The Rise of Cobra
Perspective: This ain’t your daddy’s G.I. Joe. For that matter, this probably ain’t your G.I. Joe. Come to think of it, I’m not sure whose G.I. Joe this is, exactly. I am an avid G.I. Joe fan; I followed the comics and played with the toys all through the 80′s, never missed an episode of the cartoon, and jumped feet first into the nostalgic revival in 2001.
I’ve been waiting for this movie a long time.
Background: The Hasbro property enjoyed the bulk of its popularity in the 80′s, beginning as a highly successful and still wildly collectible toy line. The Marvel comic book series soon followed, mostly under the pen of Larry Hama; a half-hour tv series little more than an extended toy advertisement eventually produced an animated film that only fueled the Joe-mania sweeping the country at that time. After that particular version of the franchise petered out in the early 90′s, Hasbro attempted to revive the property several times with varying degrees of success.
In 2001, Hasbro anticipated a wave of nostalgia and licensed Devil’s Due to produce a new line of comics that would build from the existing Marvel continuity. Issue #1 hit the stands the week before 9/11.
Although military fiction did not experience quite the revival it might have otherwise expected, the Hasbro property has been in more or less continuous circulation since then. Devil’s Due lost the license in 2008 and IDW picked it up. IDW then launched a complete reboot of the property, ignoring the Marvel/Devil’s Due continuity and beginning from the ground up.
The Rise of Cobra isn’t their movie either.
Media Junkie rates it:
