Good call, Swindle. I was talking to a guy the other nite and he was taking the DD stuff with a grain of salt. I do too. But I was thinking, "What if there was no Hama-verse and it started with Devils Due?" Would be take that as canon? Would we as kids? What if the Devils Due was the 1st intro to the GI Joe comic for us (not knowing of the Marvel run, let's say)?

I feel Hama did a good job in the beginning but due to Hasbro politics and the popularity of the toyline, things just got way out of hand. We all know that Hama wanted nothing to do with Cobra LA (and put his foot down). We all know that Hama hated the Serpentor concept (and was able to kill him off about 25 issues later).

As for the cartoon...

I too was one of those kids who would rush home after school just to watch GI Joe. IIRC, it was on at 3.30pm. I loved the cartoon as a kid but I did have questions now and then. Usually it had to do with, "Why they no use Airbourne more? Why no Torpedo? I wish they use Snake Eyes like he in the comic!"

And when the movie came out... "Why Snake Eyes just stand there with a pistol trying to fend off a big bug dude? Why he no use his ninja skillzzzzzzz!?!?!"

I enjoyed the cartoon for what it was worth as a kid. It really made some of the characters (Duke, Flint, Shipwreck, CC, Bludd, Destro, Baroness, Zartan, etc) so I can't see them any other way. It's very hard because I'd rather do my own thing and play off the filecards. The comic helped with other characters (Stalker, Snake Eyes, Scarlet, etc). I can't watch the regular episodes all that easy cuz it just makes my eyes roll more often than not.

BUT the mini-series stuff was pretty cool to me.

Sure, using a net to halt a space shuttle launch is whacked but anyway... It was definitely for kids. Like ARAH, some things are better left in the past, yes? (errrrr, that's my opinion on ARAH figures as you all know.)