Meet the new Joes! Back when I was a teenage Marvel Zombie, I actually bought Marvel Age, the all-house-ad comic, every month. Somehow I missed this issue, and I’m bummed that I did, since I also missed the oddly colored (and named) new Joes inside. Hot Spot?
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It’s been a while since I’ve featured a cover. If you remember, with these entries I make sure not to check out what the inside of the book is about, and I often speculate wildly based on the title and/or the art. In the case of Operation: Robot Assassin, I can only imagine that the Joe team, led by the
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What could be a better 80s comics nostalgia blast than a GI Joe comic cover released as part of Marvel’s 25th Anniversary back in 1986? The special portrait covers still stand as some of my favorite Marvel covers, and even the Joe comic got in on the act. Judging by the illustration style, I think it’s done by Mike Zeck,
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Another Marvel Mighty Storybook, The Spy Eye tells the story of GI Joe agent Alan Brooks, who is sent to investigate a mysterious cloud that surrounds the quaint mountain town of Trollenberg. Along the way, he meets two psychically linked sisters, one of whom finds herself strangely drawn by a strange force to the mountain. What could be lurking in
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Admit it, folks–this is how you’ve always wanted to see Destro: standing in a huge pile of cash. The only thing missing here is the Pimp Daddy suit. What a joy. This Scholastic storybook tells that tale of Destro’s theft of the US Government’s new $100 printing plate. What will happen now that Destro is rich enough to (as the
Read moreHere’s an oddly sedate cover for a coloring book. Lady Jaye, Mainframe and Roadblock staking out what appears to be a Cobra submarine base. Not exactly the bombastic cover of Marvel issue #1, is it? How can you produce an action coloring book and not have one single person on the cover flying at the viewer? Oh well, maybe the
Read moreComic book covers often utilize exaggerated and fanciful depictions of scale for effect. I thought that was the case here, but apparently that’s meant to be an actual tiny Hawk in danger of being flattened by the comparatively huge fist of Cobra Commander. Guess I should have read the title from the get-go. These Marvel-produced coloring books seem to have
Read moreCould this book manage to cram much more cool into its cover? First off, you’ve got the good Dr. Mindbender proudly flaunting a chest and ab combo that would make any crazed orthodontist envious. Next, there’s Zartan, whose appearance is always welcome, even when his chestplate is depicted more like a stainless steel banded halter top than the traditional belly
Read moreDestro and Dr. Mindbender abscond from a well lit tomb with a mummy who is…alive? Talk about sensationalistic. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to sell comics. In all seriousness, I love one eye peeking out of the bandages. The audaciousness reminds me of American International horror/sci-fi posters of the 50s-60s, in which the actual content of
Read moreNinjas and tigers in the jungle–how much cooler could a book cover get? Not much, unless maybe Snake Eyes was riding a shark. And how’s this for artistic license? Check out both Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. Both appear quite different from their toy, packaging, cartoon and comic book iterations of the time. Snake Eyes’ lack of bandolier reminds me
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