The modern G.I. Joes you know well meet a member of the classic G.I. Joe Adventure Team and the original Joe–General Joe Colton–in IDW Publishing’s G.I. Joe–Snakes Eyes: Deadgame, first previewed here at borg last year in single issue form, and it’s now coming your way in a collected trade edition Tuesday. And although it has all the story elements Snake Eyes fans will be familiar with, this story is all about Rob Liefeld’s penciled artwork and a string of artistic talent that stepped in to ink Liefeld’s action-filled pages, including the likes of Neal Adams, Philip Tan, Kevin Eastman, Ed Piskor, Jerry Ordway, and Dan Panosian. You can look behind the scenes at the process for this pencil-ink partnership in a 48-page tie-in book, Snake Eyes: Deadgames Declassified, also available at comic shops and online here at Amazon. Diehard comic art fans will have fun identifying the inkers, although Eastman’s inked pages are particularly hard to miss.
Both The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Mummy were good reboots of franchises, one of a 1960s television series, the other intended to bring forward the Universal Studios Monsters for another generation, but the lack of attention by audiences brought the franchises to a standstill. Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe Origins, which premiered in theaters in July after a 16 month pandemic delay, is another good re-start of a franchise, and hopefully nothing stands in the way of Hasbro moving ahead with the planned G.I. Joe–Ever Vigilant, originally slated for a 2020 release.
Especially if you’re a fan of the comics and animated series versions of G.I. Joe, you won’t want to miss the home release of Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe Origins. It’s a solid film, faithfully explaining–as the titles states–the origin of G.I. Joe ace operative Snake Eyes. If you know the helmeted, silent ninja from the comics or animated show, you also know he is inextricably linked to that COBRA ninja in white garb, Storm Shadow; audiences will get the story of why each of these sworn brothers finds his way to opposing sides in the ongoing battle of good guys vs. bad guys. You won’t see any “kung fu grip,” although the Japanese martial arts choreographed fight scenes are well done, if toned down from more serious martial arts films. You also won’t yet learn why Snake Eyes goes silent–much is left for one or more sequels. But everyone does have “life-like hair.” And it may just leave you shouting, “Yo, Joe!” (That’s a good thing). Continue reading →
“Why are they advertising that Suicide Squad movie now? Didn’t it come out 5 years ago?”
A major gap in the now enormous industry of producing nine-figure, blockbuster superhero movies is that the movie studios are missing an opportunity to retain audiences. No doubt more than half of the audience for Avengers: Endgame, which earned nearly $2.8 billion at the box office, was from moviegoers that were merely passing fans of the MCU. Maybe they accompanied a spouse or a kid to the movie. Most probably had never read a comic book before or since. Studios today assume audiences will just show up for the spectacle. But are they right? Take the trailers for competing superhero movie studio DC Entertainment’s The Suicide Squad. Nothing in the movie trailers–the only glimpse most prospective moviegoers will see via their TVs–explains why there is another movie called The Suicide Squad. Do they think most TV viewers catching the commercial notice the addition of the “The” in the title? Do they assume everyone still reads a newspaper or online entertainment source and is going to make an effort to understand that this new movie is different than the universally panned Suicide Squad of 2016? Do they really think most prospective movie ticket buyers know or care who the director is?
Which is why it’s refreshing, and a wise move, to see Kevin Feige, mastermind behind all the Marvel Cinematic Universe, discussing the background for the latest new Marvel superhero in a new short feature clip for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
We got our first peek at Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringshere at borg this past April. The new, full-length trailer reveals a plot that has the feel of Wu Assassins, and only a few days since the Snake Eyes trailers, with Raya and the Last Dragon in theaters and on video, and a new Kung Fu series airing on TV, audiences are getting new opportunities to watch AAPI actors shine. While you’re in the vibe, don’t miss the live-action Mulan, the historical horror zombie seriesKingdom, the action movie The Night Comes for Us, the fantasy wuxia seriesLegend of the Condor Heroes, the animated movie Over the Moon, the supernatural graphic novelGhost Treeand Stan Sakai’sUsagi Yojimbo, the overview of martial arts in the movies in Iron Fists and King Fu Kicks, and the Bruce Lee documentary Be Water. Long-time comics readers will know Shang-Chi as the Master of Kung Fu from the pages of 1970s Marvel Comics by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. Originally the son of Fu Manchu, the character was an attempt by Marvel to create a monthly like the Kung Fu TV series after they failed in their bid to get the adaptation rights.
Check out the new trailer below for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:
With a release date only a month away, Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe Origins offers up two new trailers this week, a U.S preview focusing on Storm Shadow and a more action-packed look at the plot in an international trailer.Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe: Origins stars Henry Golding (The Gentlemen) as Snake Eyes, Andrew Koji (Fast & Furious 6) as Storm Shadow, Samara Weaving (Ready Or Not) as Scarlett, Úrsula Corberó (The Broken Crown) as Baroness, and Iko Uwais (Wu Assassins) as Hard Master. Paramount released the official movie poster plus first looks at Snake Eyes, Baroness, Scarlett, and more just last month (check that out here). Now you can take a look at all the key characters in action, and behind the scenes look with original comic book writer of G.I. Joe, Larry Hama:
With a release date a little more than 2 months away, Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe Origins is the next reboot of the Hasbro G.I. Joe movie series (after 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation), intended to be part of a shared universe of features based on Hasbro properties including a host of familiar characters and toys, all coming to the big screen: G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, ROM: Spaceknight, and Micronauts. Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe: Origins will star Henry Golding (The Gentlemen) as Snake Eyes, Andrew Koji (Fast & Furious 6) as Storm Shadow, Samara Weaving (Ready Or Not) as Scarlett, Úrsula Corberó (The Broken Crown) as Baroness, and Iko Uwais (Wu Assassins) as Hard Master. Paramount released the official movie poster plus first looks at Snake Eyes, Baroness, Scarlett, and more. Check out images from the movie below.
With a tentative release date in October 2021, Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe Origins is a reboot of the Hasbro G.I. Joe movie series (including 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation), intended to be part of a shared universe of features based on Hasbro properties including a host of familiar characters and toys, all coming to the big screen: G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, ROM: Spaceknight, and Micronauts. Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe: Origins will star Henry Golding (The Gentlemen) as Snake Eyes, Andrew Koji (Fast & Furious 6) as Storm Shadow, Samara Weaving (Ready Or Not) as Scarlett, Úrsula Corberó (The Broken Crown) as Baroness, and Iko Uwais (Wu Assassins) as Hard Master. While we’re waiting for the next movie, a new one-shot story from IDW Publishing called G.I. Joe: Castle Fall continues with characters drawn to conjure the casting of G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe Origins is a reboot of the Hasbro G.I. Joe movie series (2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA and 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation), intended to be part of a shared universe of features based on Hasbro properties including a host of familiar characters and toys, all coming to the big screen: G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand, ROM: Spaceknight, and Micronauts. Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe: Origins will star Henry Golding (The Gentlemen) as Snake Eyes, Andrew Koji (Fast & Furious 6) as Storm Shadow, Samara Weaving (Ready Or Not) as Scarlett, Úrsula Corberó (The Broken Crown) as Baroness, Iko Uwais (Wu Assassins) as Hard Master, and Peter Mensah (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Blind Master. Unfortunately most of these films are still in pre-production, but Snake Eyes–G.I. Joe Origins currently has a tentative release date of October 22, 2021.
But while you’re waiting for your Snake Eyes fix, check out this preview for G.I. Joe–Snake Eyes: Deadgame, a new IDW series by Rob Liefeld.
Start with the obvious comparison: Marvel’s Iron Fist. If you were disappointed with that series, get ready for what you probably wanted. It’s called Wu Assassins, and the ten episodes of the new direct-to-Netflix series arrived late this past summer. Wu Assassins weaves so much into its ten very different chapters of its storytelling, you’ll quickly find it’s not only an American attempt at a wuxia martial arts heroes show–it bends the genre into a supernatural, urban fantasy story with characters on the brink of their unique brand of apocalypse, with several Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Grimm parallels. And lots of lots of great hand-to-hand fight scenes. This may not measure up to being the next Buffy or a top Chinese tale like Legend of the Condor Heroes, but as a watch-alike, it far surpasses the Buffy spinoff Angel, as well as most of the Marvel Netflix series. If Netflix can pull together series like Wu Assassins, especially with absolute writing freedom and without the need to rely on some existing brand like DC or Marvel (or anything Disney), then its future is secured.
The world of Wu Assassins begins in our world today, as we meet Kai Jin, played by 36-year-old Indonesian actor and burgeoning martial arts pro, stuntman, and fight choreographer Iko Uwais. Kai is a young master chef who wants to own his own food cart in San Francisco’s Chinatown. This is a Chosen One story, and Kai is introduced to a world where the Chinese philosophy of wuxing is interpreted to rely on human masters of the elements of this world (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) who can exist both in this realm and a supernatural otherworld. In the middle of an already difficult life, Kai is tapped as the Wu Assassin and he is told by a bellwether and instructor from the otherworld named Ying Ying, played by Celia Au(Lodge 49, Iron Fist, Gotham), that he must kill the Fire Wu, who just happens to be Kai’s adoptive father, known by most as Uncle Six. He’s not just any dad, as Uncle Six, played masterfully by the scene stealing Byron Mann(The Expanse, Arrow, Smallville, Dark Angel), is also the head of the Chinese crime family, the Triads.
Kai’s Buffy-esque band of friends includes a restaurant owner named Jenny Wah (Li Jun Li, The Exorcist, Quantico), her drug-adled brother Tommy (Lawrence Kao, Sleepy Hollow, The Walking Dead), and Kai’s oldest friend Lu Xin (Lewis Tan, Iron Fist, Deadpool 2), who is a suave up-and-coming thief of high-end cars. Spliced into the story is a San Francisco cop played by The Vikings queen Katheryn Winnick, a badass on a motorcycle who knows her own street fighting and inadvertently witnesses the magic of the otherworld while undercover trying to bust gang activity at China Basin. These lead characters are just the beginning, as the series packs in a few seasons’ worth of ideas, and all of it is great fun.
