Devil's Due needs GI Joe

Devil's Due needs GI Joe; upcoming comic hilarity
Topic Started: Sep 26 2008, 11:30 AM (98 Views)
Dominic Guglieme	Sep 26 2008, 11:30 AM Post #1
the human MICROscope!! Posts: 2,084 Group: Reviewers Member #5 Joined: February 9, 2007 Gender male Favorite Collectable Transformers	I think I am turning Japanese. Failing that, I am going otaku. ("Otaku" is the Japanese term for guys like me who like comics and such.) It is not enough that I make a just about weekly trip to the comic store. Now, on the way home, I stop off at the Porter Square Mall (functionally part of Lesley University), and grab some dinner at a restaurant designed to resemble a Japanese short-order place....in a food court with a generally Asian theme. So, there I am, each week, sitting in a small eaterie, ordering a chicken and curry rice bowl, wearing a rumpled shirt, bespectacled, and perusing the latest issue of Comic Shop News. I may give up the food part of my "Otaku's Night Out" when the weather gets colder, as I like to walk off the rice by strolling from Union to Sullivan Square. (This is about 2 miles.) In any case, this week's CSN cannot match the hilarity of the Fall Preview from last week. The Fall Preview was loaded with unintentiaonal hilarity that rivals the hilarity of "Image United" in concept. No, I am not talking about Antarctic's Vampire/Yeti comic. No, I am talking about......DDP's newest military fiction offering, "The Corps!" Partial credit for this rant goes to Zab, aka Hardsoul. When I looked at DDP's listings in the fall Preview of CSN, I noticed some of the desperation on the part of the former license holder for "GI Joe". Put simply, DDP is in real trouble. When they lost "GI Joe", they lost one of their most viable licenses. ("Dungeons and Dragons" is not bad, but most of that is just rehashing novels that many D&D fans have already read.) DDP is so desperate, that they brought back "Voltron", the first license they discarded back in '02. So, why is DDP publishing "The CORPS!" so hilarious? Well, as Zab noted, "The CORPS!" is the most famous line manufactured by Lanard, a company known for manufacturing knock-offs of various Hasbro brands. (Here is the link to their corporate page. It is a bit out-dated. But, see if you can spot the knock-offs of your favorites. www.lanard.com ) I saw the name, "The CORPS!" and thought nothing of it. While talking to Zab on the phone, I told him about some of the funnier bits in CSN, and mentioned this new book that DDP was publishing. He laughed, and asked if it was based on the toy line of the same name. I told him that I did not know, but I doubted it. I conceded it would be funny, but doubted it was the case. Given that he was working at robotzone.com, he decided he may as well look up DDP's page. And.....it looks like DDP is in fact publishing a comic based on a toy-line that is a shabby knock-off of the franchise DDP just lost the license for. Let's walk through this, shall we? DDP kicked off the retro-80s craze in comic back in '01 by relaunching "GI Joe". Shortly after that, they relaunched "Voltron" and "Micronauts". DDP quickly lost faith in "Voltron" and "Micronauts". They cancelled "Voltron" in the middle of an arc. (Several years later, they released a compilation that included the missing chapters.) They fumbled "Micronauts" with a series of pointless re-numberings....before just cancelling it. Because renumbering worked so well with "Micronauts", DDP tried it with "GI Joe"...and it failed. I am not going to rehash every mis-step from DDP's "GI Joe" run. Some of this is simply because I have done that already in other entries. But, there is also the fact that it is not more important to look forward, towards DDP's next desperate flailing gesture. DDP is publishing comics based on a knock-off of "GI Joe" known for being good largley for spare parts. Okay, one more time: 1) DDP gets GI Joe license. 2) DDP runs license into the groung. 3) DDP loses the "GI Joe" license. 4) DDP prepares to publish a comic based on a knock-off toy-line derived from "GI Joe". DDP is as such a loss for ideas that they are.....publishing a comic that is based on a property that they just lost the license for. Are they thinking...."comics based on military toys are money-makers with a built in fan-base?" Oh boy, it will be fun watching DDP get dis-abused of that notion. My lord, DDP is publishing "The CORPS!" after losing "GI Joe". Damn, this is funny. Dom -notes that there is no Lanard line ripping off "Transformers"....and is not sure how to feel about that.
	Keep it local. The healthiest leper in the colony is still very very sick. www.theanimalrescuesite.com


viper commander	Sep 27 2008, 10:10 AM Post #2
Mercenary, Assassin Posts: 862 Group: Collectors Member #1,072 Joined: January 24, 2008	Maybe they can do a Go-bots comic if the Corps don't work out for them.
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Dominic Guglieme	Sep 29 2008, 01:40 PM Post #3
the human MICROscope!! Posts: 2,084 Group: Reviewers Member #5 Joined: February 9, 2007 Gender male Favorite Collectable Transformers	No dice there. Hasbro owns GoBots. Dom -bets you did not expect your joke to turn out even funnier for being completely impossible.
	Keep it local. The healthiest leper in the colony is still very very sick. www.theanimalrescuesite.com


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