It is here, THE INTERVIEW I have always wanted to do. I will apologize now if I did not get all the questions answered that you were looking for, but the questions that were answered, I think will keep the fandom talking for a while.

Now....with no further ado.....Mr Larry Hama.....
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Joe Reloaded.com (JR): Today we are honored to have with us a true legend in the world of G.I. Joe, Mr. Larry Hama. Larry, first I want to say thank you for sitting down and answering these questions for us here at Joe Reloaded.com.

Let’s jump right into it. The first thing I want to ask you is, how does it feel to be considered one of the Godfathers of the modern G.I. Joe mythos?

Larry Hama (LH): Honored.

JR: When you first started working with Hasbro on G.I. Joe did you ever imagine that it would explode into what it is today?

LH: Nope. It was a toy license, and they no track record at the time. We figured if the book went two years, we would be happy…

JR: Recently it has come to light that G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero was originally an idea you were working on called: Fury Force. How much of that concept were you able to bring over to the G.I. Joe line?

LH: A lot of the characterizations I came up with for Fury Force got slotted right into the GI Joe concept. There are only so many specialties you can have in a special unit like that. In Fury Force, I envisioned a secret base built under a regular motor pool in a totally unlikely army base. I remembered I knew a guy who had been a chaplains assistant, and he had told me that the chaplains assistant school was at Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, so that seemed pretty appropriate.

JR: Just out of curiosity, why did you choose the Cobra to represent the enemy?

LH: The late Archie Goodwin just threw that name out at a meeting. Marvel was meeting with Hasbro about GI Joe and all us Marvel guys realized that Hasbro didn’t have any bad guys for the Joes to fight. I said something like “what are they gonna do, march?” We decided that it should be a para-military terrorist organization, something like HYDRA in the S.H.I.E.L.D. universe, and Archie said, “Why don’t we call it COBRA?”

JR: How much freedom were you given in the direction that G.I. Joe would take and the stories you could tell?

LH: The freedom was almost total in the most important ways. Hasbro was wise enough to realize that Marvel knew a lot more about putting out comic books than they did. There were some limitations, but the amount of story control and general fussiness was almost nonexistent compared to what we got from other companies we licensed characters from! You’ll notice that none of those other comics licensed from other companies lasted very long!

JR: In the series, were any of the stories that you told based off actual events in your own life?

LH: I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to battle paramilitary terrorist organizations or clans of ninjas. A lot of characters are based on people I knew, and story ideas came out of those characterizations.

JR: Ok……bad question Moving on.
Many fans have wondered over the years about Snake-Eyes, what was your motivation behind him and why was he your favorite character?

LH: The “mystery man” is a pretty stock character. The faceless, silent stoic warrior can be found in the mythos of many cultures, the good soul who leads a tortured life and is redeemed by love. Snake-Eyes is equal parts Pahoo Katawa from the old Yancy Derringer tv series, John Wayne in the “The Searchers,” Christopher Walken in “The Deer Hunter,” and Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables.” He’s my favorite character because he’s the coolest character.

JR: Snake-Eyes’ letter in issue #155 is considered by many fans to be your greatest single piece of writing. Did that letter come from personal experience or was it pieced together through multiple sources?

LH: Lots of sources.

JR: Speaking of the final issue, I remember when I went to my local comic shop and found the last issue on the shelf. I was shocked, had no idea that the end was coming. How long before that final issue did you know that G.I. Joe was coming to an end?

LH: A month or two. It was very sudden.

JR: Along those lines, had you been able to write 10 more issues, what would you have done differently or what loose ends would you have tied up?

LH: I would have tied up the Cobra loose ends. The stuff with Billy, the Baroness and Destro. I would have found some way to neutralize all that brain wave machine stuff.

JR: Some of those loose ends you tied up in your Frontline Arc “The Mission that Never Was” . How did it feel to be asked to come back to something that you created?

LH: No problem. It just seemed like picking up from where I left off.

JR: While on the topic of the new comics, what do you think of what Devil’s Due has done with your creation?

LH: Their teams are doing a great job. All characters and concepts need to be recreated for succeeding generations. Everything that doesn’t change, stagnates, and stagnation is death.

JR: Have you gotten a chance to read Master and Apprentice? If so, what are your thoughts on that mini-series and the expansion of the Snake-Eyes and Sean Collins character?

LH: Haven’t had any time to catch up on that series yet. I have the issues sitting in my office, but I have been pretty busy lately.

JR: How do you like Kamakura?

LH: Nicely turned-out character. You know that Josh Blaylock wrote the file card, right?

JR: I did not know that. I must ask this also, have you gotten a chance to read G.I. Joe Reloaded? And what are your thoughts on that?

LH: Haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I have it, though. I haven’t actually read a comic in a year or two!

JR: Would you consider penning another Joe story if you were offered one?

LH: Depends on what kind of story.

JR: What kind of story would you like to do?

LH: I would pick up the story of Sean Collins, son of Wade Collins. I would pick up his story in Iraq or Afghanistan in the present. He's been in the army for ten years and he's a hard-stripe E-7 in Special Forces.

JR: Now, switching gears, I am a huge fan of the old comic series The ‘Nam. You were very involved in the creation of this series. How did it feel to bring a series like this to life?

LH: I had trepidations that we wouldn’t be allowed to do it right. It turned out Marvel gave us pretty much free rein. I was very proud of the fact that we won an award from the BRAVO ORGANIZATION, a society of Vietnam vets for “best representation of the Vietnam War in media” beating out “Platoon.”

JR: Over the years I have gone back and re-read the entire series a couple of times and I started to notice that there were certain characters that were very similar in both the The Nam and G.I. Joe, was this done intentionally or was I just reading into them too much?

LH: Reading into it too much. I didn’t see that at all. Doug Murray was trying to do something very Matter-of fact and realistic. I was dealing in fantasy.

JR: The Nam was another series that seemed to come to an abrupt halt even though it had a bit cleaner last few issues then G.I. Joe, what was the motivation behind ending The Nam so quickly?

LH: Everything ends in the real world because of money. If a comic sales drop below a certain level, It gets cancelled. As simple as that.

JR: Moving ahead to the present, I know that you are currently working with Hasbro on the current File Cards and the mini-comics that come in the toy packages. Is there anything else you are working on both G.I. Joe related or otherwise?

LH: Nothing I can talk about.

JR: Oh, sounds mysterious. There was a time when you were going to be writing a new comic with Devil’s Due called “Oxido” what ever happened to that?

LH: Cancelled for lack of interest.

JR: In closing is there anything else you would like to share with us?

LH: Not that I can think of.

JR: Well Larry, I want to thank you for taking to time to answer some of our questions. Hopefully we can do this again sometime.

LH:Thanks. Anytime.
Larry Hama

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Alright people, time to discuss. Comments to the interview go Here.[/i]