I think by that point in the series, I didn't care what DD did. I just viewed them as their own stories, doing their own thing. Honestly, I could care less about who they killed off. They're just stories. I mean, we could say that about Larry Hama, but most people consider that canon and everything after is just extended universe, y'know?

I'm not sure what DD should've done w/ GI Joe. I don't think starting with Reloaded would have worked simply cuz at that time in 2001, people wanted GI Joe. Not from the beginning, but what happens after 7 yrs. The idea was pretty sound. DD wanted to do an aged team and bring in a new cast of Joes for the next generation. Unfortunately, NOBODY wanted that. They just wanted more GI Joe adventures w/ their fave chars.

I didn't like Reloaded. I didn't like the main series either. Frontline was too varied for me so I couldn't remember one issue from another. BUT I do say that the Special Missions and Classifieds have been awesome and that's the route DD should've started. Forget a main story and main team idea, go with lil missions that use a variety of chars and most importantly, make them stand alone. That's just me, of course.