the Genius of Larry Hama

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Ditto piccolo.

 

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