Off the back, Dixon explains, the series kicks off heavy on action and rittled with intrigued.
“The Joes learned, during what seemed like a routine mission, that there’s evidence of a global criminal conspiracy behind many of the gangs and terror cells they’ve encountered,” the writer reveals. “But all they have to go on is its name: COBRA.”
Oooh, creepy.
Not only that, Dixon continues, “in the first arc we’ll meet Destro, find that Snake Eyes is AWOL and see the The Pit under attack from an unknown enemy with a plan to destroy the Joes forever.”
Expanding on who fans can expect to see during role call in G.I. JOE #0 and the series launching this January, Dixon promises the return of many familiar faces with some new friends and a few surprises:
“Our core will be Duke’s hunter team which includes Beachhead, Torpedo, Flint, Ripcord and Rock N Roll. Scarlett’s here as head of Intel. We have a new Joe named Brainstorm. There’s General Hawk and a whole bunch of cameos in the opening arc. And Snake Eyes, of course. On the bad guy roles we have Destro and his people. Our first actual Cobra villain will have to be a secret for now.”
But while the players remain the same, the game has changed:
“The biggest (and coolest) change to the series is to start it over again in the period just prior to the Joes’ learning of the existence of COBRA.”
And while the serpent society plays a major role in the series under his pen, Dixon confesses that their ultimate motives will remain unseen.
“Their nature and their threat are a mystery to the Joes. COBRA’s influence as shadowy underworld organization will be revealed layer by layer over the run of the series. Each time the Joes think they’re seeing the Big Picture they’ll find out there’s more to COBRA than they suspected. COBRA has mind-blowing plans for this planet. But always as puppeteers and conspirators.”
Yet, while one might think recasting a villain from the past may hurt any surprise the book has planned, Dixon intends to take advantage of those expectations:
“We have the luxury of playing to an audience who is already conversant with the Joe universe. That means we can play to their expectations and familiarity in a different way. This means we’ll be dealing out COBRA in a series of dramatic reveals that really makes them more insidious and dangerous than they’ve been portrayed prior to this.”
“That said, everything that longtime fans love about the franchise is still in place,” Dixon assures. “We’re just at liberty to bring a freshness to it. This lets us intro the characters to new fans just coming in as well as giving old school fans plenty of “goosbump” moments.”
And part of creating those goosebumps comes from redefining G.I. JOE as a peace-keeping organization. Once well-known the world over, the team now operates under deep, deep cover.
“The way we’re playing it is that, as far as the grunts are concerned, the buck stops with General Hawk. They, and the readers, will not be let in on who Hawk takes his orders from. There’s no indication of how they’re funded or who they ultimately answer to. For now.”
On top of scripting the new monthly, Dixon also has the responsibility of setting the stage for the new G.I. JOE: RISE OF COBRA movie coming out summer ’09 from Paramount Pictures, writing a four-issue prequel, a project Dixon finds “a LOT of fun!”
“It’s basically where everyone was just before the movie begins,” Dixon adds. “There are a ton of surprises in the movie so the trick was to write stories that don’t provide spoilers but provide details of the four characters’ background. I hate spoilers myself so I was very careful.”
Expanding on the role of the miniseries, Dixon explains that each issue focuses on a different player from either G.I. JOE or COBRA and expands on their roles in the upcoming film:
“Each issue emphasizes a different character in action stories that set them up for their appearance in the movie. I’ve done Duke and Destro so far and had a blast. Duke’s on a shoot n’ scoot mission in a hostile jungle environment when things go wrong. Destro is doing an arms deal with some disreputable company who have no idea who they’re dealing with. We’ll have Snake Eyes in crazy ninja action and the Baroness in a wild heist story.”
And for fans still on the fence on, debating whether they want to check out the series, Dixon himself has a couple reasons to help sway those wandering interests.
“First off, Larry’s story in #0 is so freakin’ cool that you have to read it. Secondly, this is the ground floor of a brand-new incarnation of a classic comic series. Sure, GI Joe is a toy. But it also has a heritage as a great comic series that outsold X-Men in its day. We’re all working very hard to re-create that same excitement and you don’t want to miss the beginning of all that.
Check out G.I. JOE #0 on sale Wednesday, October 22. For more information on G.I. JOE or IDW Publishing, check out www.IDWPublishing.com.
To read part one of this series click here.
