Ok, So i am reading my old comics, Special Missions 28 (Joes establish a stealth base, Python Conquests attack the Flagg, Defiant/Crusader dogfights...) and Payload is Black. I thought he was Stalker at first, but no.

(on a side note about fleet vehicles, there are at least 3 X-19 Phantoms there)

I went back and looked in the comic for the first appearance of Payload, and due to the coloring of the comic, it could go either way. I also checked http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/joe/i ... &Itemid=53 and he looks of african-american descent to me.

Now his Action figure is definitily caucasion, but I am thinking that all of his comic appearances have him as black.

So this begs the question, why the disconnect in the comic and figure?

Was he ever in a cartoon? If so, what race was he there?

Now I am thinking of making a Payload custom to match the comic.

What do most others depict/consider him as?
If they make a 25th, what race will he be?

Edited to add pics...down the thread a bit

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that picture you link to looks like he could be lighter skinned African American or maybe be Tom Selleck like , I don't think comics show many different shades for ethnicities

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I will have to take a pic of the issue 28...after all this thread is useless without pics...

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The figure is Caucasian, and so that's what I assume Payload is supposed to be. I wonder if that coloration in the comic was before they'd finalized the figure. Remember the first time Ninja Force ever showed up? They were all in grey shadow, probably because their colors hadn't been finalized. And the first time we saw the HeadHunters, they were wearing white. I'd call it a proto-color goof, myself.

Maybe he got a good tan down there at Cape Canaveral?

But speaking of first view in comics color descrepancy's - the first view of Lampreys has them in white with teal life-vests (as best I recall, haven't seen since 87) - and I thought as a kid they looked much better as such. I 94 Sci Fi came out painted close to that. Always wondered if there was a connection.

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I agree that his figures are no doubt caucasian, but the comic says something else:

in issue 68, it is hard to tell in these three panels:




But in Special Missions 28, I think it is pretty obvious.



So, I wonder what Larry Hama intended for him to be?

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In the first panels, he is clearly intended to be caucasian, the skin color is the same as Hawk and Hardtop. In the second panel, I have to wonder if the color artist thought he was Stalker, although the entire face shape is different as well, so maybe it was someone else entirely who got renamed as Payload last second.

I've colored lots and lots of artwork, maybe I can help.

The first panels shown look like Marshall Rodger's artwork.

The last panels are Herb Trimpe's. In the last panel, Payload's face has white features, but tightly curled hair. Trimpe is one of my favorite artists, but the faces he draws basically look the same. White guy, black guy, asian guy... doesn't matter. They're all going to have squinty eyes, high cheekbones, narrow slit mouths, long tapered noses. In Herb Trimpe's world, everyone looks like Clint Eastwood.

Trimpe's artwork in GI Joe #1 was some of his best stuff. Some of that credit goes to Bob Layton, who inked it and developed it ever-so-slighty as he did. In the artwork seen in this thread, it appears Trimpe is inking his own material. In a best case scenario, having a top notch inker improves the artwork of the penciller, no matter who the penciller is.

The colorist either didn't have any kind of reference supplied to him to match the artwork to the figure, or he just assumed based on the hair texture that Payload was a black character. This book was back around '87 or '88? This is still a few years before computer coloring was pioneered by Steve Olaff (If I remember his name correctly) working on Spawn. Before computers, the coloring was done in a coded technique, similar to "paint by numbers" and then sent to a printer. It's very unlikely that someone at the print shop noticed the shift of Payload's skin tone.

If memory serves, it seems as if Marvel rolled with it, and the character remained black for his other appearances. Anyone remember?

I may have missed the trend, but did some Caucasians in the 80's use Jerry curls for their hair back then?

If it was a trend, then I had sorely missed out. LOL

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Never had that Special Missions issue, so this is a first-heard for me.

I'm thinking it was a colorist problem - it's happened before in Joe comics - back in issue (???) I remember the Joes were all in BDUs and whatnot in the Chaplain's Asst rec room arm wrestling and a giant bald white guy wearing "US Army" was standing next to another giant bald white guy in USMC gear (Gung-Ho) -- the Army guy was clearly supposed to be Roadblock, but I figure the color guy didn't have a point of reference because he wasn't wearing a tank top or whatever (and likely wasn't familiar with the characters, anyway.)

I'm thinking the same fate befell Tom Selleck...er, Payload here

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He is black now, no matter what anyone else says.

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Just like Ripcord.

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Wooden Nickel to the first person who Customizes a black Payload...

Haha its funny to find these anomalies...

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Stop ruining my childhood! lol

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HUH ?

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