Help with IDW reading order

[turner]

I remember IDW did some origin stories for Zartan, Drednoks, etc. How do they fit with the ARAH run?

Almost positive they don't, just more re-imagined stuff. Kind of weird to me. Back when image / ddp started a comic it would have seemed a no brainer just to ask Hama to write an ongoing continuation. But they only included him in limited ways. Then idw started joe books, again it would seem the obvious thing to have Hama write them, but I got the impression letting him write the ongoing was treated more like a side idea, and the bulk of their offerings were just more reimagined (what I would call) junk. To be fair, I haven't read the idw stuff (read all the ddp though), but I'm just not interested in non Hama joe. He's the only person that knows these characters as 'real' people walking around in his head. And I don't appreciate the profanity in other joe books. Hama is a classy writer, he can tell a good story without resorting to bad language and such.

[turner]

Now ddp did a drednoks declassified that was not written by Hama and is now part of the alternate storyline 'disavowed'.

[seaneley]

I remember IDW did some origin stories for Zartan, Drednoks, etc. How do they fit with the ARAH run?

Horribly. I actually tried to do a time-frame that matched the original Marvel series. It doesn't work. Zarana and Zandar were born way too early; Zanya (Zartan's daughter) was born way too early to be 19 by the time DDP started their series; Buzzer was some sort of genetics professor, instead of a college major who was studying the "biker phenomenon" for his thesis (as per his file-card); all the Dreadnoks were portrayed as being part of the biker gang of an "original Zartan" - not the Zartan we know and love - (even though the Marvel run makes it clear that many of these characters were later additions and only a few knew each other previously as acquaintances); 1970s Russians have become "Rusnians" for some weird reason; I could go on-and-on.
Not only do I not recommend it, I don't even consider it DDP canon, and they wrote it! It's crap. I'd burn it if I wasn't a completist. Seriously...

[joechaplain]

Horribly. I actually tried to do a time-frame that matched the original Marvel series. It doesn't work. Zarana and Zandar were born way too early; Zarana (Zartan's daughter) was born way too early to be 19 by the time DDP started their series; Buzzer was some sort of genetics professor, instead of a college major who was studying the "biker phenomenon" for his thesis (as per his file-card); all the Dreadnoks were portrayed as being part of the biker gang of an "original Zartan" - not the Zartan we know and love - (even though the Marvel run makes it clear that many of these characters were later additions and only a few knew each other previously as acquaintances); 1970s Russians have become "Rusnians" for some weird reason; I could go on-and-on.
Not only do I not recommend it, I don't even consider it DDP canon, and they wrote it! It's crap. I'd burn it if I wasn't a completist. Seriously...

That certainly puts it in perspective! I had forgotten about the inconsistency in Buzzer's back story.

You probably saved me some time and money! Thanks!

[seaneley]

That certainly puts it in perspective! I had forgotten about the inconsistency in Buzzer's back story.

You probably saved me some time and money! Thanks!

You're welcome. By the way, I meant "Zanya" as Zartan's daughter, not "Zarana". I fixed the typo above in my earlier post...

[seaneley]

...And I don't appreciate the profanity in other Joe books. Hama is a classy writer, he can tell a good story without resorting to bad language and such.

I have to agree with you 100% on this! G.I. Joe was started as a kids' toy line for heaven's sake. It would be the equivalent of Disney lacing their fairy tales with profanity imho. Seriously, it's unneeded and cuts off a part of the major market Hasbro caters to: kids! I will not allow my children to read stories that are too mature yet. That's just part of being a smart parent. So, "mature Joe" is probably no-go for most responsible households, which defeats the whole point of a kids-based product. (scratches head)

[kraftbo]

Go the first five vols of IDW Classic G.I. Joe and i read the two first numbers last night. Amazing!!! It's so good to escape into that world again and still so much to discover

[turner]

I hear you, I've read the run three times I think You can really tell the few issues that Hama didn't write, I think there were like 6 or something out of the 155, with two of them being issue 153 and 154.