There is nothing in the actual issue explaining the "specialness". No foreward or afterward or editor's note.Diabolical wrote:http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.co ... ealed-182/anarky wrote: How is the McFarlane art? And is there maybe an intro explaining why an entire issue was shelved and redrawn?
As to the art, I have a tough time being objective. GIJoe issues 45 and 61 were some of my very very earliest comics and thus I read and reread and re-reread them a thousand times. So I know every detail of that original Marshall Rogers art. Reading the McFarlane version is just...off. To me. It's not bad. It was early in Todd's career so everyone has that cartoony baby roundness to their faces, but other than some narrative flow choices and such, it gets the job done. If anything, the fact that it's Todd actually draws attention away from the actual narrative and towards his art. That's probably why he got nixed. Even with different artists, the Joe book had a consistent tonal quality to the art, and McFarlane sticks out from that like a carnival peacock.
Either way, it's a rare piece of comics history to have the same story published twice with completely different art styles. Now I just have to track down issue 154. *sigh*