I Loved the Old Comics
You know, I don’t think there has been any version of the G.I. Joe universe that I’ve loved more than the old comics from Marvel. Larry Hama created some awesome storylines and to this day I don’t think any story arc springs to mind faster than the Cobra Island/Serpentor/Fall of the Pit chunk of the old run.
And what was really great about that time was that Marvel ran animated commercials for the comic. And the commercials are even mentioned as part of Hasbro’s initial G.I. Joe advertising campaign in John Michlig’s GI Joe: The Complete Story of America’s Favorite Man of Action when he writes:
“‘We don’t have a movie, but we do have ‘The Book,” Bacal said theatrically. he held in his hands a mock-up of a Marvel comic bearing a red, white, and blue GI Joe logo. ‘The way we’re going to create boys ‘hall talk’ at school is by advertising GI Joe, the book, in a sixty-second animated commercial.'”
Well, that may have been said in 1980/1981 but the idea was still in full-force by the time Serpentor was released, because this amazing commercial would have never been created if the idea had been dropped.
I know Serpentor is a dividing line for fans of the eighties Joes, but I am proud to admit that I’m on the side of “Love Serpentor” when it comes to that particular argument. But then I also like Golubulus, which I know is so very wrong, so don’t trust me.
And there is a box of comics downstairs proving that I did in fact need to know what happened next.
I just got the TPB of the old comics, so I will have to catch up. I don’t even remember these commercials. I don’t know if I “Love Serpentor,” but he doesn’t bother me at all. I still love G.I. Joe, even after Fatal Fluffies, cross dressing Snake Eyes, and Sgt. Slaughter, the only thing that almost killed it for me was G.I. Joe Extreme. Because of that toy line I just checked out of the Joe universe until I saw the Sigma 6 toys on the shelves and became interested again.
Larry Hama spoke in Toyfare magazine about another reasons why they did those comic book commercials: The FCC had regulations about making cartoons advertising toys. So Marvel and Hasbro worked a wrinkle that let them advertise the comic and not the toys… but they made sure each comic book commercial had plenty of new product on show for the kiddies 😉
Storm Shadow was added to the Serpentor mix in the comic, but I always wondered why Serpentor never used any ninja skills.