IDW written by Paul Allor. Art was done by Chris

Evenhaus, Nico Walter, Emma Vaselli, and Ryan

Kelly. Colors by Brittany Pier, and the letters

were done by Neil Yukatai. So, GI Joe, it's been...

Thing around the geek cast radio network since

geek cast radio our flagship show Did resolute

as I believe our very first episode way back

when in? 2009 2010 when did I don't know when

resolute came out? I think around I think I want

to say so that would be around 2009 ish or so.

Yeah, I think it was 2009 So maybe 2010. Yeah.

Yep. Absolutely. Did you know I actually wrote

a fanfic? Resolute fanfic? Oh, no. Are you are

you one of those he she fans? Like I have no

problem with he she but like how it should have

ended kind of thing. Like, oh, boy, they did

it wrong. So I'm going to do it better kind of

thing. No, no. I mean, I know the most part.

I enjoyed, uh, I enjoyed Resolute. Uh, I thought,

I thought, okay, there were some things that

could have been done differently, but I wanted

the whole reason I wrote it is because I wanted

to continue the, uh, you know, I wanted to see

the story continued. So I was like, okay, I'm

just going to, I'm just going to write my own

little continuation. That's all it was. You know,

it was also, you know, use some. Use more characters

and stuff like that remind me, you know when

we're done here. I'll gladly like I'll gladly

send a I'll send you a link. Okay, cool cool

Yeah, we released that may 22nd of 2009 is when

we released that so resolute was somewhere around

Around there, but yes, we are here To talk about

GI Joe world on fire 10 issues Holy wow, I'm

just gonna let you guys know right now This is

gonna get heavy. This is gonna get deep and this

is going to Maybe possibly trigger some people

and the whole reason why I wanted to talk about

this Was not because that it was GI Joe but because

it was dealing with something I've dealt with

in the past which was in 1994, and I've told

this story before, so if you people haven't heard

it, then you haven't been listening to my podcasts.

Things were going on in my life in 1994, and

I tried basically whacking myself in the back

of the head with a lead pipe. I tried committing

suicide in 1994. Things were not going so well

back then. So since then, I have been an active,

I've tried to be as active as I can in suicide

prevention. And I remember when this story, when

this world on fire 10 issues hit the first six

issues and then the seventh issue hit and we're

like, we're making, they were like, we're making

this one free because it deals with suicide and

everything else. So you people have been warned

if you are listening to the sound of my voice

at five minutes and 17, 18 seconds of this podcast.

We will be talking about what happened in issue

7 later on. GIGR in general, I've always been

a basically, you're the diehard, I'm kind of

like the outsider kind of thing. So what did

you think when you first read this? Was this

the first time you read this or had you read

it when it initially released? I read it when

it initially released. I was really like, when

I read the premise, I'm like, huh. Okay, that's

actually huh That is you know, this is interesting

Yeah, you know GI Joe as far as IDW is concerned

the GI Joe It feels like they can't they could

never really like Feel what they wanted, you

know before I was on fire there was like G .I.

Joe series that was supposed to be in the same

continuity, but most of them felt, at least half

of them felt like something totally different.

Like G .I. Joe volume four, it just felt so different.

Like I tried reading it and I was like, I can't

recognize who these people are. This one, World

on Fire. it's obviously a uh you know obviously

this is supposed to be something totally different

yeah this is not the real american hero continuity

i mean it has real american hero characters like

you know it has some of the real american hero

characters and it has the cobra characters and

things like that but it's not in with the like

this is a basically a complete one -shot mini

-series, 10 -issue mini -series, whatever you

want to say in comic terminology of what it is.

It's a series set by itself that tells a story

beginning, middle, and end. That's all it needed

to be. That's all it should have been. I personally

have read other things that Paul Allor has done

and I love his writing. I was interested to see

where this was going to go because we have, I'm

pretty sure this is the first time we've covered

G .I. Joe here inside the pull bag. I don't think

in our 10 -year history we've ever covered any

of the other G .I. Joe comics. If you think of

it, it wasn't with me. No, no, I know that. I'm

just saying that I'm pretty sure, I'm 99 .99755

% that we have not, and I wanted our G .I. Joe

coverage. Oh, okay, technically we have. This

is our first foray into G .I. Joe by itself,

but back in 2018, we did do Transformers versus

G .I. Joe. Volume one which is something completely

and wholly different, but this is our very first

Hey, look, it's GI Joe. Let's go. Yeah kind of

thing. Yeah, so Joe Joe Sorry, I had to throw

that in there So had you read any of Paul has

done many other things I the only thing I remember

off the top of my head is he did the TMNT turtles

in time miniseries I don't yeah, I think this

is my first time reading Paul or stuff. Okay,

cuz I can't like Maybe I read something else,

but I don't realize it was him But yeah, I I

am yeah, this is at least the first time I am

pretty clear that yeah, I I'm treating Paul or

stuff Very cool. Very cool So Yeah Life during

wartime. Oh boy the first issue here. Well Starting

well, I mean hey starting things off with like,

you know starting things off with a bang so to

speak quite literally you know the fact that

It kind of I mean the leading the leading dude

kind of showcased that You know, we were having

a new character tiger But you know, it's not

like the you know build standbys were there,

you know, we did we had scarlet we had, you know,

do we have roadblock and then yeah I love how

he says folks. We had Duke in quotation marks

Yeah, yeah, I mean the fact that You know if

we get the first issue out of the gate and we're

not even what yeah, we're not even what 10 pages

Yeah, no, not even and we're not even 10 pages

in and yet duke is killed. He gets he gets shot

in the head Yeah, it was like wait a minute what

yeah, I was hoping that was not going to happen.

But when I saw wow, okay Yeah, I was really hoping

that was not gonna happen, but when I saw it

happen, I'm like, damn, okay. Yeah, no, yeah.

And also it's like, you know, it is, I mean,

okay, it is a truth. It is a truth that, you

know, it is a truth that... If you want to start

things off, you're going to shock the reader.

Let's shock the reader and let them know this

is not the same thing. I actually do like though

that Duke's death is a part of the story. It's

not just, we're not going to kill this guy off

because it's like, hey, did you think we'd actually

kill Duke off? You didn't think so? It's I mean

this isn't you know, oh my god, we killed the

the big red truck guy and oh my god Everyone's

hiding in their closets. We can't kill Duke if

we kill Duke. We're gonna have more kids hiding

in their closets Like oh my god. No, but no,

this is This is like again. Yes. You're right.

You need some sort of I just was not expecting

it to be Duke I don't know who I was expecting

it to be to get well but Well, I mean it's kind

of obvious that it is but like when I again like

you're saying this is say here This is like Like

you said, it's on basically this seventh it it's

the 11th page of the of what I'm looking at here

the trade but but But yeah 11 pages in wham,

but those previous pages Was not ex I don't know

what I was expecting but I wasn't expecting that

and that's what obviously they were aiming for

like Here's a holy shit moment for you folks.

Oh, yeah. No, and then they also like, you know,

you also have Kind of if you don't mind me moving

up As far as issues there's also Issue nine.

Yeah, it's Richard Rat and you know Donald rat

as the last Last man standing in a you know the

mission that went wrong Yeah, and it's like wait

a minute. Hold on. Hold on a sec We're gonna

you know, it's like you have all these you references

to all these characters like dusty or You know

good iron all that and it's like oh and by the

way the big hide before the events in story and

Some of them died Like they did not die heroically

And it's like again, it's a holy cow, you know,

we're gonna you know, we're gonna go here You

know, these are characters, you know in love

and yeah, they're not going to survive Yep, and

it's like we're waiting This isn't what you know,

this is not what I was expecting So you don't

expect yeah, yeah And the basis of this whole

story, folks, is that it's a world on fire. Cobra

has taken over, and the Joes in America surrender

to them. Oh, boy. It's a dystopian future if

I ever saw one. I don't even disturb them. True.

It feels like this is OK. Let's let's have the

the co -pro the joke of the conflict But You

know, this is something we're taking it from

a different standpoint where You know, this is

this isn't you know even started So it's like

okay, you know, this is now the Joe's will be

behind the eight ball And I just know yeah, and

I just now realized as as we get further into

this I'm like As I was reading and I was like

wait, why does dr. Mindbender have dukes? Oh,

right. Hello Cobra is the law. Oh Boy well, and

I mean even it's like okay you It's like yeah,

you know, they're the law also it's like I don't

you know, it's Fused the hell out of me at first

when I was reading and I was like wait a minute.

Oh, right America and the Joes surrendered to

Cobra so Cobra is now the so instead of going

to like doctor Whatever on law and order You

know, you would go to whatever medical examiner

your medical examiner is dr. Mine better Did

you really have to shoot him in the head? Really?

like yeah, that's the That's his biggest take

away from duke like we could have examined his

brain Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's like yeah

this yeah, it's you know the whole You gotta

love mind benders like dude. Why'd you shoot

him in the head? You know, it's it's you know,

it's like forget Forget everything. It's just,

you know, oh yeah. But that's mind -bender. I

mean, and it's a nice, it's kind of a nice way

to, you know, to kind of show that this may be

a different world, but it's, some things are

still the same. Oh yeah. Well, Unless you completely

change the character of Dr. Mindbender, he's

going to be the same in every world, pretty much.

Yeah. Heck, even Renegades, there was still a

little bit of the Mindbender we know and love.

Yep, yep, yep. And also during this whole point

during this break before this Scarlett was doing

training with the new recruit tiger and she's

like land a punch if you can and she's just kind

of because of her grief over Duke. She's just

basically he's got his hands tied behind his

back. He doesn't but he kind of does because

she basically just overpowers him every single

every single time. Yeah, and well, it's like

I said, you know with Dukes, you know, we had

to think with Duke's death and You know, it's

Scarlett's character like part the reason that

she let she You know part of the reason that

she's so hard on tiger is that she's still trying

to get over Duke's death. Yep So it's yeah, and

then that informs what? You know that informs

everything So, you know, it's just yeah, I don't

know like I don't know how else to put it. It's

like yeah Yeah, you know scones such a hard ass

because yeah her you know, I mean, yeah, it just

it's just one of those things where Yeah, it's

crazy And we get to almost to the close of the

issue here. And was General Hawk always this

old? Has he always been portrayed as older than

Flint and Duke and Lady J and just the rest of

them? I believe he is supposed to be order. I

know that in the Marvel run, there was an issue

early on, like I think issue like eight or something.

Where he does say he's had, you know, he's had

I think like 20 or 30 years in uniform. Like

he actually out and out takes like a number.

Yeah, so, you know, he's always supposed to be

a little, uh, you know, a little darker, not

like, you know, we're not talking like, you know,

Harrison's good levels, but. Well, that's the

levels he looks in here. I mean, he's old and

gray. Yeah. Oh yeah. He's got white hair with

a gray suit. So yeah. Yeah. No, he was, it does

feel like, um, it does feel like, you know, he's

a little older than, uh, than usual. Yeah, and

and say what you will about the rise of Cobra

but having freakin Dennis, what's his? Wait,

yes as general halt that was hilarious. That

was amazing Yeah, so the second issue that wasn't

bad casting I actually think I actually think

that yeah rise of Cobra had come out like maybe

a decade You know, we could have had Harrison

Ford As general hawk and I would have liked that

or even I would track cuz you know, there's usually

a guy who's Hawk and like hey, you know So the

issue ends with him making a deal with Destro

and The whatever the Destro clan Destro will

provide you with weapons and whatever you need

Yes You know, it's it's something you know, I

mean, that's that's kind of a surprise moment.

But on the other hand, it's like best road, you

know, for all of the things, you know, all the

time system, you know, commander. He's also been

a he's an arms dealer. So it's like, OK, we got

a, you know, he's he's going to, you know, his

interest is, oh, can I, you know, how can I put

it in front of this? Yeah, Destro has always

been a more competent and less, I mean, if he

is traitorous, it's pretty much stated upfront.

It's not like backhandedness. So basically Destro

is a better version of Starscream. Yeah. Well,

it's, I mean, not even Starscream because, you

know, Starscream is all about power. Destro,

he's kind of a type that... You know, he wants

to make sure that no matter what the, you know,

he's a businessman. He's a businessman. He runs

a business. So he wants to make a profit no matter

what. I'm trying to remember, I don't, okay,

I don't think, I'm trying to remember if it's

Brestro's 1988 file card or if it's the file

card of the Iron Grilled Eater, so the same year.

But it states that what he will do is he will

sell the good sides Mm -hmm. Yeah, you know commander

designed for a new mistank and then he'll turn

around talking to his government and saying Oh,

you need some stealth technology for that new

fighter. You want the geodesist out here Why

don't you try this? Well, I mean, I was trying

to make the Starscream reference because normally

Destro is kind of, when he is aligned with Cobra,

he is the second -in -command to the commander.

However, now that you're saying this, I'm like,

oh, he's just a Quintesson. Great. Because they

were selling to both sides in the Quintesson

journal. Yeah, although when it comes to the

Decepticon Autobot room, you know... They'll

team with the Decepticons no question and then

just You know and then just be like You know,

can you destroy can you destroy the Autobots

for us? And two full pages into issue three.

Is it just me, or is that Optimus Prime at the

border crossing? I'm not 100 % sure, but I wouldn't

be surprised if it's just a cute little Easter

egg. Well, obviously it's an Easter egg, but

again, it's not a flat nose cab, sadly, but it's

more of a a movie cab with a G1 trailer look

at the border where it says, have ID ready, delay

will not be tolerated. You know not to mention

that given given how dark and serious this This

particular series is, you know, you can't can't

fault the artist for being like Let's just toss

in this this light -hearted thing, you know,

and it's not it's not like, you know It's not

like the children home by having the driver be

called. Mr. Cullen or something like that Yeah,

or, you know, having a giant Autobot symbol on

the cab there. Exactly. A little too much. And

it probably isn't Optimus Prime. I mean, that

one shot is a nice little homage, but as we get

to the next panels, there is a Cobra insignia

on the driver's side of the truck. Well, you

know, I mean, it could also be that, yeah, it

could also be, you know, hey, Aquas could be

in disguise. Yeah, I don't think we'd go that

far. We might go far. I don't think we'd go that

far. Well, you know. What I love about this whole

issue three is that basically it's a roadblock

leading a mission in Millville, Missouri, basically

in the middle of nowhere, everybody. You got

a great tie in the classic stuff. Because I know

in the Marvel run, there was a town called Millville

that basically moved in and took over. So it's

great to see Millville showing up again. You

know, and apparently we believe the Millenville

is actually a longer place. Yeah, it is Let's

see. I mean we have lived in the way County in

the United States of Missouri Yep, the Kansas

City metropolitan area. Yep. Okay. So hey, let's

you know, not only to have a nod We've got you

know, we've got You know, it's an actual real

what you can actually go there and listen Ask

them. Hey, uh, you know, do you know where I

can? You know, you know where I can find the

local Chris headquarters Yeah, I'm sure that

the if you ask the Simpsons would be like What

is your problem? Yeah, and hey we got and we

got We got like another, you know, we've got

another, you know, it's interesting how they

chose it, you know, because it can be a little

difficult to tell, you know, oh, that's so -and

-so, you know, like in this case, we're just

working with Lightfoot. You know, Lightfoot's

not wearing a yellow, you know, a yellow outfit

with like a green, you know, black and green

chest area and a blue helmet. Yeah, so it's like

you kind of have to listen you're gonna have

to listen to the dialogue for them to You know

to figure out oh, oh, it's that person. Okay.

Yeah that character that no one remembers, you

know Mostly because that was the that he hard

figures that I own I didn't, you know, I didn't

even know that they, uh, I didn't even know that

they, uh, that they were out yet. You know, I

just, I remember that my mom came home one day

and was like, Hey, look, you know, two, two figures.

And it's like, whoa, wait a minute, new characters.

New characters. Cool. Yeah. So their objective

is to blow up the bridge. So Cobra can't. you

know, continue to bring weapons and other things

and yada, yada, yada. And that, uh, kinda sorta

goes off without a hitch, but not really. Cause

now Baroness has to report it back to Cobra Commander.

She wasn't in this enough. That's, that's my,

at this point in issue four, she was not in this

enough to me, but that's just me. Yeah, I mean

Yeah, you know it's it was interesting because

you know fairness is supposed to be one of the

the Mm -hmm like popular characters and that's

like won't get a minute. She's only in this She's

really in this it's like what? It's still interest

I mean It's interesting to me, you know, like

I I had this thought when I was looking over

the IDW run of Transvappers and it's interesting

to see how there are characters that you'd think

would be in everything and then they don't show

up. Like Grimlock, Gryphlock of the Dinocots,

Perthlock, the Rex guy. And there's between appearances

and it's like, wow, that's, you know, that's,

that's interesting because it's like you would

think, you know, but instead it's like, oh, we're

actually going to make tailgate a popular character.

It's like, what tailgate's going to be, you know,

you're going to make tailgate awesome. Okay.

Wow. Hey, I'm not, I'm not complaining. It's

just, wow. Okay. I never thought, you know, it's

like that, that's me, you know, that's me. It's

like, oh, okay. I never thought, I never thought

I'd see the game, but that's kind of cruel. Absolutely.

So like I said, we kind of end on the Baroness

having to report back to Cobra Commander in the

next issue. I have to highlight the cover for

issue four because Kronos Magazine, man of the

year. Yeah, I Love like it took me like four

seconds to really realize that there was magazine

under the new chrono So I was like, oh, I see

what they did there. That's a good joke Yeah

Yeah, that was jeez So this would make your blood

is remembering his actions when he started working

for Cobra technologies and some other stuff I

don't know what it like I am so far on the outskirts

of GI Joe outside of Cobra commander Baroness

and Destro Half of the other Cobra characters.

I don't know like I know dr. Muller sort of but

not really Yeah Yeah, I don't you know, it's

Like you said, you know, you really outlier I'm

the you know, the the huge and so it's like so

yeah, you know, I recognize a lot of these characters

I mean sometimes if you know writer decides to

like really, you know really thinker Then then

yeah, sometimes I'm like wait Oh, I get it now.

Okay, I get it now. It's that guy. Okay. Yeah

Yeah, absolutely and And yeah, I I'm loving the

art though the art. Oh, yeah interesting because

it's it's You know, it's you know, it's not quite,

you know, I mean, it feels like, for example,

the vases would have a lot of definition, but,

you know, it's still, you can still get some

expression out of it, you know, and it's kind

of, it's interesting art, it's interesting art,

but, you know, and it's one of those things where,

you know, when I first saw it, I'm like, huh,

but I'm like, actually, no, I can. Yeah, no,

I'm fine. You know this this this works on me.

Yep No, it absolutely doesn't it gets better

and better as we go along Yeah Anything else

on Dredd and knock a stun for issue five knock

the stun. Oh, jeez. Oh Yeah, I was actually I

was surprised me Yeah, because it's like I got

the dread knocks but You know, they're actually

the heroes I kind of uh, I Kind of um, you know

like I It's it was weird, you know It's weird

seeing the dread knocks like I was waiting for

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and

for like Oh the dread knocks betrayed the joes

at the end, but no No, it didn't happen and I'm

like, huh, that's that's interesting. You know,

that is an interesting take and it kind of makes

me wish that this series had been more than 10

issues. Yeah, because I feel like it would have

been interesting to see more of the dread knocks

and more of kind of like, oh, how do they, you

know, it's their thing. You know, yeah, like,

how is it that they, you know, how is it that

That they're functioning, you know Yeah, and

it was strange seeing or maybe it's not strange.

Maybe it's just strange to me Zartan Is their

leader has he always been their leader? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. No, that's all it's always been like

that. He's always been leader of the dreadlocks

You know, and of course you'd have different

Different iterations of the dreadlocks, you know,

like the cartoon they're all you know They are

all all muscle no brain So, you know Zartan Zartan

and his siblings are there to kind of like smacking

around to go, you know, shut up knuckleheads

This is what we're doing So, you know, it's but

yeah, he's always been the leader and again,

I just I wanted to see More of that. Yeah, you

know more kind of sergeant is this Just you know

leader of his people Yeah, and you could have

like yeah Well, you could have a whole side story

with him in the drag box and do all kinds of

stuff with them as a like a third faction of

Exactly. Yeah Exactly, you know would be interesting

seeing them as yeah, that's like their own little

faction like they don't want the chosen up They

don't want Cobra. They don't want the Joe's help,

you know Just a get rid not to stand out of cover

control and you know, that's all we want Yep

Absolutely Issue six is the fadeaway Hmm this

was yeah interesting Yeah, I like the I do like

I do like how we had one of the other new joes

in this series fade away, meeting up with an

old friend who is now working for Cobra. The

great thing about the world that this series

creates is that it allows for stories like this.

where you have a Joe and a Cobra who used to

know each other before, having to confront their

new stations in life. I like that we're able

to do this. Yeah, because it's interesting seeing

the opposing sides not just throw punch, shoot

gun, fire missile kind of thing. Testament to

the writing that's a testament to the art because

this issue has all kinds of Like the not that

the art is all over the place But it has so many

different juxtapositions between the outside

and the snow and the interiors and it's just

blended so so well and the fact that yeah, that

Jinx goes back to snake eyes and that yeah That's

one way to get him in here. I guess Yeah, and

it's interesting. It's again. It's it's interesting

that you know snake eyes you you would think

That snake eyes would be a gimme Mm -hmm. That

would be like, oh we gotta have snake eyes in

the book But the fact that he's barely in there

the fact that they kind of ended on this open

to me that it's like oh they want You know, we're

doing a G .I. Joe book and we're not just, you

know, well, hey, it's a joke. We got to have

snake eyes. You know, it's like, no, snake eyes

is going to be around. He's just we're not going

to see him in every single issue. And I'm sorry

there wasn't more done. Yeah. Like, what's the

deal with snake eyes? What are he and, you know,

his clan doing about Cobra? Are they doing anything?

You know, what's what's the deal here? Enquiring

minds want to know. Although I don't think we

will ever get the answers because this series

was not necessarily one and done but it like

there was no after it ended it ended that was

it and Yeah Yeah, I yeah like You know after

after Castlefall. Mm -hmm. I was just like, yeah,

I remember it came out and I was just like, okay,

are we Is there more to this? And then nothing

showed up for months and months. And I'm, you

know, when it was announced that IDW no longer

has the Joe license, I'm like, well, I guess

this answers my question. I guess we're done.

And I guess we can, yeah, I guess we can talk

about that here. So far as of May of 2023, we

don't know. We know that from what I know, Has

bro has a new partner for the transformers license

I assume they also I assume it's the same Gonna

be the same partner for all of their whatever

They've said that they have had they have a new

comic license partner But they have yet to reveal

who it like that's all I care about knowing I

don't care about when the comics come or whenever

or what stories they're gonna do I want to know

who got that license. That's all I want to know

what I okay What I've heard is that yeah, we

might get word on who has the license sometime

in the summer, like either June or July. I do

know, I have seen posts by Larry Hama that say

he is working on more Joe because I know that

when IDW lost the Joe license, that final issue...

Yeah, I know that the final issue of the comics

that Larry Hama was writing ended on a cliffhanger

and They do you know and that it is going to

be continued Because he did say I'm working on

issue such and such. Yeah Okay, he's keeping

the story going we just don't know where yet

I know that there was this independent company

that said they were working on something Joe

and it turned out to be a Super Joe comic based

off a toy line and like the 70s or so I mean

there as far as real American hero Yeah, there

have been tons of rumors and tons of speculation

Since IDW lost the Hasbro licenses Don't Especially

with and we mentioned this offer when we were

talking before we started this I don't think

so this will happen, but I think it would be

absolutely ironic and silly and Maybe fun if

it went to DC Only because we had it with Marvel

in the 80s and now I know it's never gonna happen.

I understand that I think people have speculated

skybound people have speculated other places

look Don't care when they release things. I don't

care like we have in specific to the Transformers

world and I don't know how I don't keep up that

much with GI Joe news, but every news article

about a Transformers thing is like, oh, okay

or like they'll do Transformers Film news where

they'll say oh this movie is filming here this

week and that will be one news story like Filming

locations will be a news story or this will be

a new story or that it's kind of like this meeting

could have been an email This news story could

have been lumped in with like seven other news

stories. It didn't need its own spotlight kind

of thing but For whomever Hasbro has given the

license to I want to see that article because

I want to know who the light the comic license

is going That's all I want. I just want to know

the name. That's it. Yeah, they decide Am curious

too. I want to know who has a license. I want

to know what their plans are Like how are they

gonna continue Joe? How are they gonna, you know,

what are they gonna do with transformers? Are

they gonna try and continue? Like the last Continuity

that IDW started is it gonna be something totally

fresh? You know, what I think I again speculation.

I Think whoever it goes to they need to start

fresh Because the other thing I've noticed is

because IDW no longer has the license All of

the digital comics that IDW has had over the

last decade and a half now 13 14 15 years are

pretty much disappearing from Amazon or disappearing

since Amazon bought comics ology and fucked it

up That's all I'm gonna say about that You know

I've noticed that The transformer stuff from

IDW is slowly disappearing digitally. Now, I

know you can still get the physical, like, trade

paperbacks and hardcover editions, but I'm assuming,

big -ass assuming here that whoever has the license,

they're going to want to start new because they're

going to want to bring in that. New audio they're

gonna want to bring us in who have been fans

for years, but just like IDW They're gonna want

to bring in a whole bunch of new fans to when

IDW you did it back in 2011 2012 no IDW used

to know no no IDW I think started IDW you started

the Transformers thing like 2000 yeah, like 2005.

Yes in 2011 or so Yeah, yeah, that was that was

all hill Megatron where it's like, okay, we're

gonna our universe is gonna keep going but we're

gonna you know, we're gonna like renumber and

rebrand. Yeah So issue so we're getting into

issue seven folks a soldier's heart I'm going

to read this from Wikipedia because this is the

purposes This issue featured the special participation

of Patricia Watson, Ph .D., U .S. Department

of Veterans Affairs, and Duane K. L. France,

U .S. Army, SFC, LPC, as consultants. In September

of 2020, the issue was released free online during

the National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month

to coincide with the governor's challenge to

prevent suicide among service members. Veterans

and their families which was sponsored by the

substance abuse and mental health services administration

So if you have issues folks or if you have like

we're not gonna go super deep into this we're

gonna We are we aren't and I already kind of

told my story about my attempt back, you know

30 years ago, you know And anytime I see suicide

anything anywhere, it's like, okay, is do you

need help? Do you want me to talk to you? Do

you want to talk to someone? You know, I'm like,

I'm always trying to help. I even I've written

up blog posts where I say suicide is not the

answer. Please, if you need help, use these numbers,

use whatever the I don't remember what it is

off the top of my head. Yeah, I actually, you

know, I'll you know, I'll confess something right

now. A few years ago, I did lose someone to suicide.

I'm so sorry. There was a friend. They weren't

like a good friend, but they were part of the

circle of friends that Patricia and I have here.

The thing was that they would disappear. you

know, they would have a big social media presence

and then they would disappear and You know, they

would say about how they're having a tough time

and I would reach out to them and I would say

hey Do you want to talk about it? Do you need

anything? And yeah, it's just one day I'm off

work. I'm waiting for my wife and Then I look

at my you know, I go on Facebook on my phone

and I find out that yeah, they had They'd killed

themselves and I just remember saying, damn it.

There was a while there where I was like, okay,

is there something I could have done? Did I reach

out enough? I don't know. I don't dwell on it

anymore, but it's like having that gnawing in

your head of like, okay, Was there something

that I didn't, you know, was there a way I could

have gone even further? Yeah. You know, that

I could have prevented this. Yeah. And it's like

it's, you know, I'm not trying to make it about

myself, but no, no, no, no, absolutely. No, this

is the thing. You know, this is one of the things

of when when there's a trauma, it's like it affects.

Everyone, you know, this is this is not something

that's that's just this secret. It's you know,

it's all over the place Well, it's also a thing

of like if and not just in suicide, but any trauma

It's like yeah, if people get divorced if people

this or people that or whatever else Yeah, how

do you how do you deal with that? Like how do

you you know, like if you're best friends with

somebody With let's say a couple Okay, if you're

friends with both of them well, and they you

know are no longer together kind of thing or

whatever it is However, whenever that happens

like how do you approach that? How do you like

whatever? I you know it is what it is but with

the suicide stuff. It's so Especially with like

I read the note here about who collaborated on

the issue to bring awareness to all of this and

my uncle was he's retired now i'm pretty sure

but in the 90s he was a cb in the navy he was

overseas he was in desert shield desert storm

all that stuff all the the gulf war and all that

and i worried about him ever it was my dad's

brother i worried about him every night every

night on the radio listening to and again folks

for those of you who may be listening to this

that were born after 1989, you probably don't

remember life before the internet, but we didn't

have internet back in 1990 when I was 10 years

old, 91, 92, 93, 94. Like, I mean, okay, 94 maybe,

but you know what I mean? Like we didn't. Well,

but yeah, the internet, even if you had the internet

at the time, it would have been just basic. Yeah.

Like just really basic form. Yeah. Pretty much.

But yeah, I mean, what those service people go

through is a lot in this issue. Like it's having

Scarlett look back on her recovery after her

trauma and then going through all the, going

to group or going to therapy or going here, going

there, and she meets somebody in therapy who

commits suicide, who kills himself. And that

kind of gives her like this whole retrospective

thing like like you were saying Did I do enough

did I not do enough kind of thing? Yeah, and

yeah, and that's what this whole issue is about

it's about her dealing with The her own trauma

as well as being traumatized by someone who even

though she barely knew the person like You know

the whole ending to this, to issue seven, I was

like, oh my, like, she's like, look, I'm going

to try the soda. I'm going to try the soda. And

then all of a sudden that person isn't, I'm like,

oh God, that's just, yeah, it's hard. It really

is. And it's, you know, and it's also, it's interesting

to, you know, the fact that I'm trying to think,

you know, I'm trying to think about this. It's

like, when I was thinking about this issue, One

of the things I did was I tried going back, you

know looking at the Joe catalog that we've had

since the 80s and I'm like have they ever really

touched on Something like this on the PTSD That

these characters have to feel and I was like

I struggled because I was like, I don't think

so. I Mean we had characters traumatized by things

that happen. Yeah This was something totally

different because they really showed it. When

the issue came out, I was like, ìHoly cow, this

is some awesome writing .î Then looking at it

for this recording, Iím just like, ìI donít think

theyíve ever touched on it ever .î No, cuz like

I'm thinking about I'm like going through I'm

like, okay, wait, I know this happened in the

Marvel run I know this was in you know, the Devils

do run but I'm like, yeah No, I'm looking I'm

looking at it and I'm like they never have They

never have until Paul Lohr thought okay. Let

me do you know, let me do this. Let's do this.

Let's see what happens Yeah, and I just got to

say kudos. Yeah, absolutely I'm I'm glad this

issue is out there. I almost thought initially,

because again, I only really noticed the fact

that IDW had the Joe license if something major

like major news was like this was major news.

This was everywhere because of the whole suicide

prevention month thing and all that. And I was

like, oh, wow. Does that mean it's only going

to be like, I didn't even realize because I stopped

following after the news died down about issue

seven. I didn't even really realize up until

we started doing research for it up until we

read them. Oh, it's a technically an 11 issue

series. We're going to do Castle fall in a future

episode, folks, but 10 issues. I didn't even

think we were going to get three more issues

because it's so strange going from issue seven

into issue eight. Yeah Yeah, it is kind of well,

it's also kind of like The thing I think about

is you know, I think about back in 2001 You know

when we had 9 -eleven and how you know Marvel

Stopped what they were doing with the spider

-man comics and pulled out Special issue where

it was, you know Spidey and other Marvel characters

at ground zero And it's like well, how do you

you know, and then the next month is gonna be

like, okay We'll return you to our regularly

scheduled program and it's like yeah Okay, if

you know if you think you can all right cool

But it'll be interesting to see if you can yeah

You know and yeah, they they did You know, they

did go back to To what they were, you know the

storyline that they were doing You know and it's

like yeah, but it is interesting, you know, it's

like how do you go back to? Your main storyline

after this. Yeah And you know, how do you do

that? Yeah, and I mean because this has been

a it's not super like Scarlett's there She's

not super front and center all of the time, but

she is training this new recruit tiger and all

of that so she's kind of front and center so

to really put her front and center with issue

seven and Man it It was it's I'm glad they did

this I'm glad that they had not only the guts

but just the wherewithal to do this and Finally

talk about something that not a lot of people

talk about and I understand why we don't talk

about certain things but just Certain things

have to be talked about at some point or certain

things. Yeah a light has to be shown on certain

especially especially certain traumas and things

like that and You know, no one should it should

take their own lives. Just please don't folks

if you need help get help You know what and it's

like but I mean also it I also kind of feel like

You know, it's something that needs you know,

it's something that should be talked about Especially

and it's one of those things it also because

a thing that I've had to deal with In my life,

you know not not me personally but I've had to

deal with the with the I've had to deal with

the effects of it and that's addiction. One of

the things about that for me is that it's understanding

the fact that addiction is a disease. It can

be so easy to tell a person, you don't have to

drink that many beers, you don't have to smoke

or inject this. but that it's not as simple.

We would want it to be. It would just be so much

better if it was, but it's not. That's I think

also the thing that gets me with talking about

suicide and suicide prevention is that You know,

it's Trying to think of the right way to say

this it can be so easy I Tell somebody you know,

I You know, please don't Don't do it Yeah, you

know, please don't But you know, there are other

things. I mean we don't you know, we don't know

I didn't know you in the 90s. I didn't know what

you were going through. I didn't know what your

mental state is. I'm thankful that you're still

alive. I'm thankful for that. Just don't do it.

I'm here for you man, you know reach out instead

But it's not that easy for you know, it's not

that easy Yeah, you know, it's not that easy

to tell someone you know addiction You know mental

illness It's just you know, it's so what you

know, there's so many difficulties that are attached

to it. Yeah Yeah, I'm not an expert. I don't

claim to be and I don't want you know, I don't

claim to be you know, it's just yeah If I remember

correctly, I can't I've been trying to find it

as you've been talking I know right now if because

we all have mobile phones nowadays. We all have

cell phones. We all have smartphones We all have

whatever you can dial 988 anywhere in the US

on a smartphone and you can get help that way,

there was, and I think it's still active, there

was a 1 -800 number for those that may not have

a smartphone or a cellphone or people that still

have one. I believe, and I will try to find this

and correct myself on this in the editing, but

I believe it's 1 -800 -255 -TALK. I could be

wrong, but Google is failing at the moment. Folks,

if you need professional help, Dial 988 or you

can go online to the suicide prevention website.

I will have a link in the show notes for that

Yeah, wow just Now do what you can to help yourselves

as best you can and if it's just talking to somebody

like us or listening to our stories or If it's

talking to your friends or your family just please

speak up Yeah You know, we don't want anyone

to feel like they're alone. I've felt that before

and it's not, you know, it's not a good thing.

It's not good to be alone with your thoughts

when you're just, your mental capacities are

going bleh, because that's what sometimes it

happens. So please reach out. All right. I don't

know how we're going to get back on track, but,

um, which is, I look, I don't, I'm trying my

best not to joke because that was a serious thing

there, but I don't know why I find this so weird

and ironic. We just had an issue about suicide

and suicide prevention. A soldier's heart was

the title for issue seven issue eight, our toxic

friends. No, you should not get friends that

are toxic Yeah, it's well and I mean we kind

of get we get back into the heart of things which

is like You know we get back into the heart of

things which is talking about You know we go

back to you know, the Joe Joe's trying to take

down Cobra You know in this case we get Bomb

strike, bomb strike, you know, yeah undercover

Hitting on dr. Venom, you know, it's Yeah, it's

kind of This one, you know, it's well first of

all the fact that the fact that it's You know

the fact that it's you know, they use like they

could have used Anybody mm -hmm, you know, it

could have been scarlet it could have been Jay.

It could have been cover girl It could have been

You know, it could have been Tricking, you know,

like it could have been anybody and then they

chose bomb strike, you know a character that

was introduced in the toys like back in 2004

or so, 2003, 2004, and they used her in crafting

an interesting story because it's all like, oh,

going in deep and needing to like... you know

going in deep and what happens when you do and

you know, just the and interesting that we even

have like We even have Dr. Venom of all people,

you know, like we mentioned dr. Mindbender, but

you know, dr. Venom was like the first Cobra,

you know mad scientist type and just and it's

like oh Yeah, we're getting we're getting stock,

you know, we're getting dr. Venom and then it's

like by the end of the of the issue You're actually

feeling like I don't know about you, but I felt

sorry for the guy Little bit. Yeah, I was like,

wait a minute. What the what the what I'm feeling

sorry for dr. Venom. How is this happening? Yeah,

I mean this was a guy who tortured, you know

his his first appearance in the in the Marvel

comics He tortured snake eyes. Yeah And it's

like and I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh man,

dude, you gave your heart out to this lady and

you know, oh man Stomped on it with her seven

inch heel Yeah, and it's just like it's just

like wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'm I'm experienced

I'm feeling sorry for dr. Mindbender. How is

that happening? Venom Venom. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

Yeah, no, but it's like but see that's the thing

I'm trying to get over it. I'm like doctor venom.

This was this was some Psycho guy and I'm like,

oh man poor guy poor guy. He got his heart stopped

This was a guy who was creating a biological

pathogen that he wanted to use to poison the

US money supply. What? No, I don't want to feel

sorry for this jerk. What the hell? Damn it,

Tyler Moore. Why are you doing this? Why are

you making me feel sorry for this grody individual?

What the hell? Yeah. What the hell, man? But

yeah, and, and, you know, it's bombs, you know,

and then the use of the character of bomb strike,

it's like, I, um, you know, I remember her character

was first mentioned in, cause like her brother's

a GI Joe, her, you know, her other brother's

an agent of Cobra. And there were file cards

before she had a figure, there were file cards

that mentioned at one point. uh, you know the

kope brother may have capped you know may have

captured her and was holding a prisoner and it's

like then they you know, yeah, then Later on

her figure came out Uh, I think one of the other

figures of her brother barrel roll the joe I

think did say oh You know, he rescued her And

it's like i'm just like, okay, you have all you

have the story being told in the file cards and

i'm just like Are we going to ever get more like

I want more I wanted this played out in the you

know, like in the in some form like in comics

or a cartoon or something cuz I was like you've

got me booked and The most we've ever got of

you know, like she was brought in to the IDW

stuff That was published, you know the IDW stuff

that came out Like you know that Hama did her

character was featured there But like as far

as like, you know both brothers showed up in

the the deck was to run And she only had a one

-page cameo like a one panel cameo unspeaking

like towards the end and it's just like Come

on give me something No, you get nothing something

here. I don't just want a one panel appearance.

Let's have the whole thing Like the two brothers

their storyline was completely flushed out and

she got a one. It's like Yes Yeah, so what what

an issue this was. Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. This was this was yeah, this this was an

issue. I mean, this this this was an issue. Oh,

yeah. And dude, and then I mean, love seeing

chuckles. The fact that he's still going with

the lion shirts, it's like, OK, all right, all

right. We're still doing the lion shirts. OK.

Fine fine He's a Canadian diplomat Well, or at

least acting as a Canadian diplomat Okay, so

yeah, but like if you're acting as a Canadian

diplomat a Hawaiian shirt, I guess that Technically

would be a better disguise than a snowsuit Yeah,

I mean and I guess I don't know maybe he's on

vacay, you know, he's on vacay and you know,

I Don't know any Canadian diplomats. So I don't

know, you know, maybe he's you know, today's

casual Friday So, you know, it's like and you

know, if he's got the right papers, you know

Hey, I ain't gonna you know, I ain't gonna complain

And yeah, so man what an issue I know oh boy

another one that she that's a rough one like

yeah Do you had to you did break and then you

had two more rough ones? Yeah, it's like holy

cow, you know just and it was just I said it

earlier You know, it's it's freaky that you know,

you read this issue and it's like, oh, hey, you

know Hey, did you want to see Captain Gridiron

here? insurance, you know just just Seeing like

all these characters just get cut down. It's

like Jesus, you know or like the fact that ripcord

ripcord got killed parachuting out onto the site

and it's like oh that just oh that oh god it's

like the the sick irony of it because you know

his whole thing is he is a he's a you know he

he is all about you know jumping out of airplanes

so it's like this is the thing he's supposed

to do well and instead you know it ends up being

the cause of death uh you know it's just although

i did one thing i did like um is you have that

moment where um you have that moment where like

in the beginning you have tunnel rat is talking

to one of the guys that gets that gets killed

and the guy is like we're not going to win this

war And then, you know, Tunnel Rat makes it out

on his own. He rendezvous with his buddies. And,

yeah, Shipwreck's like, you know what? We're

going to win this. And it's like it's it's there's

a part of me that kind of wishes that nine and

ten had been switched. Really? Well, well, just

think about it this way. If you would have had

this, you know, Tunnel Rat story, the issue 10

story. Ending it with that line with shipwreck

going we're gonna win Yeah, and you know and

then of course it leads into castlefall it's

like oh oh Yeah, okay now I see what you did

yeah, and I see what you're saying yeah, I see

what you're saying except the fact that The way

that it does end with issue 10 is that you know?

It ends with Tiger who was the new character

that we kind of started the series out with Yeah,

so I mean you're right. I'm not saying you're

not right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just saying

it I think it's kind of one of those things.

It's like well, you got a you know on Like either

the one we got still works Would it have been

interesting to do the one that you know the thing

that I said? Yeah Did we need it? No. But yeah,

it would have been interesting. But it is cool

that we have Tiger, the guy that we started on,

being a part of things, being a part of the ending.

Absolutely. So yeah, with Tunnel Rat... Becoming

the last survivor of all of that and managing

to destroy the factory and like you said shipwreck

shows up and saves him Issue 10 is lady J Which

yeah? Undercover with what we have that's weird

because Again, we have another undercover issue

We have like another issue that revolves around

Somebody going up, you know, it's weird because

it's like seven was a heavy issue Yeah, then

we get you know, then we get You know we get

Infiltrator, you know, we get an infiltrator

issue. Yep Then we get You know, then we get

another Heavy issue. Yeah, and then we get another

infiltrator issue. It's like this weird kind

of leapfrog Yeah, it's kind of like a back -and

-forth thing She wasn't always Frontier's wife

though was she it was her and and Flint wasn't

it? Yeah, I think Frontier I believe is supposed

to be this Continuities iteration of Flint, okay

Because other than the beard he looks like Flint

Little bit yeah And yeah, they've always been

and then I know with the Devils do stuff That

they did with them together They did actually

have them get married Before the events of the

you know before the devils do stuff started So

they were husband and wife Very cool. Yeah, and

yeah Yeah, right, but yeah the whole thing, you

know the whole thing at the end where she reunites

with him and You know just goes and yeah It's

that was that was a great twist I only because

it's like You know the Flint character had been

redesigned for this It's like so many things

are different So to then have something where

it's like, oh You know Yeah, this is you know,

no, this is this is the these are the people,

you know in love Yeah, you know to have that

it's like oh okay then all right okay cool and

the one what i do want to talk about though what

i do want to talk about is the um the the bat

that goes crazy yeah i feel like i feel there's

so much attention to the character that when

i first read the issue Was expecting for the

bat to turn out to be somebody Like a character

that we know that we know and love it's like

wait, it's actually this person and you're like

Yeah, like wait a minute Yeah, well, I know that

you know, I know that in one issue we had Jinx

Go off on her own with snake eyes So there was

a part of me that was like well first off I mean

until I noticed that the bat was female At first

I thought is this gonna turn out to be too? You

know is it that you know is that mindbender You

know is mindbender putting human brains and like

battle Android troopers is it gonna be Duke?

You know is Duke gonna be alive and well well

alive. I don't know about well Uh, you know,

and then, but then like, you know, once I noticed,

Oh no, this is a female character. I was like,

is it going to turn out to be jinx? Like she

left, you know, she left the Joe's looked up

with snake eyes. Is this going to be a thing

where after she hooked up with snake eyes, you

know, she somehow got captured and mindbender

decided to use her as, you know, his, his latest

guinea pig. And then. It's back just left and

I'm like, is this something? Is this something

that was gonna be picked up later if this continuity

was gonna keep going Like we have seen, you know,

we have gotten something where it turns out it's

like holy cow. It's jinx, you know It's actually

jinx, you know, yeah, I think that would have

been cool. I don't know if that would have worked

though because Jinx? I don't know. Jinx is kind

of a... She's a good character, but she was in

there kind of spying on them, sort of, for Snake

Eyes. So I'm not really sure if that would actually

work. Maybe maybe not You know who knows I mean,

we'll probably never know at this point, but

yeah, I mean I think you'd have to you'd have

to find Paul allure at a at a convention and

just like You know, just as it was supposed to

be yeah was this supposed to be was That's bad

ever supposed to be somebody we know. Yeah So,

you know, yeah, maybe you have to ask him and

just be like, yeah, is this supposed to be, you

know, supposed to be somebody we know? You know,

what was the what was going to be the deal? Yeah,

now that I've actually read through issue 10

twice now, so, you know, yeah, I can kind of

see that Frontier really is a stand in or a pseudo

version of Flint. But they used everybody else's

name. I don't know why they couldn't have used

his Hang on, you know what? I don't know either.

I don't know either. I don't know why You know,

I don't know why it was frontier instead of Flint

You know, I'm just You know, it's like I don't

know again, it's one of those things you got

to ask Paul or Twitter or you know talk to my

convention I'm fine with it. You know, I didn't

have an issue with it I'm just yeah, I you know

For me, I'm just like look I you know, I enjoyed

I enjoyed the story. It was weird seeing Flint

with a beard Yeah, you know, it's I don't you

know, there are other things you can freak out

about I know you're not freaking out about I

know you're not freaking out about it, but I'm

just saying as a general thing Yeah, it's like

there are other things we can focus on and we

don't have to be all like, you know Well, you

know them is supposed to be Flint and you know,

why does he have a beard? It's supposed to be

like this it's like no I you know, yeah I also

thought it was weird that we had roadblock as

a pacifist You know and he was and one of his

things was he was freaked out because he actually

had to kill somebody Yeah, that was interesting

to say the least. Yeah. Yeah, but you know, it's

one of those things I mean something that I've

gotten I don't know if the word has gotten used

to but For me, it's like one of the things when

someone's just like this isn't how it was in

this it's like You're right. You're right. It's

not but on the other hand You know, we're in,

you know, one of the things about, you know,

comics is comics are a multiverse. Yep. And as

a multiverse, you know, this means that there

are going to be things that are not, you know,

there are going to be different variations. A

character may feel the same, but they may be

different because of and it's like, that's not

a bad thing. It's just another iteration and

the thing is that the iteration of Flint or Duke

or Scarlett or whoever that you like more than

the way they were presented in this series, they're

still out there. There are still ways you can

read these stories and like them and if you want

to put blinders on and say this never happened

or that never happened, go right ahead. Like,

honestly, I love some stories from the Devil's

Dew era. I hated the fact they killed Lady J.

Yeah, I hated it. But you know what? I still

have plenty of comics that I can read where she

is alive and well. So it's like, I'll be fine.

You know, I will just go back to the stuff where

she's alive and well. I know in Hama's stuff,

she's still alive. So we're cool. We don't need

to freak out about it. It's yeah, you know there

there's other there's other things we need to

vote You know, we can focus on that have nothing

to do with you know, you ruined my favorite character

How dare you sir, you know? They are not supposed

to be you know black haired and with with a latina

background they're supposed to be blonde haired

That is how the character was first created respect

the creator It's like how about relax? Don't

mind me, you know, I just I See the rage and

I'm just like what are you raging at bro? Mm

-hmm So yeah, we is there anything we missed

from the first ten issues The only ten issues

but I think we covered we covered I mean we covered

the important stuff this one fun little aside

though I you know for for another project I Looked

into there's a GI Joe deck building game by by

renegade games I Looked into it. You know I looked

into it. I play tested it a little bit The art

there's like two cards for major blood And both

of them are actually from the series. Oh, cool.

It's major blood as he's depicted in, you know,

in World on Fire. So I thought that was I thought

that was kind of funny. I thought I was like,

wow, OK, so we're going to do we're going to

do this iteration of major blood. OK, all right.

Now that's hey, OK. I mean, you know, it's it's

interesting. Maybe not what I would have done,

but, you know, me, you know. And we still you

know again, we could still get a major blood,

you know classic major blood just like mom used

to make That's the wrong pudding folks That's

not that's not putting you want to eat Hey, hey

at least, you know, hey look at the very least

I wasn't trying to do bad poetry like major blood

What surprised me was there wasn't much Cobra

commander and like he's in like maybe one or

two panels Like he's not in this at all like

which is fine We have what is it 40 plus years

or so of Cobra commander things It's like it

works for the story that he's not here that they

constantly reference him and everything else

and that's that's all well I'm good. I again

I like that Baroness is Kinda, sorta, front and

center. I like the, like you said, the kinda

jumping around between issues. Like we get this

issue, we get that issue, we get very, it almost

feels like a 10 episode episodic, non -serial,

even though it is overall serialized to be one

whole story. Like you were saying with going

from issue 6 to issue 7 to issue 8 and how issue

6 and 8 are different than 7 and 9 and Yeah,

it's good. I really really enjoyed it. So folks

we're gonna take a quick break We're gonna come

back with our rating and close the show out right

after this You are receiving this transmission

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And we are trapped, hurtling through space in

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Well, the Markhu42's universe podcast is an award

-winning sci -fi radio show that's been around

for over 10 years. We cover everything from Doctor

Who to the MCU to pop culture and everything

in between. A new show drops on Tuesday mornings

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platforms. So listen to the Markhu42's universe

podcast from the universe and beyond. Hey, welcome

to The Last Comic Shop Podcast! A comic book

podcast that actually talks about comics. Yep,

each week we open the shop up and read and discuss

a comic. Sometimes we pair that up with comic

book movies or TV shows. We're not, lots of times

it's just comic books. And sound effects. Oh,

yes, definitely lots of sound effects. So tune

in on all the major podcasts and platforms, the

Last Comic Shop podcast, or check out our library

of evergreen shows at www .lastcomicshoppodcast

.com. All right, folks, we are back here in episode

521 of The Pullback. It is the second week of

May. GI Joe, world on fire. The first 10 issues.

And again, you pointed this out to me. I knew

about this series. But you pointed Castle Fall

out to me, and I didn't realize that Castle Fall

was the one shot that was kind of like the exclamation

point on this series. And I was like, oh, OK,

well, because you told me, oh, let's do this

and let's do this. And I'm like, OK, sure, we

can do that. And then we can. So I created a

completely separate episode for Castle Fall because

I thought it was a whole new series and it's

just a one shot. like I said an exclamation point

on this so Castle Fall will be the second week

in June when that releases for rating for world

on fire 0 to 5 what are you gonna give it you

know what there was you know I'm gonna say 4

.5 yeah like definitely 4 .5 you know this is

not This isn't your, you know, this isn't your

dad's GI Joe, you know, this isn't traditional

GI Joe, but it is a good series and there are

a couple of stories that are really compelling.

And that shouldn't be ignored just because it's

not traditional GI Joe. I don't know, and I'm

not looking it up because I don't feel like typing

or using my mouse or whatever else. Real American

Hero, maybe you can tell me off the top of your

head. How many issues has that had over the decades,

like 500 or more or something? OK. Larry Hama.

Yeah, Larry Hama stuff. Yeah. So with the Marvel

run, And then the IDW continuation, it's, I would

say 300. Okay. Not, not counting, you know, just

the main book and not counting annuals and stuff

like that. Right. Okay. With the devils, with

the devils do run, uh, let's see, uh, like over

200. Yeah, so it's in total for the last 40 years.

It's been about you know 500 500 of GI Joe and

the reason why I'm asking this is because I am

one of those people who are not Die hard in this

franchise. I like certain aspects of it I like

learning about it like I learned a lot of stuff

in you know reading this series by Paul Allure

and the art team that's on it and That's great

But I also felt like how can people read Just

in general not pointing any like how can you

read 500 issues of Really traumatic stuff like

this is about war. This is about military. This

is about You know, I don't know and I this is

my personal opinion ladies and gentlemen the

opinion you're about to hear is TF2 and Mike's

own personal opinion and no other opinions really

you know count except as far as like I mean they

count but because this is mine I just feel like

GI Joe feels like it should be something that

should be like this a 10 or 11 issue miniseries

that has a overall focused story but has those

moments like issue seven or issue nine that could

feel episodic, but could also feel like it's

connected to like G .I. Joe doesn't seem like

a brand that would be at least to me after reading

this. And again, this is the first G .I. Joe

comic I've ever read. It just and I used to watch

the cartoon as a kid. I haven't watched the cartoon

in years. I actually have the Walmart version

of the Sunbow series back behind me. need to

start watching that again so but like that's

what i'm saying because i'm like this this outsider

looking in like the way i feel about this after

reading this story is that you know as as another

really really cheesy 80s villain said in his

1990 movie debut or his 1991 sequel uh you know

In smaller doses through future mutants like

that's what I feel about Joe as a comic as a

comic book concept Smaller is better small don't

give us You know what it Honestly, you may have

an interesting point. I know that the comics.

Okay, the comics have gone harder than the cartoons

But this is this right here world on fire. This

is probably the hardest it's gone. Like it has

had, you know, it has had some stuff, you know,

you did, you know, the, the Marvel run did have

an issue where Duke, Falcon and cross country

were like, you know, lost seven of their, of

their, of their teammates. Right. You know, there

have been, you know, there have been tough issues.

But this is the compass that it's been. I would

say that, yeah, if you were going to take G .I.

Joe and you're going to go hard on it, like you're

going to be like, OK, we're really going to make

this a war comic. Yeah. Doing these small little

things is the way to go. Yeah. If you're going

to be like, I mean, if you're going to do, you

know, if you are going to have like, yeah, you're

going to do that, you're going to do. GI Joe,

you know closer to the Joe we know and love,

you know, like the cartoons Marvel comics things

like that You could probably do an extended story

You know, it just depends on where what do you

want it, you know, how do you want to go with

this? Yeah Yeah, I mean that's the best way I

can put it like how where do you want to go?

How do you want to do this? And if this was as

hard as GI Joe has ever gone. Man, was this a

great... Like I said, at four and a half out

of five, I really enjoyed this story. I did not

feel lost or feel uncomfortable. I will admit,

the one time I felt lost was the bomb strike

and venom issue. Because I thought he was the

agent and she was the... He was the spy and she

was the Cobra, but it's not what it is, obviously

That was the only time I really kind of felt

a little lost and then I reread Oh, right. Okay.

Got it. She's the Joe and he's okay But yeah,

no, I really enjoyed this. I'm very much looking

forward to Castle Fall when we get to it next

month In between this episode and when we get

to Castlefall, we are going to have my buddy

Joe is going to come back. We've been doing this

for years. We are in the midst of IDW TMNT Reborn.

So we're going to do Reborn volume two, Steve

Megatron. We are going to continue Star Trek.

We're actually going to, well, at this point,

we're going to continue it. Star Trek Defiant

two and three from IDW and then Star Trek overall

six and seven. And then I got to find somebody.

I don't know who I. Don't know I gotta I gotta

figure out what I'm gonna do with radiant black

So that's what's coming up between now and the

next time Eduardo will be here for Castle Hall

And by the way speaking of Star Trek There was

a free comic book day issue brought out. Oh was

there Yeah, that is supposed to it's supposed

to set up for There's gonna be a crossover between

Defiant and Yeah, there is gonna be yeah, there's

gonna be a crossover between the two they're

gonna you know, kind of link back up for something

called day of blood Yeah, yeah the the free conflict

day issue that came out like yesterday as of

you know, we're recording this like a Sunday

after free conflict day It's set up for that.

So Definitely. Yeah, I would I would say that

you know hopefully hopefully you picked it up,

you know, hopefully anybody listening as a fan

picked it up and you know, if not, I don't know

like Hopefully somebody you know, hopefully it'll

be then be online like maybe you know, if you

go to comics ology, you know They'll they'll

be offering well comics ology doesn't exist anymore.

It's Amazon Kindle. Whatever Kindle comics I

know I know that I know that back in the day

I know that they used to do. Oh, no, absolutely

Comix ology used to get them like two or three

months after by the end of the summer they usually

used to get them. And the one thing I will say,

since we are recording this before Free Comic

Book Day, it'll be out, or actually right after

Free Comic Book Day, it'll be out the Wednesday

after Free Comic Book Day. I did not do a Free

Comic Book Day episode this year. However, I

did link on my Twitter and the GCRN Twitter and

the Pullbag Twitter all about our past Free Comic

Book Day episodes. And the last thing I said

is that even though At the time today is free

comic book day. The comics are not Really free

for the shops. So when you're out getting your

free comic books, please do your best To support

your local comic shop whether that's buying comics

a funko pop a statue, whatever it is support

the lcs Yeah, that's what that's what I did.

You know, I got I got the confident comics and

then I grabbed something else Yep, you know and

that's what I always do when I go. Yeah I just

didn't go this year. You didn't go, you didn't

go. It's so weird. I live in a small town now

and it's like a town of less than 10 ,000 people

and there is a comic book store here but walking

it's like... an hour and a half away, whereas

driving is five minutes. Explain that to me.

I don't understand that, but it is what it is.

Anything you want to promote, sir? Anything you

got coming up? Anything you want to pimp out

there before I go through the closing? You know

what? I'm just going to say, hey, listen to Marku42.

You know, we're still doing episodes. I think

my, you know, two of my co -hosts, Vicki Jakubowski,

And mark himself have been heavily promoting

these comics by This these, you know, British

guys the 77 Yep, so, you know, I mean, you know

listen to mark and 42 we just recently covered

Picard season 3 God, you know more of the 77

coming up and Yeah, I got to talk to mark and

see about You know see about handling guardians

three because that came out this past weekend

Yep. So, you know, it's, yeah, we got and, you

know, and I know that a few years, you know,

a couple of years ago or so I did, you know,

I did do some comic writing with the seer for

Rising Sun. And all I'm going to say about that

is stay tuned. There you go. Very cool. Very

cool. Alright folks. Thank you for joining us

here inside the pullback If you'd like to get

in contact with us leave feedback for the show

There are some ways to do so visit the website

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Follow us on Twitter at geek cast radio for the

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TF2 and Mike. What is your Twitter? Yeah, mine

is supposed to be white balloon king. But if

you're going to put it in, it's W H T B L L N

K I N G or just put in Eduardo and Friar. And

you should you should you should be able to find

me. If anything, just look at look at, you know,

if anything, you can find me probably through

probably through EFG1 Mike's tweets. Yep. Yep,

yep, yep. I want to make a run code joke, but

I'm going to avoid that. Become a fan on Facebook.

Go to facebook .com slash geekcastradio .net

where you can also check out the pull bag as

well as Markhoo42's universe over there as well.

Join us next time when we will be discussing...

What did I say? Episode 522. That's me and Joe

talking about TMNT Reborn Volume 2. For now,

I am TF2 and Mike with... Ed, Lardo, and Friar.

As always, make your great escape into comics.

G .I. Joe is the code name for America's daring,

highly trained special mission force. Its purpose?

To defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless

terrorist organization determined to rule the

world. You've just heard the latest episode of

The Pull Bag, the GCRN's first comic review and

discussion podcast. There are several ways to

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