the Genius of Larry Hama

[Peyton Westlake]

Trying to infuse two-dimensional characters with a three-dimensional personality and writing an appealing story are two chores that most comic book writers struggle to master in their craft.



The storytelling genius of Larry Hama shines the brightest with the elegant characterization of Snake Eyes, a masked and nearly mute member of the G.I.Joe team. By developing Snake Eyes as a man with a past shrouded in mystery, Hama established a literary doorway which he used to introduce several new toy-based characters, like Storm Shadow, Jinx, Zartan and Firefly. As the pasts of Snake Eyes, Destro and other characters were slowly revealed during the course of the 155 issue series, Hama was able to build a web of relationships that contained threads of revenge, love, loyalty and betrayal, and these elements appealed to the literary side of the fan.

Of course, the idea that a G.I.Joe member was somehow connected to a Cobra agent was not the only reason the G.I.Joe storyline was entertaining. The central theme of the comic was good versus evil, and many of the issues were filled with moments from a battle. Unlike some of the other toy-based comics, which were short-lived because the writers created stories that were filled with one dull battle after another, the portrayal of the struggle between the Joes and Cobras was enriched with Larry's knowledge of military terms and strategies. Plus, with the addition of numerous touches of realism and the occasional black comedy moment, the issues that contained panels of fighting were just as interesting as the issues with character and plot development. As a result, the comic book series attracted thousands of action-adventure fans. Larry Hama's G.I.Joe stories demonstrated his ability to blend creativity, commercialism and classic literature references into an incredible tale that appealed to many types of fans, and new adventures from his imagination are sorely missed by this fan.

[masteryoda]

Larry Hama... What else did he do? Wasn't he mainly an editor?

[WOLVERINE25TH]

He did most of Wolverine in th' early 90s an' Wild Thing from MC2 to name a couple.

[Not Jake]

I hope he wasn't responsible for you not putting e's on the end of the word "the".:(

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Nope, pretty sure that was someone else smart***.:wolverine

[masteryoda]

I bet it was Bendis. :mad:

:(

[Not Jake]

Well, he admits to being a bad speller.:(

[co2]

Hamma was THE man for GI Joe. He shaped them as we know them today.

[Peyton Westlake]

Driven by the success of GI Joe, Larry became the driving force behind the critically acclaimed comic book "The'Nam", a gritty realistic war comic that ran from 1986—1990 and wrote a series about an Ultimate Ninja during World War III called the Nth Man.

In 1990, Larry convinced Marvel Editor in Chief Bob Harras to let him take on the failing comic Wolverine. Which Larry turned into the best selling comic of the 1990s. Original writer Chris Claremont called Larry's version of Wolverine his favorite next to his own.

Larry has also written Generation X for Marvel and some Batman material for DC Comics, as well as The "Fantastic Adventures of Logan and Ben Grimm". Larry Hama contributed to the rebirth of the GI Joe toyline and comic book in the year 2000.

[Laley]

StrayBullets kicks major ass... wait Larry Hama... Why do I confuse him with Davis Lapham? Anyways, G.I. Joe was the ****...

[Peyton Westlake]

I may be out of it asking this but......what is Larry up to now?

[CobraCommander]

He was involved in the new GI Joe toy line to a degree, writing some of the file cards and the mini-comics packaged within. But it's not really up to par with his amazing original run.

Not sure what else he's up to. But as a Joe fan, Larry Hama is one of my comic gods.

[Brian Braddock]

Did Larry Hama come up with 'the Ninth Man'? That series rocked!

Yeah, his GIJoe stuff was cool too.

[Peyton Westlake]

Is a shame he hasn't landed in a monthly series, he is quite good.

[Arkady Rossovich]

Larry Hama was perhas the best Wolverine writer along with Chris Clarement,i got some of the Wolverine issues,they are great stories.I said it many times that Hama or Claremont should have wrote the Wolverine Origin story.:xmen:

[Peyton Westlake]

I agree, Larry should have been part of Wolvie's origin somehow just based on the quality of his work in the past.

[Gambit8370]

Marvel were fools for letting the G.I.Joe comics go.

[piccolo]

Trying to infuse two-dimensional characters with a three-dimensional personality and writing an appealing story are two chores that most comic book writers struggle to master in their craft.


Agreed. Hama does it beautifully. His wolverine run was one of, if not the, best so far in the series IMO.

Not to say wolverine's a two-dimensional character, of course. haha

[Peyton Westlake]

Ditto piccolo.

[Peyton Westlake]

I'm still looking to see what I can uncover about Larry's current carreer. So far, have come up empty.

[Big Dirty Ogre]

Larry Hama is, IMO, the DEFINITIVE Wolverine writer.

Rucka proved to be a close second.

Claremont was influenced greatly from working with Frank Miller on the original mini, and it shows.

Claremont pointed things in the right direction, but I think Hama took the ball and ran with it.

The Hama/Kubert stuff made Wolverine the icon he's become.

[twinkle]

Larry Hama got lots of kids into comics with GI Joe, for that alone he should be respected.

[TheCorpulent1]

I loved Hama's Wolverine. I only read a few GI Joe comics, but I Hama's version is pretty much who I think of when I think "Wolverine." Silvestri was penciling for most of his run, right? With Albert and Dee and all that fun stuff?

[Rambo, John J]

He also wrote Batman for a while. His run was - sorry guys - absolutely terrible.

[Arkady Rossovich]

Larry Hama wrote alot of Wolverine`s stories,he`s argubilly the best Wolverine writer besides Chris Claremont.

[Peyton Westlake]

Larry Hama is, IMO, the DEFINITIVE Wolverine writer.

Rucka proved to be a close second.

Claremont was influenced greatly from working with Frank Miller on the original mini, and it shows.

Claremont pointed things in the right direction, but I think Hama took the ball and ran with it.

The Hama/Kubert stuff made Wolverine the icon he's become.


I couldn't agree more.

[Peyton Westlake]

I loved Hama's Wolverine. I only read a few GI Joe comics, but I Hama's version is pretty much who I think of when I think "Wolverine." Silvestri was penciling for most of his run, right? With Albert and Dee and all that fun stuff?

You have to think of Hama laying the groundwork with Wolverine, he was Logan's unofficial godfather in a sort of ways.

[Peyton Westlake]

Larry Hama got lots of kids into comics with GI Joe, for that alone he should be respected.

I know I would not have read back issues of 'Joe' ,after reading his work in Wolverine, if it was another writer scripting 'Joe'.

[Peyton Westlake]

Since the wolverine movie is going to be made, it would be nice to know Larry had some input on it.

[Peyton Westlake]

Larry Hama wrote alot of Wolverine`s stories,he`s argubilly the best Wolverine writer besides Chris Claremont.


Would be nice if he was consulted for the new Wolverine movie.

[Havok83]

This is the guy responsible for destroying Generation X. He was an absolutely horrible and dreadful writer on the book.

[El Bastardo]

Hama is now writing G.I. Joe: Origins for IDW Publishing.

[Peyton Westlake]

This is the guy responsible for destroying Generation X. He was an absolutely horrible and dreadful writer on the book.


I thought his writing on most books was top notch

[Peyton Westlake]

Hama is now writing G.I. Joe: Origins for IDW Publishing.


Is good news, always thought he was under rated.

[K.B.]

He did an episode of MASH and that trumps anything Joe and Wolverine :woot:

[Peyton Westlake]

He did an episode of MASH and that trumps anything Joe and Wolverine :woot:


I never knew he wrote an episode for MASH....i'll have to look it up now,lol

[K.B.]

Sorry my mistake I should have elaborated for non-fans...he didn't write an episode, he starred in it. Hama was an actor for a bit.

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh man, I must see this episode now...