Interview with What’s on Joe Mind Hosts

This is Jason Marsden, the voice of Duke from

G .I. Joe Renegades. You're listening to the

Geekcast Radio Network. Yo, Joe. You're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hey, I'm Gary.

I'm Greg. I'm Chuck. And I'm Justin. Join the

four of us every week on the internet's number

one G .I. Joe podcast, What's On, Joe Mine. That's

right, it's Joe news, reviews, and special guests

like you've never heard them before delivered

right to your mp3 player. Think of it as Joe

Talk meets Sports Talk, and we make fun of Chuck.

Right and we pay. We're just kidding, Chuck.

Kinda. Yeah, sometimes Chuck makes fun of himself.

Right and we pay. It's What's On, Joe Mine. Hello

and welcome to Geekcast Radio. This is episode

67. This is the start of the Syndication Nation

spotlight here inside Geekcast Radio. We are

doing, I believe... 12 or 13 episodes. Each episode

is going to be dedicated to one of our partner

podcasts. Kicking it all off is I believe the

first, if you don't count the lunch room, the

lunch table, I believe the first ever partner

podcast we had, which is What's on Joe Mind.

I am of course one of your hosts, TFJ and Mike.

Joining me is Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. And

from What's on Joe Mind, we have Gary. Hi. Justin.

Hello. The cockroaches are coming in, but they

can't get out. I think I had the least amount

of experience of the three of us, four if you

count Chuck. I've been thinking of doing podcasting

for a while prior to starting What's On, Joe

Mine, and just never got around to it. I talked

with a couple other websites about doing it and

just never got around to doing it. But I did

listen to podcasts before, such as other partner

podcasts with the GeekCast Radio Network, Star

Joe's, I listened to them. Other friends of the

program's whoosh cast listen to them But never

had any real experience prior to getting into

podcasting that has kind of jumped in Very much

with both feet and kind of learned the hard way

just about every step of the way, but now after

Gosh over 150 total episodes down in I think

I got it down a little bit. Maybe I don't know

You've you've overcome your crippling personality

flaws Says my that was Chuck's job Chuck hasn't

overcome his crippling personality clause. No,

I don't think that'll ever happen You know, you

know you say that you're you kind of jumped in

with both feet both feet Gary That's kind of

the same thing I did and I've been learning ever

say it the learning process for podcasting never

stops I mean, you know People say oh well do

you feel like you've been in it for X number

of years now, and you're a promo I wouldn't say

I'm a pro I'm not getting paid for it not that

I would want to but you know it's like It's a

constant learning experience well like what what's

here Did you guys get into it like get into start

start doing podcasting itself? 11 was when we

started the show and if you want to talk if there's

a In terms of you wanna talk pros, the pro of

the group is actually Mike. He actually did radio

for a living at one point as well as his brother.

He would know more than any one of us about really

how hard this is. The hardest part for me really

is the whole editing process. And to give the

GCRN some credit here, I mean once we joined

up with the network. Mike and Steve, you guys

were helpful with suggestions of things that

we could do to make the editing process better,

better equipment, or better programs to record

the show. But it's been, I pretty much for the

last year haven't really tweaked our show any

because I think we found a format we finally

like. But we're not professionals, but we do

have some professional blood and that would be

Mike. I'm touched. That's your cue to actually

see he's a professional, but he can't pick up

on a cue if he was given one Sorry, I was coughing.

What do you want from me? But yeah, I actually

I was I was the guy who was dumb enough to get

back into this in college Had a brief If you

want to call it a career after that of trying

to do this for a living Determined pretty quickly

that it's it's a it's no way to pay the bills

because nobody has bills that are that low So

so if you wanted to I'm probably the one who

is is the most natural Most comfortable I should

say I wouldn't want to say natural but most comfortable

Saying crazy things in a microphone and as such

I think it's It's kind of played into the role

a little bit. I tend to be the one that either

wears the black hat, that plays the bad guy,

or that plays the silly guy, and kind of frees

everybody else to do their thing. Being stupid

allows Gary to be the host, and it lets Justin

be the expert, and it lets Chuck be Chuck. I'm

no slouch with GI Joes myself. I'm a pretty smart

guy and I've done my homework and I've done a

little bit of writing and not to blow my own

horn, certainly not to the degree of somebody

like a Justin Bell who is indisputably our expert.

It is kind of funny sometimes when when we're

out at say at con when the three of us are all

together and and You know, we're all talking

but strangers come up to us because they hear

me And we've actually we've we've we've got a

number of folks on on Facebook who were just

who the three of us all met simply because They

came up to us at con and said hey you're You're

you're Mike from what's on Joe mind aren't you

and I and I kind of I kind of pointed the other

It's like yeah, I am it's good to meet you blah

blah blah blah blah. What do you think? Gary

and they don't feel like and they don't pick

up on that. It's like oh You're you must be Gary

and you must be Justin and they you know They

get them reversed or something most of the people

are below Justin though, so That is true. That

is true. They're too small for Justin the plebes

do not uh... register on justin's radar he is

a super fan i look down and say hi wall on the

throne you guys are carrying on on your shoulders

uh... it's it's nice to say that too it's not

all as i can picture is justin one of those old

-timey uh... amazon uh... throne chairs in the

keep the best you guys carry a leg on is the

skinniest of the four of us Gotta tell you if

there's a you wouldn't think you wouldn't think

so, but Gary and I are pretty hot in those Roman

style tunics All right, how do we recover from

that? Well, baby, you should ask Justin Bell

how he got started in podcasting. Yeah Well,

actually I did do a brief stint There was an

old website called Quick Kicks Theater who changed

actually to JoeGuide .com a number of years ago.

I want to say 2006, 2007. And I actually did

recaps of some Sigma 6 cartoons for him on his

podcast. But the Sigma 6 cartoon was so terrible

that I think it gave me a rash just trying to

record recaps of it. So that didn't last very

long. But then... I thought you liked that show.

I like Sigma 6. I don't like the show. The show

was terrible. I like the line. Yeah, I like the

toys. Great toys, awful entertainment. Absolutely.

So then I had my whole website thing going on,

and when Chuck and Gary and Greg at the time

invited me to be a guest on What's on Joe's Mind,

I think, was like the second episode. Yeah, we

were about two or three in, yeah. Yeah. And I

agreed and came on the second episode and just

kind of never left. Came as a guest and stayed

on for, you know, almost three years now, so.

Refuses to leave. Exactly. I keep on trying to

do these shows and I just kind of show up and

keep recording and they're like, you know, get

out of here. But I just don't take a hint. Didn't

you do a couple of episodes of the granddaddy

of them all, G .I. Joe Revue? I did. Yes, I did

do a couple episodes of Georgia Review as well.

Yeah, with Christopher and Chad and Matt and

those guys. So yeah, I did some guest spots there

too. Good point. Can't can't haunt their place.

Hang around by us. I swear he gets in through

the windows. Now that's Chuck. No, Chuck can't

fit in through the window. Chuck is inside. We

don't grease up the sides of the windows for

Chuck to get there. They let him in the closet.

Did you just say you keep him in the closet?

Oh my god. That means Chuck has to come out of

the closet. It's awful that... That people such

as Gary and myself are sitting here making fat

jokes on people. That's still a low blow. It

is. It's terrible. We're not good people. Well,

Bell can. We really can. I'm in no position to

talk. I don't know. I've seen Justin's before

picture. I don't know if he can. Oh, yeah. Yeah,

there's that. There's that. I've seen Justin

before the Cobb salads. Justin is, I pick on,

but Justin is actually... I've struggled with

my weight for a number of years and there have

been times where I've been successful with it

and times when I haven't. This happens to be

one of the times where I'm not. But Gary's known

me long enough to know that that is the truth.

There have been times where I'm in pretty good

shape. There have been times where I'm in terrible

shape and I'm pretty obnoxious through all of

them. But Justin is one of the people who I keep

in mind as somebody who wins his battle on a

regular basis. Justin is actually somebody I

look up to quite a bit in that regard. I don't

want to come off like a total dick. I don't even

know how to respond to that, Mike. Thank you.

Other than the fact that he actually admitted

to being a dick. It only took 152 episodes. Yeah,

it took a while. I don't know. I'm pretty open

about that, frankly. I really don't hide. Well,

the funny thing about that is when we all started

- I'm honest for an asshole. That's true. When

we started the podcast, we pretty much had no

show personas whatsoever. It was pretty much

straight -laced. Here is the news. Here's discussion

points. Here's what we got in, and we're out.

And after a while the show personas started developing

on their own and that is either to No scripting

whatsoever, but a lot of it's because of audience

interaction when people would write in Things

that Chuck would say or things that Mike would

say or things that Justin would say that eventually

just get cemented in the show lore there there

really is We we do act this way on and in public

to an extent But there is some show persona that

does go on. Mike, when you don't have a microphone

in front of him, isn't such of an a -hole. Justin,

when you don't have a microphone in front of

him, does talk a whole lot more. So after a while,

it seemed like it kind of started to sound a

little bit like a shock jock morning type show

where we had You know, a straight -laced guy,

a bumbling guy, and then you have like the two

hosts that bounce things off each other. And

that wasn't planned at all. It just developed

on its own that way. I'm going to draw back to,

you know, I was not on the show as a regular

at the beginning. I had a job that got in the

way a little bit more and would have prevented

me from being part of things all the time. But

I was the guest host. And I do think that the

first time I was on the show, back in episode

three, I think was the first time anybody actually

made fun of Chuck on the program. He had it coming.

Your microphone sucked that first episode, too.

Oh, it was terrible. It was a piece of junk.

And the one I had for the next episode, I had

a different mic for that one, and that one stuck,

too. Was a it was really it was a learning process.

I was I was out of the game for a little while

Yeah, you have to upgrade it quit what I've found

in podcasting is you have to upgrade equipment

at least every two to three years Unless you

find something that completely works and doesn't

Screw up after a while like I I started out with

a nine dollar piece of junk microphone that plugs

into the back of the the tower and Just a regular

headset and then I switched to a USB headset

microphone and then after that I switched to

buying this $110 Blue microphone Because it sounds

better so But I've I've found that every few

years I mean I like to upgrade with something

new and add something else to the the process

like recently I just got new software so I like

playing around with that but I mean, it's all

it's all incremental stuff that helps grow the

show, more or less. It does help the show's growth

when people can actually hear you, yes. Yes.

That is my own personal experience. Yeah, we

learned that the hard way. You were muted, Mike,

would you say? Exactly. But as far as the origins

of the program go, we would be remiss to not

talk a little bit about Greg. who was the original

third chair or second chair, however you want

to bill him. And I think as far as setting the

groundwork for What's On Joe Mind as a news show,

I think he was a big help as far as getting that

going, as opposed to just being four guys who

sat around and just talked crap all the time,

which I think half of our fans think we are,

but we actually do try to provide a service.

So so we do we do a Greg a big tip of the cap

and as far as getting things going Yeah, I was

kind of like I was listening in the beginning

and I was kind of a little worried about how

the dynamic change was gonna Go by the time Greg

had left the show and it didn't change. I mean

it read okay sure a new voice But it I mean the

dynamic was still there and it was still cool.

I remember when you guys released oh man what

it was a few years ago you released the edited

and unedited version of your interview with kevin

michael richardson and i listen to both of those

i'm like yeah the unedited version is so much

better well what was it it was the uh the first

question that oh don't forget that's what you

know you're in for for a good night justin justin

asked him the first question Hey, so we hear

that, you know, Kevin, you played roadblock on

Renegades, and we hear that Dwayne Johnson, the

rock, will be playing roadblock in the movie.

You know, who do you think is going to make a

better roadblock? And the answer, without missing

a beat, without a half second of silence, well,

I could tell you whose dick is bigger. This is

going to go down as one of the classics. Well,

one of the reasons that the synergy stayed is

Mike and I have known each other for close to

10 years now. At the time, it was about seven

years at the time, but now it's close to 10 years.

And Mike and Justin have known each other for

about that same amount of time as well. So we

actually have personal relationships with each

other. Oddly, and the odd one of the group is

Chuck because none of us None of us have ever

seen Chuck in the flesh, which I don't know if

it's good or bad. He stays within the side of

the Emanuele compound and only comes out when

he needs fresh air every now and then. But if

the synergy anything, it got better because I

know Mike for a long time. Justin knows Mike

for a long time. I've known Justin for a long

time. So we have a bit of a personal relationship

that we're able to build the show. If the show

sounds like we're friends and and we are genuine

friends I mean, there's some editing that goes

on that makes the conversation a little bit snappier

and that type of thing but There there is no

there's no falsehoods there. We we've we've all

known each other for close to ten years with

the exception of Chuck And to clarify some on

that week to for the folks at home. We do like

Chuck We are friends with Chuck. We do Chuck.

Chuck is in on the joke Or is he? Chuck, I tried.

I tried. I will never forget that first ad Gary

sent me at the very end of it. Oh my god. This

is so hilarious. The first podcast ad you guys

recorded. Can we talk about Transformers? No.

Still can't. And then the second one. I guess

I still can't say anything about Transformers.

No. Yeah. We need to make a third one here eventually.

Yeah. No, I mean, I think you guys have done

a great service to the GI Joe community. I know

there are multiple other Joe podcasts out there

that are specifically like Star Joe's. I've worked

with Ryan. I'm going to be working with Chuck

here in a little while. This is another Chuck.

Yeah. Star Joe's Chuck, not what's on Joe Mine

Chuck. Right. And that's how we refer to him

as well. It's Star Joe's Chuck. Yeah. When we

see him. When we see him in person, he is called

Star Joe's Chuck. Yes. I don't really count them

because they're not specifically G .I. Joe, but

I've seen some of the other G .I. Joe specific

shows and you guys by far kill them all. Well,

we appreciate that. We owe a great deal to the

guys that did G .I. Joe review. No, I shouldn't

say did. in the past tense because they're still

doing them just at a much slower pace. We know

all the guys that have done the show personally.

Well, again, we have personal relationships with

them as well. We owe them a great gratitude.

The guys that did flag points really had their

their niche. Their niche was let's talk about

memories and vintage Joe. We discussed doing

that for a long time, but really with me, Mike

and Justin is like, Yeah, do you have the vintage

Cobra trooper? Yeah, that was cool moving on,

you know It's like yeah, what what more can we

possibly say about it? Those guys they could

say, uh, you know a whole lot more that they

wanted to say on it If what if anything what

we would be getting into if we were talking about

vintage Cobra troopers We'd be leaning on the

side of what the classified does which we're

also involved with so we'll let the classified

take the the torch when it comes to uh talking

about vintage joe and the history and the archaeology

of joe when it comes to customizing justin's

a customizer uh he's pretty good i'm squat at

customizing so's mike so the joe customs podcast

was sprung up after ours as well they that's

the that's their wheelhouse their niche we're

really here for commentary news uh opinion and

Well, yes, we do have a lot of interviews and

everything. But it's the cut through the BS that

you see on the board sometimes. It's like you

just want to hear just a sane opinion. And that's

where someone like Justin Bell comes in. See,

Justin, I called you sane. It's a step in the

right direction. I think there's some nights

where you can just cut the tension between Justin

and Chuck with a knife. You'll layer, won't they?

But I do like the fact that we We have lasted

the longest. Everybody ignores it and moves on.

I love it. I like the fact that we've lasted

the longest. We have the largest library. We

have the biggest audience. And I thank everyone

that's continued to listen and has started listening

here recently or have been listening since episode

one. It means a lot. And it means a lot for you

guys to say that you like the show after all

this time. So, what got you guys into YGIGO?

I guess we're going way back for this one. Yeah,

I mean, you don't have to do long form of it.

Well, no, no, because frankly, we'd be here all

night. Yeah, between the three of us. When I

was a kid... You know, as I was fortunate enough

to be able to dabble in lots of stuff, I had

a brother who was close to be in age and a younger

brother who was not too far behind. And so it

was, I think G .I. Joe was the one that stuck

because it was something that we could all play

with at the same time. The figures were cheap

enough that we could all have a good number of

them. Sometimes we'd have the same ones, sometimes

we'd have different ones. We all got to play

with most of our favorites most of the time.

It was just a very, it was a real kid friendly

kind of property in that regard. And then when

you throw in there that there was such a great

comic book connected to it and such a great television

series connected to it. And even though the two

of them didn't have anything to do with one another,

it just kind of, it keeps those fires going and

it keeps you stoked about it. I think of all

the, you know, I've still got a lot of my crap

from when I was a kid or have had it until recent

years. You know, we dabbed a little bit in Transformers,

didn't really stick. I don't have a lot of interest

in Transformers past, past G1 and even then just

the first couple years of it. I was out of it

pretty quick. Star Wars, as far as the movies

go, love them. As far as the toys go, they disappeared

as soon as I realized that Joe's have knees and

elbows. That's no lie. There was really no lie.

Remember sitting there, I've got Boba Fett in

one hand, I've got Snake Eyes in the other. You've

got the alpha male toys from both lines right

there, and knees and elbows one every time. It

was whatever. Go away, Boba Fett. You suck. I

don't know, I guess when a seed gets planted

that deep, it never really goes away. Most of

us had our years where that seed got snowed over,

so to speak, with puberty and middle school and

high school. But I was back into Joe before I

was done with college, and that's getting to

be a long time ago. I've collected for longer

now than I did when I was a kid. Right, which

is you know when when the math starts getting

weird and hazy and we all feel old Yeah, pretty

much everybody except Steve's I'm not coming

yeah Ten -year high school reunion next month,

so you go to hell Steve Ten -year ten -year high

school reunion get him off of this you get him

off of this program This is where Mike would

say Cut his mic. Yeah. And he muted himself.

Yeah. What about you, Justin? Where did you get

started? Well, my story is actually really similar

to Mike's. It was way back in the 80s. I was

a Star Wars kid back then, had a bunch of Star

Wars toys and was just at a local department

store one afternoon and happened to see GI Joe's

on the pegs and notice that like Mike said they

actually had knees and elbows and bought bought

a straight -arm flash back in 1982 and Cobra

and Really never looked back. I don't know if

you know kind of started with with having toys

that moved better than Star Wars toys that really

kind of appealed to me at the beginning and then

once you know I got my hands on the Larry Hama

comic book it was just there was no stopping

it going from there yeah I mean once you know

I started off with the toys and then I had a

little introduction to the to the cartoon of

course I thought it was neat you know it you

know seeing the characters in action was cool

and everything but then you know shortly after

I'd watched the cartoon which you know was full

of lasers and everything and and I went over

to my buddy's house and was looking through his

oversized treasury edition for GI Joe number

one and actually saw some corporate troopers

getting shot with guns and that it was, you know,

that there were some consequences to what was

going on here even as a, you know, eight, nine

year old kid. It just had a much bigger impact

on me than the animated series did and it just

kind of you know that that captured me and I

was a Larry Hama fan for life at that point and

unlike a lot of folks who kind of Drifted in

and out through high school and college. I never

really did I just kept on collecting the whole

way through and before the internet, you know

I was buying these action figure news and toy

review and Tomarts and calling all the phone

numbers in the back looking for people were selling

their stuff and Mailing lists off the alt .gijo

Yahoo groups. Exactly, yeah. I still remember

being in college at the University of Vermont

in the mid -90s, early to mid -90s and getting

on the bulletin boards and working out some trades

and trying to keep up because I lived in Vermont

and Vermont was the only state in the country

at the time that had no toys or us. and no target

department stores. It still doesn't have a target

in the entire state, although it does have one

Toys R Us now. But back then, you know, there

was no place to buy toys. It takes 40 minutes

to go across the width of that state. It's not

about width, it's about north and south. It's

not about width, it's about girth, Mike. I'm

sure you've heard that. There it is. I was getting

ready to say. Girth is the new width. was working

out deals, trades and stuff like that through

the bulletin board, you know, anxiously awaiting

huge boxes of stuff through my student mailbox.

And it was interesting times. And then, you know,

discovered eBay and just kept on going from there.

So it started in 82 and it's just never stopped.

What about you, Gary? My first Joe was a straight

arm snake eyes and a the howl. with Grand Slam.

And that kind of just started the whole thing.

It was right before Christmas. I said, hey, I

need more of these. And by the end of that Christmas,

I had all the figures and all the vehicles. Hasbro,

as they mentioned, a regular guest of our program,

Kirk from one of the former heads of the brand

back at Hasbro, Kirk Bazigian. said that you

know what they i know i i practice that just

for you i and and for kirk you know just just

so you can say some guys name right but anyways

the the the idea of the joe line at launch was

that you could own one of everything for under

a hundred dollars so i'd at the end of the launch

i had one of everything so there we go i was

i dabbled in star wars i believe i had all of

a new hopes toys for the first time or for the

for the first movie quote unquote at the time

i had most of empire strikes back but again it's

it came down to more realism for me it's like

wow it's an m16 and then i was like oh there's

an uzi well what's an uzi and i opened up a encyclopedia

and you can read about an uzi or a grenade launcher

bazooka and it's like okay these are all real

world items uh rock and rolls carrying an m60

machine gun you could read about that as something

that you could see a real picture of and that

that turned me on to to say that you know there

this is this is our future possibility with like

military gij was always set a little bit into

the future and then much like justin once i got

a hold of the comic books good night over uh

just there was a whole larry hamill world of

Of his of his mind and his fiction and his vision

of GI Joe and I was pretty much hooked from there

on out So what I don't think we've ever covered

this on our show so we'll give you a little we'll

give you a little What's on Joe mine exclusive

content here? Yes, Justin. What was your first

issue of the comic book? Technically, well, I

had that treasury edition of of issue number

one, which I still have but as far as as and

then my my history with the comic is really weird

because I I didn't buy it regularly every month

until issue 31 But when I read the treasury edition,

you know I made several trips down to various

comic stores to pick out kind of scattered issues

here and there and then I I Sears back in the

day back in the 80s used to sell these comic

like packs like you would just order these boxes

of random comics and I happen to get 26 and 27

and like 30 the 31 that I mentioned in like 33

I think and then immediately ran to my local

general store found 31 on the shelves there too

and just and bought them from 31 up so technically

my first issue was that treasury issue of of

issue number one but um then I kind of sporadically

jumped in and out until issue 31 and then from

there on it was You know, ongoing. How about

you, Gary? Issue number 16, Night Attack. It's

not my favorite issue. It's my first. My favorite

issue remains at number 11, though. 16's a pretty

cool issue. 16 is really cool. Ironically, it's

the debut of Cover Girl. Yep. Gary, the bane

of Gary's existence, Cover Girl. I think, why?

He doesn't like women. I don't know if he does.

If that was the case, he wouldn't be married.

Does Debbie know about that, Gary? Oh, I'm sorry.

Gary, go ahead and describe your feud with Covergirl.

It was that non -scientific vote that Hasbro

and Devil's Do did back... what year was that?

2005? 2006? It was 2006. Yeah, I think 06 is

when the figure was out, so I think the vote

probably happened in 05. Hasbro was coming out

with these comic packs, and the fans said, hey,

you need to do one for Devil's Dew, who was doing

a comic at the time. And Hasbro finally said,

OK, yeah, we'll do one, and came out with a list

of six different, five different combinations

of the three pack. And one had the new Serpentor,

one had This is why I vividly remember obviously

one one was cover girl one had the new serpent

or with the new armor and one had race Which

was the new villain they came up with at the

time? Which was super badass is like the first

new badass villain. They come out with really

since Probably Destro major blood Zartan somewhere

in there. It's been a while, but this this was

a really cool villain Who else today they had

a heart wrencher? Yeah, like some Cobra coil

versions of like Xandar I think and Firefly or

something. So they put it up all the votes although

you could never see the totals and Then all of

a sudden the vote was over and then the winner

was announced cover girl It was the it was a

cover girl spirit spirit cover girl and Hannibal

which was one of the offspring of Serpentor It

was a really strange set of circumstances. They

had all these packs that were, like, really highly

desirable characters, but probably would have

been pretty expensive to build. And then they

had this one selection that had some really...

Like, Cover Girl was the only one that all the

fans seemed to really want. But Ed used a lot

of reused tooling and stuff, and kind of mysteriously

that pack won. Although, like Gary said, they

would never give you any running totals or anything.

It was kind of a matter of, oh, trust us, this

is the one you guys voted for. And meanwhile,

it had Covergirl, which a lot of people were

looking for, but then it had Hannibal, which

was like this random teenager from one storyline

about Serpentor that really didn't make any sense.

And then it had Spirit in kind of a new uniform,

which was then repainted and re -released the

next year. So it just seemed like kind of a weird,

bizarre set of circumstances. and on top of that

it seemed like almost overnight almost overnight

they had the prototypes up and ready to show

right yeah exactly usually when toy production

takes about a year they these mysteriously were

ready almost immediately so you're saying that

they rigged the vote i'm not saying there was

a conspiracy but i'm saying there's a conspiracy

sounds like it's such a such a bad issue the

comic too It was! It was, really. Just terrible.

They recast Covergirl as Scarlet Light, they

recast Spirit as Snake Eyes Light, and then they

threw a bunch of kids in it who you never saw

again. Exactly. And really, Hannibal was like,

was one out of what, like 12 kids or something,

and he doesn't, you know, he's just some random

teenager, some kid in like a leather jacket and

grey pants. He was only notable because he was

the one that you saw again, right? He never saw

any of the other level But for myself my brother

and I kind of we kind of shared the comics for

a long time He's got him. He's got most of those

early ones now, but we were actually got on the

board with the comic book at number five Yeah,

my first exposure to Joe's were from Rob tanks

for the memories tanks for the memories And a

nice standalone issue to get started on, too,

when you're a kid. Your kid is awesome. It's

a perfect issue. Yeah. Because I'll be honest,

when we saw the, you know, I know it was groundbreaking

to see the commercials for the comic book back

in 1982. But I remember seeing those. And I remember

looking over at Rob and we both kind of were.

We kind of came to the conclusion we weren't

mature enough to to to to describe it this way

But you know the general feeling was wow that

seems a little desperate doesn't it? Like it

was just it was so much hype that neither of

us were buying it like it was just past what

our hype meters could handle even at that age

and then we when we went we went to church in

New York, there was a drugstore across the street

and Rob would sometimes pick up a comic book

there and They had just cancelled Team America

and So instead he bought GI Joe and the love

affair was born His the first exposure I had

to the toys were actually his as well. He got

a flash of snake eyes and a cobra trooper with

money from his paper route and Then about two

weeks later. I got the sub for him on his paper

route So I took the money and ran to the local

Woolworths and with my grandma I got stalker

and a Cobra officer That is your exclusive content

The origins if Cobra commander Destro and Baroness

put guns to all three of your heads and said

choose your favorite comic series of GI Joe What

company series would you pick and why? Gary Geez

I mean, I think we just all hinted at it talking

about early issues of Marvel that that first

Marvel was great Marvel Marvel's run up into

the 120s 130s was pretty good 140s and 150s got

a little weird and then they cut it off after

a while and they've IDW and Larry Hama and Shannon

have done an awesome job with this this new series

they've done, the continuation, the 155 plus.

But I would say Marvel, by far, no doubt, certainly

the first 120, 125 issues were just awesome.

Mike? I don't think it's a big insult to Larry

to say Marvel now, because essentially him and

Shannon are there to recreate Marvel. And I don't

think that would bother either of them. So long

as Larry is around to wish us a happy Arbor Day

But so that's a that's another that's another

Another inside joke for the long time listeners,

but I yeah there have been the the end of Nothing

ticks me off worse than I I didn't think it was

anything was gonna tick me off worse than the

middle part of Devil's Do when they took the

book away from Brandon Jurwa. Except the end

run of Devil's Do, which was just horrific. Rushed.

Rushed. Rushed is being kind. I am being kind.

Yeah, but Justin, you go ahead. But yeah without

a doubt it's the Marvel stuff and it's um, it's

you know, like Gary said once it got to the one

130s 140s it kind of fell off the rails but it

the amazing thing is if you sit back and look

at it, you know, I 130 issues of a comic that's

over ten years. So that's like ten years of really

Great great comic writing from Larry Hama back

in the 80s and yeah, there was ups and downs

throughout those ten years But there's a little

hell of a lot more good than there was bad So

I think that's pretty remarkable that he was

able to take a toy property That was essentially

being seen as something just kind of cast off

on somebody and do something amazing with it

for a full decade. And so without a doubt, it's

the Marvel series that gets my vote. But I will

also echo Gary and say that what Larry and Shannon

Galant have done in recent issues of IDW's Surreal

American Hero continuation has been phenomenal

as well. But holding a gun to my head, Marvel

gets it all the way. We've got to get Shannon

back on the show. Yes, we should. With with the

Marvel that in the 130s they were doing some

kind of a ninja BAT and Cobra commander return

and then in the the late 130s and Part of the

140s. They had the Transformers generation to

introduction. Yes, and then they know the wonder

they went downhill and then and then they did

the the Cobra commander and mindbender brainwashing

everybody and his kid and Destro and Baroness

and their transforming castle and He got this

battle armor to fight Snake Eyes and still got

his ass handed to him. Well, and then the whole

G .I. Joe and tiny letters featuring Snake Eyes

and big letters across the front. Yeah, that

got a little old after a while, too. Yep. Yep.

What other books are... Because I'm kind of at

some point looking to get into the IDW stuff.

What other stuff is IDW doing with Joe? Currently?

Yeah, because I'm not... I'm not a guy that likes

the old stuff. I've learned so many bad lessons

with Transformers. Transformers comics that were

Marvel were terrible. Like, I'm not gonna lie.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. There are certain

stories that are good in there, but most of it

is just haphazardly thrown together. Because

it changed writers so often throughout that.

And the G .I. Joe ones I found that I actually

enjoyed more of the Marvel run of that than I

did the Transformer run. Yeah, I think if you're

looking for IDW stuff I mean if you haven't checked

out the the Cobra title then that's definitely

something you got to check out It's not currently

still being published. But if you can get some

some trade paperbacks Definitely go and look

up Mike Costa and Christus gauge and Antonio

Fuso's run on Cobra which you know is kind of

the focus of the bad guys a little bit but there's

some plenty of gejo action as well it's a landmark

series one of the best gejo reads uh... i've

ever read aside from marvel stuff really adamant

that you don't want to give give the marvel stuff

a shot i would focus on cobra beyond that eight

have a hard time really recommending something

wholeheartedly. IDW has done some good stuff.

Robert Adkins has done the art chores and some

of the main G .I. Joe titles from a couple years

ago and the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow title.

I really love what Robert Adkins does. Some really,

some pretty cool stuff mixed in there, but nothing

that has made the impact that Marvel did and

nothing that has made the impact that Cobra did.

There right now actually currently isn't a main

GI Joe title from IDW. It's taken a little bit

of a hiatus throughout the summer. It's going

to be coming back in September. So if you're

looking to read something GI Joe oriented, September

might be a good time to jump back on board and

kind of see what the new main title is all about.

We don't know a whole lot about it yet. But it's

supposed to be kicking off then. But if you're

looking for something relatively recent, I would

say look for some collections of the Cobra title.

That's going to be some fantastic reading. Yeah.

I mean, I'm not completely opposed to looking

at the G .I. Joe Marvel stuff. I just know from

looking at other stuff in general that anything

beyond anything 1995 and past, I don't care for.

I just it's not the stories. It's not the right.

It's the art. The art in some of the old stuff

is just for my taste. It's just not for me at

all Yeah, I think it yeah, I mean there's Really

for the classic GI Joe title I think you know

the once Rod Wiggin kind of picked up the torch

which was in the late 20s early 30s There was

a stretch for a good few years that the art was

spectacular But if you go back too much further

you start into Mike Vosburg Herb Trimpy, and

I love both of those guys. They were great for

their eras, but if you're looking at that artwork

these days, there's definitely something that

doesn't really resonate with the more current

art styles. Herb Trimpy was a guy whose heyday

was drawing Hulk in the 60s. Right. And that's

kind of why he got the gig on G .I. Joe is that

he had drawn a lot of army guys and a lot of

tanks. his work with with the joes they're a

little a little generic looking yeah and and

and it's just again it's just what he's used

to drawing if you're drawing a bunch of guys

fighting the hulk well yeah the military guys

tended to look pretty generic because he got

the gig because he could draw a lot of them uh

and and make them look believable and and it

was kind of the same deal with gi joe only there

was no hulk running around uh mike vosberg's

a little He's kind of a transitional guy. He's

almost a little cartoony. It's very stylized

It is and it worked for some characters and it

didn't work for some others like his his His

interpretations of dr. Venom and Quinn I think

Go a long way towards. Yeah. I mean those are

what those characters are in our mind Yeah, he's

really the only one that got to draw them and

but And, you know, some characters like Snake

Eyes did pretty well and Hawke did pretty well.

But, you know, some other characters, not so

much, you know. Short Fuse, I remember in particular,

kind of looked like a gorilla in a green sweater.

Nobody cares about Short Fuse. I mean, nobody

cared anyway, but honestly, I'm not going to

start caring because he looks like a gorilla

in a green sweater. so yeah, when when wigum

picks up it really goes on and Justin the names

escaping me who picked up after Rod Wiggum who

had a good long run after him I know MD bright

did a lot of stuff But now I don't think he picked

up right after Rod Wiggum. There was wigum. There's

Ron Wagner. There was Ron Wagner. That's what

I'm thinking There's a bunch of them kind of

know that we're all pretty phenomenal enough

and a fun little piece of trivia for folks who

aren't aware Herb Trimpy while he was drawing

the incredible walk actually drew issue number

181 and 180 which was the first appearance of

Wolverine so Herb Trimpy drew the first ever

comic appearance of Wolverine Yeah, when we had

Herb and Larry at the at the same con in in New

Orleans, I think so. Yeah It was so I was I was

joking with with one of these guys that we were

actually sitting at Wolverine con That's true.

Hamill wrote them for ever and ever and Trimpy

drew the first appearance All right, let's go

around the table this time for the cartoons.

What is each of your favorite cartoon series

for Joe Gary? You say Sigma 6 I'll punch you

right through the internet Oh Well, uh, it's

it's it's multi -answered here I remember rushing

home as a kid to watch the mass device when that

first came on The first miniseries and then after

watching that and said hey that has nothing to

do with the comic I was a little disappointed

but still I love the mass device. That was the

old the first Sunbow miniseries Renegades despite

Everything is everyone says that's bad about

it. There's a lot of good and renegades and the

the resolute cartoon I thought was a whole lot

of fun as well So I it's multifaceted there I

hit three areas But those are the three particular

series or at least the miniseries and then res

renegades and resolute I had a I had a fun time

watching those Mike second season of Deke I think

if I'm going to take a grand champion, I've got

to take the Sunbow. Again, part of its nostalgia,

the wide variety of characters that you saw.

It filled a lot of holes. I mean, part of when

you have a toy line as big as GI Joe, you've

got a lot of characters. And the cartoon kind

of helped fill in some of those holes in Playtime.

Like you didn't necessarily want to stop and

think of think of your own of a of a personality

for everybody so sometimes it just it made a

lot of sense just to take the shipwreck from

from tv and and that was the voice of your your

ship that's how you played shipwreck you know

um and there were a lot of guys like that um

but um i will say that my visually speaking uh

my favorite was resolute I think the character

design there for those characters were just outstanding

if the story was a little lacking. And Renegades

would probably have a much stronger run at the

top spot, but it just didn't run long enough.

Yeah. Damn shame they won't bring that back.

What about you, Justin? Unlike the other two,

I'm not going to be wishy -washy and give all

three answers. I will actually pick a clear...

clear winner, and to me the clear winner is Renegades,

even though it didn't stick around that long.

I thought it did a great job telling the G .I.

Joe story, had a nice mixture of Sunbow and comic

histories, really nice character -driven plot,

and the animation was great, and no complaints

at all. I thought Renegades is definitely my

favorite overall G .I. Joe animated series that

I've ever seen. Why do you hate America, Justin?

One final thing for Steve wraps this up. Rise

or retaliation? Argument go. The movies. We got

you there, but who do you want to start? Whoever.

Gary, I guess you can go first. Which movie is

better? Rise of Cobra or Retaliation? Yeah. Okay.

Well, before even Mike says it, because I know

what Mike's going to say about Rise of Cobra,

it wasn't a bad movie because it made a ton of

money. I still had a blast watching both, but

my most favorite is retaliation. I think the

star power ratcheted up a bit with The Rock and

Bruce Willis. John McClane. Yeah. Well, yeah.

Let's call it what it is. John McClane. The star

power there was phenomenal. The fact that GI

Joe retaliation is their largest Opening movie

they've ever had those two guys Says something

now a lot of people tend to overlook that because

they didn't like the movie for this or like the

movie for that But you cannot that is not chump

change we're talking about that That's the highest

grossing opening day movie that both of those

guys have ever had and they're just huge stars

in their own right So I had a bunch of fun Watching

that I had a ton of fun of us reporting up to

its launch talking with John Chu the whole nine

yards that that whole lead up to retaliation

and getting a chance to watch it was a whole

lot of fun and very memorable and I'll never

forget it. Mike? Pretty much the same reasons,

retaliation. I liked Rise of Cobra. I think other

people liked Rise of Cobra too. I think we tend

to forget being as far into this as we are, that

maybe these movies didn't do fans every bit of

service that they wanted, but That's the problem

with fanboys is that so long as it differs from

their version, they're not happy with it. I think

the dollars speak for themselves. I think everybody

who saw these movies kind of came away from them

thinking, yeah, that was at least pretty cool

without thinking too hard about them and making

for just a fun movie going experience. Yeah,

I mean retaliation was just a it was more complete

effort and it was nice having our little piece

of it as well and And that's that's that it's

kind of nice that we actually have a movie where

Duke stays dead He's not dead. He's not dead.

He isn't hiding He's not dead I said that from

the beginning it is the universe with nanomites

and tiny tiny robots which they didn't utilize

in the second film. True. But they'll bring it

back. Justin, what about you? They're not keeping

Duke and the Baroness on the sidelines again.

Retaliation was just a better movie. It was a

more complete movie, I thought. More action,

better acting, that type of thing. That being

said, I do think Rise of Cobra told a kind of

larger scale G .I. Joe story a little bit better,

but... But Retaliation is still absolutely the

better of the two movies. Alright Steve, take

it away. So, with everything that's gone on with

G .I. Joe, where do you see the future of What's

on Joe Mind? I quit. Damn! There's that over

our heads right now. Shouldn't the guy that isn't

here be saying that? No, he was fired No, we're

still having ongoing additions for the fourth

chair I Think we're still near up in the air

on that in terms of who's gonna be the fourth

chair. Oh We're still making episodes as Applicable,

I mean we at the very start we're making them

once a week every week and now it was you know

once every couple weeks and now it's about once

a month and it's not like We're slowing down

and just there's not that much to report on really

as this movie new movie starts kicking up and

New toy line and everything. I would imagine

that hole is gonna that that whole thing is gonna

pick up again So I would imagine that there's

there's plenty of good content. We got a 100th

episode on the horizon We're looking at some

changes for some doing some rebranding and that

type of thing. So I think the future is good

And there's still plenty of room for growth.

The numbers have been kind of up and down. They've

been on another upward swing again. So I think

the next 25, next 30 or so are certainly bright

as we go into episode 100 and into this next

movie. Sounds good. Where can the guys? Where

can the listeners check you guys out Twitter

Facebook? all that good stuff where can they

get the podcast other than obviously iTunes but

We're everywhere, baby You might go well, I don't

know first we're on iTunes we are on stitcher

stitcher ish on the radio We are We are on podbean,

whatsonjomind .podbean .com. Mostly if you go

to Justin's site at generalsjoes .com and just

follow the links there and you'll find our show

one place or another. As far as social media,

we do have a show, singular show fan page for

What's on Joe Mine on Facebook. We do keep our

individual Twitter accounts. Justin's is at Generals

Joe's It's more more to do with the site. Gary's

is at Gary God. So Chuck is at Chuck dog 1999

Mine is at Mike here is area one Most of what

we tweet about Generally has something to do

with some realm of geekery be it the show be

at GI Joe be it You know, what we watched on

TV, really, we don't, our show is not, I think

the strength of our program is we're not 100

% G .I. Joe all the time. And so, you know, if

you're just wanting to contact us, if you just

got to, you just hear something you like and

you want to react to that, and it has nothing

to do with G .I. Joe whatsoever, we will still

take you. We can't promise you you'll be entertained

the whole time. But we will still answer your

tweets, and we'll still welcome you in as part

of the family. Of course, whatsonjomineatgmail

.com Well yeah, whatsonjomineatgmail .com. We

got a voicemail. Nobody ever leaves us voicemail.

Gary, what's our voicemail number? I don't know.

Dammit, Gary! That's probably why nobody leaves

us voicemail. It's mentioned on every bumper

that we have on our... Nobody listens to the

bumpers! That means no one listens to the Geekcast

Radio Network bumpers. Nobody listens to the

bumpers! 262 -515 -WOJM. Alright, next... They

hear Blanchard get on there and start talking

about all these shows and 65 episodes about the

second season of Mask and... Everybody starts

like oh my god, that's that's they start getting

into the split seconds with those don't they

and their eyes glaze over and the drool starts

to come They're not listening to this voicemail

number Yeah, don't even get me started on that

show cuz the day you want to talk about a painful

show I'd rather sit through sigma -6 and sit

through what I'm doing with mask right now Yeah

It's that painful. See, I really only remember

the first season of M .A .S .K. and I enjoyed

it. I'm telling you, dude. The theme song is

the best part. Yes. The theme song and the very

first assembling of the team are the two best

parts of the show. Well, yeah. We are currently

at, we just, after a two year hiatus, we just

started M .A .S .K. Mayhem back up and we're

on like the 40th or 41st episode in season one

and it is so bad. My god, oh, maybe that's just

it. I think anyways moving on Alright, um, so

there you go. I'm sure I'll put an ad in here

for what's on Joe mine So you can actually get

their information? Without them forgetting what

their information is way to come prepared to

a podcast guys. Um Chuck had that information

who was supposed to invite Chuck I don't think

I could have sat here for the last hour. Anyway,

coming up next on Geekcast Radio, it's episode

68, continuing the Syndication Nation spotlight.

This time, we're going to have Star Joe's Ryan

and Star Joe's Chuck for the Star Joe's episode

coming up next. And then after that, an episode.

Huh, what? The flag point guys? No. Ask them

about the running gags that we've started on

their show. Oh yes, definitely. Oh lord. Okay,

I will, I will. Ask Chuck about his RHP. Oh god.

Somehow I don't want to know. No you don't, you're

right. Alright, until next time, unleash the

geek in you and we will catch you later. Hey,

I'm Gary. I'm Mike. I am Chuck. And I'm Justin.

Join the four of us every week on the internet's

number one and longest -running G .I. Joe podcast,

What's On Joe Mind? It's Joe news, reviews, and

interviews like you've never heard them before,

delivered right to your MP3 player. Our guests

include Jason Marsden, Kevin Michael Richardson,

and Matt Yang King from G .I. Joe Renegades,

Larry Hama, Robert Adkins, and John Barber from

IDW Publishing, and many more from around the

online Joe community. Yeah, it's guys talking

about Joe. Think of it as Joe Talk meets Sports

Talk, and we make fun of Chuck. Right, and we,

hey, again? Come on, Chuck. We're just kidding,

kinda. Sometimes Chuck makes fun of himself.

Right, and we... Okay, seriously, this is just

getting ridiculous now. It's What's on Joe Mind

every week on the Geekcast Radio Network. Inside

Pulse .com, Stitcher Smart Radio, and iTunes.

Download and listen today. I suppose I still

can't say something about Transformers, can I?

Good grief. What about sports? Yeah, that's alright.

You've just listened to Geekcast Radio on the

Geekcast Radio Network. There are several ways

to get in contact with us or leave feedback for

the show. First, visit the website geekcastradio

.com, where you can comment on all of our different

podcasts. Second, you can rate our show and leave

us feedback in iTunes. Third, follow us on Twitter

at Geekcast Radio. Four. Become a fan on Facebook.

Go to Facebook .com slash Geekcast Radio. Call

the voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. Please remember

to tell us the show you are leaving the message

for and your name. So until next time, unleash

the geek in you.