Written by by James McFadden
Published by BearManor Media
A heavy flop. General Clayton Abernathy, aka Hawk, has dropped A Quick Look Inside Fighting for Freedom: The Unauthorized G.I. Joe Chronology – Volume II: Television & Film on my desk at 1700 hours on a Friday. “Our job… is never finished.”
James McFadden has returned with my new intel companion for the weekend. Sure beats KP duty peeling potatoes with Flash.
Volume 1 took care of The Joes and Cobra in Comics dating back to the original Joe toys and through my cherished A Real American Hero Marvel run.
I will say, yes, I have some familiarity with the source here, logging back into my memory banks for the cherished after-school one-hour block of G.I. Joe and Transformers from 3-4 p.m. local time with grape soda and some chocolate-covered donuts. Though I find it hard to believe that Cobra Commander was “Once A Man,” I’ve seen G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987) in parts from syndication. Important to most, and not forgotten, yet not revered by me as head canon.
I also remember our platoon heading to the theater to see 2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the follow-up sequel to 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The world was on lockdown for Henry Golding’s pretty face as the famously scarred and balaclava’d Arashikage ninja in 2021’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins opposite Warrior’s Andrew Koji as Storm Shadow. The movies are right here on the shelves (and sequels presumably on the shelves at Paramount as well).
McFadden has turned in his report, cataloging again in meticulous fashion Sunbow & DiC animation (I didn’t know there was a difference as a kid), coloring books, some comics, and the famous animated commercial loophole that led to the series and the Marvel books themselves. From the origin of the Oktober Guard to Destro and the Baroness’s history and clans, FFF: Vol 2 digs deeper than Shipwreck gets into the cups on shore leave.
A more modern special missions force is deeply scrutinized in the versions we see on film and the dawning of G4, Adult Swim, and webseries brilliance that are tuned to adults with G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 and, of course, G.I. Joe: Resolute, with a story by gritty comics creator Warren Ellis, who famously had little connection to Hasbro or G.I. Joe as a property.
Whereas FFF: Vol 1 could be a bit daunting at first perusal, with timelines intersecting and real-world events being referenced in military history, Vol 2 has the advantage of being a little more transparent and cohesive. The multiplicity of timelines is exponentially simplified. That’s not to say that the abbreviation key REAL isn’t helpful this time around—it certainly is—but DEVD (Devil’s Due Publishing) pops up more here. Not only is Larry Hama mentioned for his ARAH contributions as well as File Cards, but his other non-comic connections to G.I. Joe lore are here too.
On top of Hama and Ellis, we also see familiar names like Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon, writers for the animated shows and G.I. Joe: The Movie. This volume also makes sense of the “shared universe” with Transformers properties (or as these gentlemen would call them, jobs) they worked on. Crucially, a crossover character, Hector Ramirez—the Geraldo Rivera stand-in—appeared in multiple cartoons, including Jem and the Holograms! And do you all know about that gag when “The Viper” was prank-calling Barbecue like the Jerky Boys and the Joes got all scared? Yup, that one’s explained here too!
One thing I’ve learned: you can’t really trust snakes. Depending on who you ask, Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV, or Destro to his friends, has a clan lasting a certain number of centuries. Print the legend. And the Baroness has so many aliases across these file cards that we’re not even sure where she’s from. Sounds like a seriously shady couple. But McFadden lays out all the intel here for you to track them down.
The action force isn’t without its mysteries either. Multiple stories have been told about the Arashikage ninjas Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, and even comic fan RZA’s Blind Master in Retaliation couldn’t keep it exactly straight. FFF: Vol 2 will scratch that itch when you want to compare how these brothers are related. Or if they are. Or if it is chosen family. Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins goes the deepest for live action. A major highlight of the movie, right alongside the action (I’m not addressing the big snake in the room), is master Larry Hama making a brief cameo in the rain!
McFadden’s data-driven approach is deserving of a comic panel with an obscured face and code name as a special pop-up on The Pit’s mainframe. I wouldn’t usually say this about a book, and it doesn’t take away from what he accomplished in the main text, but the appendices are where it is at. Appendices I and II drop all of the Find Your Fate books and Young Adult novels you passed over at the book fair to grab How to Eat Fried Worms. Did you know that R.L. Stine wrote a couple of these? Of both varieties, they are available from Ballantine at your local used bookstores (if you could be so lucky).
APPENDIX III is “The Members of G.I. Joe.” Nearly eleven pages of an alphabetical list of every Joe, with some notable Joe-like exceptions listed in the intro (Billy, Kwinn). Frankly, it is worth the cover price alone.
Somehow the weekend is over and we’re running drills at 0400.
FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM: THE UNAUTHORIZED G.I. JOE CHRONOLOGY, Volume II: Television & Film is the perfect companion for the completionist, and heck, the revisionist. Want to revisit some of your favorite episodes or re-watch the movies? This is a great book to have by your side—even if you didn’t realize one of your favorite episodes was actually from the DiC era.
