Customer Reviews

Now You Know: The Unauthorized Guide to G.I. Joe TV and Comics

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a fun book! Anyone who grew up during the salad days of the 1980's G.I. Joe cartoon and comics series will appreciate this exhaustive compendium of history, trivia, and minutia. Either as a nostalgia trip or as a means to fill in any missing holes from your comic or cartoon collection, this book will surely please any die-hard Joe fan. The author not only has a firm, loving knowledge of Joe lore, but with sections dedicated to goofs and implausibilities also provides matter with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The book chronicles the soaring highs and frustrating lows of the entire Hasbro-related Joe universe. Action figure collectors beware: this book has very little to offer in the way of figure collecting or appraisal. Also (most likely due to copyright issues) the only image(s) you will see are on the cover of the book. I had to bump down the book a star for lack of images relating to either the cartoon or comics--which in my humble opinion would have made the offering perfect. Definitely worth the price of admission....

If there were college courses dedicated solely to the subject of GI Joe and COBRA, this would be the one stop textbook on the subject and Lars Pearson would have the Doctorate in Joeology. If old school GI Joe was your cold war kid religion, then this is it's bible. If you just jumped on the new school Image bandwagon, read about the rich mythology you missed. Bless you Larry Hama for never dumbing down the comic (until it jumped the shark with the toyline, circa. Cobra-laaaa, but that wasn't your fault.) and allowing even the preteenage readers a chance to begin to understand news and the world. Thank you to the cartoon creators for the surreal clash between childish fantasy and hard cold war reality. Thank you, Lars Pearson, for writing this excellent guidebook, as a fan, for fans.

If you are a huge GI Joe fan (like myself), then this book is a must-have! The book outlines everything you ever wanted to know about the world of GI Joe cartoons & comics (including the first few comics currently written by Devil's Due Publishing). The author goes into great detail about analyzing each cartoon episode, outlining storylines including mistakes within the storylines and animation.

If you never read the original Marvel comic series, the author does an excellent job of summarizing the entire comic book line from beginning to end.

This book is an excellent book and is absolutely bargain priced.

Very informative, clarifying of the story lines and how and where all fit together and where they don't. Gives spoiler info, so I would suggest read all you want to read from the comics first, then read through this to help sort more out. Didn't expect a little adult language, though. That was a disappointment.

Everthing from A to Z was included in this unauthorized guide to this 80's generation hit. Having said that, it would have been nice to include a special section showing all the comic book covers for the series. The artwork included would have made this guide a complete masterpiece.

I am a huge GI JOE fan. I own most of the original comic books, all the dvd's of the cartoon that are released to date, and more. Yes, I still have a few of the action figures, but they are packed away. (OK, YES I have a Cobra Commander statue displayed in my office; happy!) Something about the old Joe comics and cartoons remained a favorite for me through the years. Even after I lost interest in Transformers and other 80's cartoons and comics I continued to care about the JOES. When I found this book I was very excited. I have read it at least five times since I bought it. I actually bought a second copy, because I was wearing my first one out. I took that thing all over with me, on vacations and to work. The sense of humor is one of the best details of this guide. The author goes through all the cartoons and comics and clearly paid close attention. He catches all the mistakes and little nuances people miss. One thing I found very funny is how he points out just how goofy/backwards the JOES when it comes to handling relationships in the cartoon. Since the GI JOE comics remain my favorite of all the mediums, I really enjoyed how close the author detailed the stories. WHICH were very complex. Snake Eyes origin? Yeah it blows away Wolverine's... just saying.

in one word to describe this book i'd use...COMPREHENSIVE.

it is a GREAT book for joe beginners and old timers.

cartoons-
it covers all the old cartoons. it gives episode dates, descriptions and TONS of other little factoids and editorials that are great. there are some funny little things in the book.

comics-
it covers all the US comics as well as other various versions up to the date it was printed. and gives the same type of factoids and insights as it does the cartoon.

it would have been great for art but this isnt an OFFICIAL realse so it can be forgiven.

the only thing that holds it back a bit is having next to nothing on the figs but then again there are guides out there that cover that. this book only covers the StORIES of the joe-verse and i am fine with that


short version...BUY IT!!!!!

(p.s. you should buy his transformers version of this book...also excellent)

This guide is something else. If you wanted to know the summaries (and more) of all the GI Joe stories from the Sunbow/DiC series and the Marvel comic series this is your book. Mr. Pearson even tackles story continuity errors in his "Goofs" section. I purchased this book last summer when Shout! Factory released all 95 episodes in the Sunbow series in one DVD set. I read the book in conjunction with each episode I watched - information was spot on. The book is almost like a college text book - meaning, if there was a class in college on G.I. Joe of 80s/90s lore this would be the text book ... HAHAHA.
Of course a review wouldn't be worth reading if I didn't throw in some cons. However, my cons really aren't cons, they are informational errors. On page 11, Mr. Prearson writes that the show got it wrong in one of the episode of The M.A.S.S. Device by saying, "Oh, and polar bears live at the South Pole, not the arctic", but in fact polar bears live in the Arctic. I know it's pretty silly for me to bring that up but to me it's a pretty big oversight. I know my "Was this review helpful to you?" score is gonna suffer for that polar bear statement!!! HAHAAH
I'm sorry, I digress. He does say though on page 11, "Errrr, there's no alien life in G.I. Joe..." but what about the episode G.I. Joe and The Golden Fleece? I guess though one could argue that that episode was tackling a supernatural theme. On page 31 he writes that there are 34 PSAs but then list a synopsis for 35. There are 35 PSAs total and if you own the Shout! complete Joe series and the upcoming Shout! release of the movie you'll have all 35 on DVD. Here are a few more things that are gonna lower my "Was this review helpful to you?" score:
Page 53 - he mentions "See Preposterous Physics" in the "Places to Go" paragraph but there's no "Preposterous Physics"
Page 62 - Scarlett's father is named Patrick - the Baroness calls him by name at the end of Captives of Cobra, Part 1.
Page 77 - Footloose says "Freak me out man ... help", not "Freakin' me out man ... help."
Page 101 - "Northfolk, VA" is actually "Norfolk, VA"
Page 122 - in the Goofs section he writes, "Lady Jaye correctly guesses that a second laser bolt will re-activate the alien coil, but there's no clue how she comes by that conclusion." But at the 4:24 minute-in mark on the Shout! DVD you see Lifeline tackle the Baroness and the Baroness fire her weapon right into the gold cone, which then activates it.
Page 132 - Cross Country punches the shark.

I know you guys are gonna rip into me for those things but if there's ever a second printing maybe they could be addressed if I'm correct in my observations.
Speaking of a second printing, it would be interesting to read about why the Shipwreck/Mara and Althea scene during the last 5 minutes of There's No Place Like Springfield, Part 2 keeps getting heavily edited for DVD - both the old Rhino set and the new Shout! set heavily edits that scene and there's really no explanation even though you can find most of the scene intact on YouTube but never on DVD. The other scene that is always cut out is Cross Country's phrase "They're all a bunch of music critics!" during the last episode in the Sunbow series, Into Your Tent I will Silently Creep. Did Sunbow self edit after the initial broadcast of these episodes or what? It would be interesting to know the history since I can't find it anywhere.

Bottom line, the book is a solid guide for the hardcore fan to the person that has a mild interest and is a great companion in conjunction with watching the old cartoons or reading the old comics. I highly recommend it!