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Originally Posted by lehsreh
i got the cartoons, and hadnt read a comic until about 3 years ago and found the first so many rich in story, but lacking big time in characteristics. everyone in the cartoons had a different attitude, whereas the comic everyone was all alike, except a few like clutch. its like duke, flint, zap or stalker could be the same person.
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Boom! I say that all the time! I would love to set up a "blind taste test" for G.I. Joe comics-- Just read various lines from the likes of Hawk, Duke, Flint, Stalker, etc., alound, and see if anyone can tell who said what! They all read like the same person to me... Which is weird, because Larry Hama proved on other titles (most notably
Wolverine), that he
can write characters with different voices.
On the other hand, I think many characters on the cartoon would be easily recognizable based on a blind reading of their lines. Not
all of them, mind you --I will admit that-- But many of them had different enough ways of speaking that there would be differences. Some of them may be stereotypical (Roadblock rhyming, Ace's poker puns, Spirit's Indian mysticism, etc.), but at least the writers tried to make them sound different: Duke was the "man of action" leader-type, Flint was the more personable leader, Shipwreck was the grouch with a heart of gold, Barbecue was always wryly sarcastic, and so on. Of course, much of this can be attributed to the excellent vocal work by some of the premier voice actors of the 80s, but I still maintain that many of their lines could be recognized without the specific actors reading them.
None of this is to say that I prefer one continuity over the other, though. I
love the comics for their complex storylines, serialized nature, and soap operatics. However, I also enjoy the cartoon (even more in recent years than ever before) for really bringing the Joe characters to life. If there was some way to put the cartoon characters into the comic's storyline, I would call that the ultimate G.I. Joe universe.