HOW OLD ARE THESE GUYS???????????

[Dreadnok4life]

It's a comic book, not the History Channel. Spiderman was in college for like 15 years. Either he is awful slow.. or Marvel didn't age him realistically. Personally they should have left him in college. The series jumped the shark when he married MJ. There was nowhere to go after that.

[TJH]

It's a fair question, and one that many of the responses have answered well: it is a comic, and we just have to let some things go.

It should be remembered, however, that G.I. Joe is vastly different from most other comics, especially fantasy. When you read a comic like Batman or Spiderman, the heroes had specific events happen to them in the past (like being bitten by a radioactive spider) but that event was not rooted to a specific time. Thus Spidey or Bats can always be 25 or thirty or whatever the comic wants them to be.

G.I. Joe is differnt. Like it or not, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett and Storm Shadow are the main charecters of G.I. Joe, with Snakes being the closest there is to the "star" of the series. (Larry Hama said this in an interview.) One of the most integral parts of SE's story is that he fought in Vietnam; that's where he met SS and Stalker, and when he came home his family was killed driving to the airport, and thus he began his ninja training. Unlike Spiderman, who could've been bitten by that spider in 1963, '73, or 2003, SE is specifically tied to Vietnam. That makes him, yes, 50 or 60, and it does the same for all his friends and enemies.

That's why Reloaded is such an intreaging idea. I don't particually like the comic that much, (I really like the main series) but at some point, if the age starts to bother you, it almost becomes nessasary.

[Graz73]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by TJH:
...G.I. Joe is differnt. Like it or not, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett and Storm Shadow are the main charecters of G.I. Joe, with Snakes being the closest there is to the "star" of the series. (Larry Hama said this in an interview.) One of the most integral parts of SE's story is that he fought in Vietnam; that's where he met SS and Stalker, and when he came home his family was killed driving to the airport, and thus he began his ninja training. Unlike Spiderman, who could've been bitten by that spider in 1963, '73, or 2003, SE is specifically tied to Vietnam. That makes him, yes, 50 or 60, and it does the same for all his friends and enemies.

That's why Reloaded is such an intreaging idea. I don't particually like the comic that much, (I really like the main series) but at some point, if the age starts to bother you, it almost becomes nessasary.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

TJH pretty much summed up what I would have said...
The joes in the ORIGINAL comic universe have to age to some degree... Because of the way Larry wrote the book back in the 80's, it's unavoidable. Even back in 82, most of the joes were already portrayed as seasoned veterans.

Reloaded is one way to avoid this problem resetting everyone to be young again and up to date, but it ALSO could be a really great way to let the aging progress continue in the original book.
For example, We can now read adventures of a young Snake Eyes in Reloaded, so why not let them him age and take on more of a Sensai role in the original universe? Other older joes can gradually retire or take desk jobs as the younger generation start going on the field missions more... (THis is already happening in the Devils Due comics to some extent) Maybe these younger characters will eventually rival the coolness of the older guys?

[yo-man2]

se could easily be tied to the gulf war, military actions in afg, kosovo, or any other real or fictional conflict

[Dreadnok4life]

G.I. Joe is differnt. Like it or not, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett and Storm Shadow are the main charecters of G.I. Joe, with Snakes being the closest there is to the "star" of the series. (Larry Hama said this in an interview.) One of the most integral parts of SE's story is that he fought in Vietnam; that's where he met SS and Stalker, and when he came home his family was killed driving to the airport, and thus he began his ninja training. Unlike Spiderman, who could've been bitten by that spider in 1963, '73, or 2003, SE is specifically tied to Vietnam. That makes him, yes, 50 or 60, and it does the same for all his friends and enemies.

You are correct. If Snake Eyes was a real person and had served in Vietnam, he would be at least 55 years old by now. However the problem many people have difficulty grasping is the Joe Universe and timeline is not the same as our timeline.

A month goes by between issues. Does that mean when a battle in the comic book takes place over two issues that it took a month for the battle to finish. Of course not. It's a comic book and the character's timeline does not relate to ours.

Maybe the Vietnam war occurred 12 years ago in the Joe Universe instead of the 30 years in ours. Maybe the entire Marvel run occurred over a 6 month period in the Joe timeline. Who knows.

Personally I want to see my favorite characters in their prime. As stated previously, who wants to see an old wrinkly Scarlett? I sure don't.

[Joe Camel]

I'm 24 years old,and I've been playing with Joes since I could walk. I've read comics,watched cartoons,and had countless battles in my living room,back yard,friends houses,etc. Not once have I ever worried about how old Snake Eyes would be if he actually existed,and when I'm 55,I still won't care because to me Snake Eyes will always be the middle aged badass who could take out a whole army by himself blindfolded and one hand tied behind his back. If he were anything else,he would'nt be Snake Eyes. Why would you even worry about something like that unless you were delusional,and actually thought Snake Eyes was your next door neighbor or something? Do you think the kids today growing up playing with G.I.Joes will ever wonder about such futile matters? I certainly hope not for the sake of keeping G.I.Joe around for THEIR kids to enjoy. Anything that ages has to die eventually. Is that what you want...you wanna see Snake Eyes die? YOU WANNA RUIN G.I.JOE? WHY DON'T YOU JUST BREAK INTO MY HOUSE AND HOLD A GUN TO MY HEAD AND SAY "HEY,WE'RE HERE TO TAKE YOUR CHILDHOOD FROM YOU." ...(cocks tranquilizer gun........SNAP!).....k sorry about that. I think to clear this up,us 20 and 30 year olds will have the comics of the 80's,and 90's to keep in our minds as what WE called G.I.Joe,even though the younger Joe fans will never know how excited we were about swivel arms,and that Snake Eyes served in Vietnam. If anything,they might get a new comic book altogether with a continuity that corresponds to their generation,and then we can ALL know that G.I.Joe is forever good versus evil..........and just for the record,even if Scarlett WERE 55,I'd still worship that redheaded hottie.

[foe hammer]

Snake Eyes may be 55 but ninjas can still fight when they are in their old age. Look at the Hard Master, and Soft Master. I think one of the things I never liked about the comic was none of the characters ever seemed to get better. Snake Eyes never really went to seek more ninja training. Ninjas dedicate themselves to bettering themselves. I think if things would have been done right Snake Eyes would be a better fighter at 55 than at 25. This is just a theory. I could handle a comic line with older joes who had been promoted and now trained new and younger joes. That would probably start a big commotion, but it would be pretty cool. Who knows, Snake Eyes could be a General. I don't think a timeline is necessary in comics, thats why they last so long. Eventually change is needed, but right now things are fine.

[thespar]

Going back to issue 1 of DD runs that what it looked like is was going to be.