My Personal Experiences as a "SJW" G.I. Joe Fan

Otherwise known as "that article Brian wrote that likely will make G.I. Joe fans hate him", which isn't quite as nice a title.

I'm sure it's come up once or twice in the many years I've rambled about pop culture and movies, but for those new to the party, my name is Brian and I am a huge G.I. Joe fan. I grew up in the 80s/90s era of the franchise, watched all the cartoons, read all the comics, own all the movies, and count Sgt. Slaughter as one of my personal heroes.

It's frankly hard not to love the Sarge though.

Like Captain America, he represents an ideal more than he does the reality. To me, that was always more important regarding G.I. Joe as a whole. It's about the ideal, the enforcement in doing what's right, in standing up for people who need it. As a kid who dealt constantly with being bullied in one form or another, it was easy to look at G.I. Joe and love them. They were heroes, putting themselves in harm's way to fight for people like me. Their message wasn't about politics, it was about helping people. And yeah, it could result in incredibly hokey moments. The original cartoon as a whole was one giant hokey moment, honestly.

I mean...come on...come the fuck on...look at this.

But the issue at hand here is that fandoms are often divisive and people do not always see things the same way. What G.I. Joe means to me doesn't mean a thing to a lot of others out there. The same way a lot of people have made it clear they don't like me enjoying female Ghostbusters, loving gay Transformers, or standing up for American adaptations of a Japanese comic series. Don't even get me started on how people feel about my Passion of the Christ review. People tend to get...protective...when it comes to being a fan of something. Whether it's a comic series about a moody sociopath using a book to kill people or a carpenter inspiring an entire religion, there tends to be very extreme individuals ready to leap at you when you are critical of something related to that thing they love.

It tends to never result in anything positive.

So, what does this have to do with G.I. Joe? Well, it's no secret that there are a lot of very conservative fans out there and that they can be a bit hostile. It wasn't hard to find someone to attack me for feeling a certain way about any number of subjects. Hell, it's all too easy, considering I have never looked for hate. But then there's my love of G.I. Joe and the gradual realization that a lot of other Joe fans are not down with my views or even who I am as a person. As a member of the community, I have tried not to call much attention to myself for any number of reasons but I think the biggest one is because I've always been scared of being hated by other Joe fans for who I am.

I just want to hang out with my Crite buddy and pretend I'm not slowly decaying.

It's not everyone out there I'm afraid of though. I've met some really great people through a mutual love of G.I. Joe and I don't think my views would make them hate me. But, on that same note, I have been called an "SJW" by a lot of idiots out there and I have to imagine that there are likely going to be some in that community that would do the same. Over the past year, I set a goal for myself to trudge through the IDW G.I. Joe books that I long since gave up on. Why? Because I was getting really into the Transformers stuff they put out and the shared universe aspect made me feel like going back and filling in the blanks, because I am a comic geek with a bit of a masochistic streak. As for why I stopped reading...that'd be the fact that the book went really right-wing really fast and it felt boring to read. Great art, interesting character designs, but Chuck Dixon's writing just dragged into the same territory that makes Frank Miller an unlikable old dickhead yelling at young geeks on his lawn.

Oh, Frank Miller, you're just the old racist sexist gift that keeps on being given to me despite my requests for socks.

As a member of the community, I have seen people attacked for their sexuality, for being "too liberal", and for generally rocking the boat. It's a big part of why I always shy away from talking about anything G.I. Joe in regards to those things. But, as my Army veteran father told me, "don't be afraid to speak up". I've never shied away from this shit, why start now? Here we go. I'm a G.I. Joe fan, I have more leftist views, I'm a panromantic demisexual, I think Devils Due Press stuff was great, and I actually really enjoyed Aubrey Sitterson's run on the book. I don't think it's fair that people attacked him for his political beliefs or for what he said on Twitter about 9/11. He's entitled to his views. His run on G.I. Joe was creative, fun, and a huge step up from Chuck Dixon's jingoistic run that frankly dragged the G.I. Joe down into being the very thing some people always thought it was: right-wing propaganda. Sitterson seemed to want the book to be a big weird fun time and embrace that side of G.I. Joe that some people like to pretend isn't there.

People don't always think the franchise is at its best when it goes outside of the box.

There was a ton of backlash towards the female Salvo, which I don't recall seeing with the female Dial-Tone. Sure, the Resolute Dial-Tone is said to be the original's sister, but the IDW one wasn't given that backstory and Dixon didn't get shit for that. I've heard people claim Sitterson is an asshole, that he's defensive, that he is hostile towards fans, but then I also heard the exact opposite too. There are people who are fans that said he was really nice and easy to talk to. I don't know, I've never talked to him, but what I do know is this: fandoms can be toxic. People can get so protective of something, so reactionary towards someone they feel has damaged the thing, that they try to ruin that person in the pettiest of ways. I have been hacked, threatened, verbally abused, buried in hate mail, and had to report someone I once cared about deeply as a friend for harassment, all because of toxic fandom.

I don't know, Skywarp. Mostly I'm just rambling, because that's what I do.

All I'm trying to say is that it's not okay that I have to feel afraid to talk about enjoying Aubrey Sitterson's work because of how hostile a lot of G.I. Joe fans seem to be towards it. It's not right that so many people are getting attacked by members of the ComicsGate movement because they want something different. I know I'm painting a bullseye on myself, but what else is new? I always paint bullseyes on myself. I'm the guy that made fun of the Jesus snuff film, defended the Howard the Duck movie, and had a lovely conversation with Adam Wingard on Twitter in the midst of a hate storm regarding his adaptation of a Japanese comic book.

Apparently I'm also the guy who enjoys the DDP ending because that series had a satisfying conclusion.

I don't want you to hate me for my views, for enjoying things, or for making jokes...but I also don't give a fuck if you hate me either. Because, even though it can be scary, I will let my "SJW" flag fly if that's what it means to not cower in a corner while some asshole jerks off to Ethan Van Sciver's tweets reinforcing their own hateful viewpoint. Geeks as a whole deserve better than what the most vocal pieces of shit offer us. We deserve to be allowed to grow past old methodologies, to read books and feel safe. But I guess some geeks prefer to become the bullies that used to give them shit for reading comics in the first place. Me though? Your hate will never ruin my fun. If that bothers you, go scream into a pillow, because I'm done listening.

And I want to say, I personally feel robbed knowing that we won't be getting any more of these two together. SkyRock forever, baby.