G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Marvel Comics)
Encyclopedia
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (also known as G.I. Joe or A Real American Hero) is a comic book
that was published by Marvel Comics
from 1982 to 1994. Based on Hasbro, Inc.'s
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
line of military-themed toys, the series has been credited for making G.I. Joe into a pop-culture phenomenon. G.I. Joe was also the first comic book to be advertised on television, in what has been called a "historically crucial moment in media convergence." The comic book has been re-printed several times and also translated in multiple languages. In addition to direct spin-offs of the comic book, several re-imaginings and revivals
have been published throughout the 2000s.
The series was written for most of its 155-issue run by comic book writer, artist, and editor Larry Hama
, and was notable for its realistic, character-based storytelling style, unusual for a toy comic at the time. Hama wrote the series spontaneously, never knowing how a story would end until it was finished, but worked closely with the artists, giving them sketches of the characters and major scenes. While most stories involved the G.I. Joe Team
battling against the forces of Cobra Command, an evil terrorist organization, many also focused on the relationships and background stories
of the characters.
noted the success of Kenner Products'
Star Wars action figures
, and decided to re-launch their long-running G.I. Joe
property as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
with 3.75 inches (9.5 cm) scale action figure
s rather than the traditional 12 inches (30.5 cm) scale. Hasbro also decided that they wanted the new figures to have a back story. The toy line was conceived as a result of a chance meeting in a men's room. According to Jim Shooter
, then editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics
:
Coincidentally Larry Hama, then an editor at Marvel, had begun to design characters and background for a series concept he was pitching that would be entitled Fury Force, about a team of futuristic super-soldiers affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D.
, an existing Marvel Universe
property combining military and science fiction genre elements. As Hama tells it, he got the job of writing for the series because Marvel had asked every other available creator to write it and no one else would. Unable to find other writing work at the time, he later said that, "If they had asked me to write Barbie, I would have done that, too."
Soon after this, Hasbro hosted a meeting with Hama, Jim Shooter, Tom DeFalco
, Archie Goodwin
, and Nelson Yomtov to discuss the future of the property. It was at this meeting that Archie Goodwin suggested the idea of Cobra Command as a recurring enemy for G.I. Joe to fight (similar to the HYDRA
terrorist organization - recurring enemies to the aforementioned S.H.I.E.L.D. organization). Prior to this, Hasbro had not considered giving G.I. Joe an enemy. Based on the results of this meeting, Hasbro contracted Marvel to produce a comic book series featuring the toys.
The first issue was published in June 1982, containing two stories, both of which were written by Hama. The first story, "Operation: Lady Doomsday", was drawn by Herb Trimpe
, who drew most of the early issues and also wrote issue #9, and the second story, "Hot Potato", was drawn by Don Perlin
. This issue introduced many basic concepts of the G.I. Joe universe, such as the Joes having a base under a motor pool, and introduced the iconic "original 13" G.I. Joe Team
members. The issue also introduced two recurring villains, Cobra Commander
and the Baroness
. Whereas Cobra Commander and the various Joes already had action figures issued, The Baroness is the earliest example of a G.I. Joe character whose first appearance in the comics predated the conception of their action figure.
Most of the early stories were completed in one issue, but multi-part stories began to appear by the middle of the series' first year of publication, and there were hints of the ongoing storylines that would later characterize the series. In May 1983, issue #11 introduced many new characters, including most of the 1983 action figure line and the villain Destro
, who would become a frequently recurring character. Many subsequent storylines involved the machinations and power struggles between him, Cobra Commander, and the Baroness. Issue #11 established a pattern for the series in which every so often Marvel would publish an issue introducing a group of characters and vehicles that represented the new year's toy offerings.
An early issue that attracted much attention, both positive and negative, was G.I. Joe #21, titled "Silent Interlude", which was told entirely without words or sound effects. In a 1987 interview, Hama explained that the motivation for the story was that he "... wanted to see if [he] could do a story that was a real, complete story—beginning, middle, end, conflict, characterization, action, solid resolution—without balloons or captions or sound effects." At first, the issue was controversial; some readers felt cheated that it had no words and could be "read" so quickly. However, it eventually became one of the series' most enduring and influential issues. Issue #21 has been recognized as a modern comic classic, and became a prime example of comics' visual storytelling power. Comic book artist and theorist Scott McCloud
(author of Understanding Comics
) describes "Silent Interlude" as "... a kind of watershed moment for cartoonists of [our] generation. Everyone remembers it. All these things came out of it. It was like 9/11." The issue would eventually be ranked #44 in Wizard Magazine's
listing of the "100 Best Single Issues Since You Were Born" and #6 on io9
's "10 Issues of Ongoing Comics that Prove Single Issues Can Be Great."
Another early highlight was 1984's "Snake-Eyes: The Origin" Parts I & II, published in issues #26-27. This issue established Snake-Eyes' complicated background, and tied his character into many other characters, both G.I. Joe and Cobra. Hama considers it to be his favorite storyline from the Marvel run. In 1986, echoing events portrayed in the TV series, G.I. Joe #49 was published, introducing the character of Serpentor
, a genetically created amalgam of history's greatest warriors. Serpentor played a significant role in the Cobra Civil War, which occurred in issues #73-76, a landmark story event that involved nearly every G.I. Joe and Cobra character vying for control of Cobra Island
.
three years earlier, the comic book could not count on the same cross-platform support it had enjoyed in the past. The target demographic had also changed considerably. According to Hama:
The final issue featured a stand alone story titled "A Letter from Snake Eyes." Narrating from his perspective, Snake Eyes tells his story through recollections of his many comrades-in-arms who have died over the years.
Shortly after the final issue, G.I. Joe Special #1 was released in February 1995, containing alternate art for issue #61 by Todd McFarlane
. McFarlane was the original penciller for issue #61, but his artwork had been rejected by Larry Hama as unacceptable, and so Marshall Rogers
was brought in to pencil the final published version. In the years following, McFarlane became a superstar comic artist, and Marvel eventually decided to print the unpublished work.
. Larry Hama relates the genesis of the commercials:
Between the toy line, comic books, commercials and subsequent cartoon series, Hasbro had "put forward a marketing plan that was to become an industry standard, and a model for non-film properties to survive in other mediums",and became an early example of an industry practice that what would years later be described by Jenkins as a "transmedia narrative." Although the adolescent male demographic was the traditional comic book reader, an unintended result of the TV advertising tie-ins was that they attracted people who were not traditional comic book readers. In an interview, Hama stated:
The comic book's popularity with women has also been attributed to the strong female characters featured in the comic, such as Scarlett
and Lady Jaye
. Since very few of the G.I. Joe action figures were female, Hama tended to frequently use all of the female characters, including those that were created as recurring characters in the comics.
Many readers praised the series for its attention to detail and realism in the area of military tactics and procedures. Much of this was due to Hama's military experience (he was drafted into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the Vietnam war), but he also did a large amount of research in order to be as up-to-date as possible. He frequented Sky Books, a military-oriented bookstore in New York, and read many U.S. Army field manuals
and technical manuals, and also credits his friend Lee Russel, a military historian, for helping him with research.
In style and plot structure, the comic often made use of overlapping story threads. According to Hama:
The story arcs coincided with each of the new lines of G.I. Joe toys that Hasbro was producing, however the comic book was not directly influenced by the toy products. Of the Hasbro/Marvel relationship, Hama observed that the toy company did not demand the book to be written a certain way:
Hama wrote out page-by-page plots for all of the issues he wrote, with most pages having four to six panels. He worked very closely with the artists in plotting the book, and wrote the series spontaneously, never knowing how an issue would end until he got to the last page.
, with the original thirteen characters being Hawk
, Stalker
, Breaker
, Clutch
, Scarlett
, Snake-Eyes, Rock ‘n Roll, Steeler
, Grand Slam
, Flash
, Short-Fuze
, Grunt
and Zap
. This reflected their origins in the Hasbro toy line, with the initial characters being the same as the action figures in the original 1982 release of the toy line. The team roster expanded as additional action figures were released.
Hama created most characters in collaboration with Hasbro. Hasbro would send him character sketches and brief descriptions of each character's military specialties, and Hama would create detailed dossiers on each characters, giving them distinct personalities and background stories
. Hama kept track of each character on file cards, and eventually Hasbro decided to reprint shortened versions of these dossiers as file cards on the packaging for the action figures. The file cards themselves became a selling point for the toy line, and appealed to both children and adults. Hama noted that:
Hama tended to base the personalities of the characters on people that he knew, and he credits this technique for the realism of his characterization. He later said that, "Events and continuity never meant anything to me. The important thing was the characters."
According to comic book historian John Jackson Miller
, Hasbro's promotion of the comic resulted in dramatic sales increases, from 157,920 copies per month in 1983 to 331,475 copies per month in 1985, making it one of Marvel's "strongest titles." According to Jim Shooter
, G.I. Joe was Marvel's number one subscription title in 1985.
By 1987, the main title was getting 1200 letters every week. Hama read every one, and sent out fifty to one hundred hand-written replies every week.
providing pencils on several issues. Spinning out of G.I. Joe #50 and set in the same continuity, the series presented more intense violence and a more ambiguous morality than the main title, and the Joes faced enemies who were not related to Cobra. Each issue usually featured a stand-alone mission focusing on a small group of Joes.
Two mini-series were also produced. The first, G.I. Joe: Order of Battle, was a 4-issue mini-series running from December 1986 to March 1987, reprinting the data found on the action figures' file cards with some edits. Written by Hama, with all-new artwork by Trimpe, the first two issues featured G.I. Joe members, while the third issue focused on the members of Cobra Command, and the fourth highlighted the vehicles and equipment used by both organizations. A trade-paperback
edition, which included material from all four issues, was published in 1987.
The second, G.I. Joe and The Transformers, was a 4-issue mini-series running from January to April 1987. The story had the Joes and the Autobots joining forces to stop the Decepticons and Cobra from destroying the world. A trade paperback later collected all four issues.
titled G.I. Joe Comic Magazine. Subsequently, Tales of G.I. Joe reprinted the first fifteen issues of G.I. Joe on a higher quality paper stock than that used for the main comic. Four Yearbooks (1985–1988) also collected some previous stories, summarized events, and published new stories that tied into the main title, aside from the first Yearbook, which re-printed the seminal first issue. The series was also translated into several languages, including German
, Spanish
, Portuguese
, Polish
, French
, French (Canada)
, Swedish
, Norwegian
, Finnish
, Danish
, Japanese
, Arabic
, and Indonesian
.
G.I. Joe European Missions was published monthly from June 1988 until May 1989. The European Missions series are all reprints of Action Force Monthly, which was published in the UK. Unlike the weekly Action Force
series, these were all original stories, never before seen in the U.S. They were not written by Larry Hama.
In July 2001, Devil's Due Publishing
acquired the rights to G.I. Joe and released a four-issue limited series entitled G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Reinstated). Strong sales led to Reinstated being upgraded to ongoing, and it lasted for 43 issues, before being relaunched as a new series G.I. Joe: America's Elite
, which lasted for 36 issues. Devil's Due's license with Hasbro expired in 2008 and was not renewed.
Building on the success of the Devil's Due Comics run of G.I. Joe, Marvel Comics collected the first 50 issues in five trade paperbacks
, with ten issues in each book. All covers for the trade paperbacks were drawn by J. Scott Campbell.
In 2009, IDW Publishing
began to re-publish the original series again as Classic G.I. Joe, and like Marvel before it, collects ten issues in each volume. As of November 2011, thirteen volumes have been published. IDW also revived the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero as an ongoing series in 2010, with a special #155½ issue released on Free Comic Book Day
, followed by issue #156 onwards in July 2010.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
that was published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
from 1982 to 1994. Based on Hasbro, Inc.'s
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a military-themed line of action figures and toys in Hasbro's G.I. Joe franchise. The toyline lasted from 1982 to 1994, producing well over 500 figures and 250 vehicles and playsets. The line reappeared in 1997 and has continued in one form or another to the...
line of military-themed toys, the series has been credited for making G.I. Joe into a pop-culture phenomenon. G.I. Joe was also the first comic book to be advertised on television, in what has been called a "historically crucial moment in media convergence." The comic book has been re-printed several times and also translated in multiple languages. In addition to direct spin-offs of the comic book, several re-imaginings and revivals
G.I. Joe (IDW Publishing)
G.I. Joe is a comic book series by IDW Publishing, based upon Hasbro's G.I. Joe characters and toy line.The series is marketed as three ongoing series , two mini-series and a small series of one-shots...
have been published throughout the 2000s.
The series was written for most of its 155-issue run by comic book writer, artist, and editor Larry Hama
Larry Hama
Larry Hama is an American comic book writer, artist, actor and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s....
, and was notable for its realistic, character-based storytelling style, unusual for a toy comic at the time. Hama wrote the series spontaneously, never knowing how a story would end until it was finished, but worked closely with the artists, giving them sketches of the characters and major scenes. While most stories involved the G.I. Joe Team
G.I. Joe Team
G.I. Joe is the code name of an elite covert special forces unit operating under the control of the United States Military in the fictional G.I. Joe universe....
battling against the forces of Cobra Command, an evil terrorist organization, many also focused on the relationships and background stories
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
of the characters.
Background and early development
In the early 1980s, HasbroHasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
noted the success of Kenner Products'
Kenner
Kenner Products was a toy company founded in 1947 by three brothers, Albert, Phillip, and Joseph L. Steiner, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, and was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located, which is just north of Cincinnati's Union Terminal.Kenner introduced its...
Star Wars action figures
Kenner Star Wars action figures
The Kenner toy company produced a line of Star Wars action figures based on characters in the original Star Wars movie trilogy. Over 90 unique action figures were produced and sold from 1978 to 1985, during which time over 300 million Star Wars action figures were sold...
, and decided to re-launch their long-running G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
property as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a military-themed line of action figures and toys in Hasbro's G.I. Joe franchise. The toyline lasted from 1982 to 1994, producing well over 500 figures and 250 vehicles and playsets. The line reappeared in 1997 and has continued in one form or another to the...
with 3.75 inches (9.5 cm) scale action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s rather than the traditional 12 inches (30.5 cm) scale. Hasbro also decided that they wanted the new figures to have a back story. The toy line was conceived as a result of a chance meeting in a men's room. According to Jim Shooter
Jim Shooter
James Shooter is an American writer, occasional fill-in artist, editor, and publisher for various comic books. Although he started professionally in the medium at the extraordinarily young age of 14, he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comics' ninth...
, then editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
:
Coincidentally Larry Hama, then an editor at Marvel, had begun to design characters and background for a series concept he was pitching that would be entitled Fury Force, about a team of futuristic super-soldiers affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. is a fictional espionage and a secret military law-enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Strange Tales #135 , it often deals with superhuman threats....
, an existing Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
property combining military and science fiction genre elements. As Hama tells it, he got the job of writing for the series because Marvel had asked every other available creator to write it and no one else would. Unable to find other writing work at the time, he later said that, "If they had asked me to write Barbie, I would have done that, too."
Soon after this, Hasbro hosted a meeting with Hama, Jim Shooter, Tom DeFalco
Tom DeFalco
Tom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well known for his association with Marvel Comics and in particular for his work with Spider-Man.-Career:...
, Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (comics)
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work...
, and Nelson Yomtov to discuss the future of the property. It was at this meeting that Archie Goodwin suggested the idea of Cobra Command as a recurring enemy for G.I. Joe to fight (similar to the HYDRA
HYDRA
HYDRA is a fictional terrorist organization in the Marvel Universe.Despite the name's capitalization per Marvel's official spelling, the name is not an acronym but rather a reference to the mythical Lernaean Hydra...
terrorist organization - recurring enemies to the aforementioned S.H.I.E.L.D. organization). Prior to this, Hasbro had not considered giving G.I. Joe an enemy. Based on the results of this meeting, Hasbro contracted Marvel to produce a comic book series featuring the toys.
The first issue was published in June 1982, containing two stories, both of which were written by Hama. The first story, "Operation: Lady Doomsday", was drawn by Herb Trimpe
Herb Trimpe
Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe Herbert W. "Herb" Trimpe (b. May 26, 1939, is an American comic book artist and occasional writer, best known for his work on The Incredible Hulk and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolverine, who later became a breakout...
, who drew most of the early issues and also wrote issue #9, and the second story, "Hot Potato", was drawn by Don Perlin
Don Perlin
Don Perlin is an American comic book artist and occasional writer best known for Marvel Comics' Werewolf by Night, The Defenders, and Ghost Rider...
. This issue introduced many basic concepts of the G.I. Joe universe, such as the Joes having a base under a motor pool, and introduced the iconic "original 13" G.I. Joe Team
G.I. Joe Team
G.I. Joe is the code name of an elite covert special forces unit operating under the control of the United States Military in the fictional G.I. Joe universe....
members. The issue also introduced two recurring villains, Cobra Commander
Cobra Commander
Cobra Commander is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe franchise. He appears in the toyline, animated series , comic books, video games, and movie as the usual principal antagonist. He is the supreme leader of the terrorist organization Cobra, and archnemesis of the Joes...
and the Baroness
Baroness (G.I. Joe)
The Baroness is a character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline by Hasbro, originally appearing in the first issue of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic series by Marvel Comics in June, 1982. The Baroness is a villain, usually associated with G.I. Joe's enemy, Cobra.Baroness...
. Whereas Cobra Commander and the various Joes already had action figures issued, The Baroness is the earliest example of a G.I. Joe character whose first appearance in the comics predated the conception of their action figure.
Most of the early stories were completed in one issue, but multi-part stories began to appear by the middle of the series' first year of publication, and there were hints of the ongoing storylines that would later characterize the series. In May 1983, issue #11 introduced many new characters, including most of the 1983 action figure line and the villain Destro
Destro
Laird James McCullen Destro XXIV, usually referred to simply as Destro, is a fictional villain from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line of military-themed toys from Hasbro. He is portrayed by Christopher Eccleston in the 2009 live-action film, G.I...
, who would become a frequently recurring character. Many subsequent storylines involved the machinations and power struggles between him, Cobra Commander, and the Baroness. Issue #11 established a pattern for the series in which every so often Marvel would publish an issue introducing a group of characters and vehicles that represented the new year's toy offerings.
An early issue that attracted much attention, both positive and negative, was G.I. Joe #21, titled "Silent Interlude", which was told entirely without words or sound effects. In a 1987 interview, Hama explained that the motivation for the story was that he "... wanted to see if [he] could do a story that was a real, complete story—beginning, middle, end, conflict, characterization, action, solid resolution—without balloons or captions or sound effects." At first, the issue was controversial; some readers felt cheated that it had no words and could be "read" so quickly. However, it eventually became one of the series' most enduring and influential issues. Issue #21 has been recognized as a modern comic classic, and became a prime example of comics' visual storytelling power. Comic book artist and theorist Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...
(author of Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art is a 215-page non-fiction comic book, written and drawn by Scott McCloud and originally published in 1993. It explores the definition of comics, the historical development of the medium, its fundamental vocabulary, and various ways in which these elements...
) describes "Silent Interlude" as "... a kind of watershed moment for cartoonists of [our] generation. Everyone remembers it. All these things came out of it. It was like 9/11." The issue would eventually be ranked #44 in Wizard Magazine's
Wizard (magazine)
Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011...
listing of the "100 Best Single Issues Since You Were Born" and #6 on io9
Io9
io9 is a blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The blog focuses on the subjects of science fiction, futurism, and advancements in the fields of science and technology....
's "10 Issues of Ongoing Comics that Prove Single Issues Can Be Great."
Another early highlight was 1984's "Snake-Eyes: The Origin" Parts I & II, published in issues #26-27. This issue established Snake-Eyes' complicated background, and tied his character into many other characters, both G.I. Joe and Cobra. Hama considers it to be his favorite storyline from the Marvel run. In 1986, echoing events portrayed in the TV series, G.I. Joe #49 was published, introducing the character of Serpentor
Serpentor
Serpentor is a fictional character from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, a line of military-themed toys created by Hasbro. The character was introduced in 1986 as a toy with an air chariot and included in the animated series that same year.-Toys:...
, a genetically created amalgam of history's greatest warriors. Serpentor played a significant role in the Cobra Civil War, which occurred in issues #73-76, a landmark story event that involved nearly every G.I. Joe and Cobra character vying for control of Cobra Island
Cobra Island
Cobra Island is a fictional country located in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the main base of operations for the fictional Cobra Organization featured in the G.I. Joe toyline from the 1980s. It is featured in the G.I. Joe cartoon and the comic book series created by Marvel Comics and Devil's Due...
.
Later years and cancellation
When G.I. Joe began, most toy tie-in comics lasted an average of two years, so G.I. Joe, lasting for 12 years, was considered a runaway success. Through the years, the comic book series chronicled the adventures of G.I. Joe and Cobra, using a consistent storyline. In the early 1990s, however, it began to drop in quality, and was canceled by Marvel in 1994 with issue #155 due to low sales. Hasbro canceled the A Real American Hero toy line in the same year. Between the lack of new toys and the cancellation of the second TV seriesG.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1989 TV series)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a half-hour American animated television series based on the successful toyline from Hasbro and the comic book series from Marvel Comics. The series was produced by DIC Entertainment and ran from 1989 to 1991....
three years earlier, the comic book could not count on the same cross-platform support it had enjoyed in the past. The target demographic had also changed considerably. According to Hama:
The final issue featured a stand alone story titled "A Letter from Snake Eyes." Narrating from his perspective, Snake Eyes tells his story through recollections of his many comrades-in-arms who have died over the years.
Shortly after the final issue, G.I. Joe Special #1 was released in February 1995, containing alternate art for issue #61 by Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....
. McFarlane was the original penciller for issue #61, but his artwork had been rejected by Larry Hama as unacceptable, and so Marshall Rogers
Marshall Rogers
Marshall Rogers was an American comic-book artist best known for his work at Marvel and DC Comics in the 1970s, particularly as one of the illustrators of Batman and Silver Surfer...
was brought in to pencil the final published version. In the years following, McFarlane became a superstar comic artist, and Marvel eventually decided to print the unpublished work.
Promotion
Hasbro used television advertising to publicize the series, and when the first one aired in 1982 featuring G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1, it was the first time a commercial had ever been used to promote a comic book. Since the commercials were technically promoting the comic books rather than the toys, they allowed Hasbro to circumvent television regulations mandating that toy commercials could not contain more than ten seconds of animation. By not showcasing any characters and toys outside of the comic book context, they were able to include a full thirty seconds of animation. Marvel was paid $5 million by Hasbro to produce the commercials through its animation division Marvel ProductionsMarvel Productions
Marvel Productions Ltd. , last called New World Animation, was a television and film studio subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment Group , based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, then New World Entertainment and News Corporation/Fox...
. Larry Hama relates the genesis of the commercials:
Between the toy line, comic books, commercials and subsequent cartoon series, Hasbro had "put forward a marketing plan that was to become an industry standard, and a model for non-film properties to survive in other mediums",and became an early example of an industry practice that what would years later be described by Jenkins as a "transmedia narrative." Although the adolescent male demographic was the traditional comic book reader, an unintended result of the TV advertising tie-ins was that they attracted people who were not traditional comic book readers. In an interview, Hama stated:
The comic book's popularity with women has also been attributed to the strong female characters featured in the comic, such as Scarlett
Scarlett (G.I. Joe)
Scarlett is a fictional character from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, a line of military-themed toys created by Hasbro. The character is one of the original members of the fictional team and toy line. She is a major character of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic book series and the...
and Lady Jaye
Lady Jaye (G.I. Joe)
Lady Jaye is a fictional character in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. She was originally created as a character for the Sunbow cartoon series in 1984, and later produced as an action figure, and finally introduced into the comic book in 1985. Lady Jaye is...
. Since very few of the G.I. Joe action figures were female, Hama tended to frequently use all of the female characters, including those that were created as recurring characters in the comics.
Writing style
U.S. Army Field Manuals
U.S. Army Field Manuals are published by the United States Army's Army Publishing Directorate. As of 27 July 2007, some 542 field manuals were in use. They contain detailed information and how-tos for procedures important to soldiers serving in the field. They are usually available to the public at...
and technical manuals, and also credits his friend Lee Russel, a military historian, for helping him with research.
In style and plot structure, the comic often made use of overlapping story threads. According to Hama:
The story arcs coincided with each of the new lines of G.I. Joe toys that Hasbro was producing, however the comic book was not directly influenced by the toy products. Of the Hasbro/Marvel relationship, Hama observed that the toy company did not demand the book to be written a certain way:
Hama wrote out page-by-page plots for all of the issues he wrote, with most pages having four to six panels. He worked very closely with the artists in plotting the book, and wrote the series spontaneously, never knowing how an issue would end until he got to the last page.
Characterization
In the first issue, it is revealed that the team’s official moniker is Special Counter-Terrorist Unit Delta. G.I. Joe featured an ensemble castEnsemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
, with the original thirteen characters being Hawk
Hawk (G.I. Joe)
Hawk is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line of military-themed toys. He appears in the animated series, comic books, toyline, and movie.-Profile:...
, Stalker
Stalker (G.I. Joe)
Stalker is the code name of Army Sergeant Lonzo R. Wilkinson, a character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series. He is one of very few characters from the first line of the toys to have a distinct appearance from the other action figures, as he is African-American. Stalker was a major...
, Breaker
Breaker (G.I. Joe)
Breaker is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. He is the G.I. Joe Team's original communications officer and debuted in 1982.-Profile:...
, Clutch
Clutch (G.I. Joe)
Clutch is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. He is one of the G.I. Joe Team's motor vehicle drivers and debuted in 1982.-Profile:...
, Scarlett
Scarlett (G.I. Joe)
Scarlett is a fictional character from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, a line of military-themed toys created by Hasbro. The character is one of the original members of the fictional team and toy line. She is a major character of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic book series and the...
, Snake-Eyes, Rock ‘n Roll, Steeler
Steeler (G.I. Joe)
Steeler is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series of the 1980s. He is the G.I. Joe team's original tank commander and debuted in 1982.-Profile:...
, Grand Slam
Grand Slam (G.I. Joe)
Grand Slam is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series of the 1980s. Grand Slam is the G.I. Joe Team's original laser artillery soldier.-Profile:...
, Flash
Flash (G.I. Joe)
Flash is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. He is the G.I. Joe Team's original laser rifle trooper and debuted in 1982.-Profile:...
, Short-Fuze
Short-Fuze (G.I. Joe)
Short-Fuze is a character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series of the 1980s. He is the G.I. Joe team's original mortar soldier and debuted in 1982.-Profile:...
, Grunt
Grunt (G.I. Joe)
Grunt is a fictional character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series. He is an infantryman with the G.I. Joe Team and debuted in 1982.-Profile:...
and Zap
Zap (G.I. Joe)
Zap is a character from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, comic books and cartoon series of the 1980s. He is the G.I. Joe team's original bazooka soldier and debuted in 1982.-Profile:...
. This reflected their origins in the Hasbro toy line, with the initial characters being the same as the action figures in the original 1982 release of the toy line. The team roster expanded as additional action figures were released.
Hama created most characters in collaboration with Hasbro. Hasbro would send him character sketches and brief descriptions of each character's military specialties, and Hama would create detailed dossiers on each characters, giving them distinct personalities and background stories
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
. Hama kept track of each character on file cards, and eventually Hasbro decided to reprint shortened versions of these dossiers as file cards on the packaging for the action figures. The file cards themselves became a selling point for the toy line, and appealed to both children and adults. Hama noted that:
Hama tended to base the personalities of the characters on people that he knew, and he credits this technique for the realism of his characterization. He later said that, "Events and continuity never meant anything to me. The important thing was the characters."
Reception
Initially, the response to the new comic book was muted due to its low status as a "toy book." However its popularity eventually grew, and is credited with bringing in a new generation of comic readers. Within two months of the toy line's launch, "some 20 per cent of boys from ages five to twelve had two or more G.I. Joe toys", and by 1988/89 a survey conducted by Hasbro found that "two out of every three boys between the ages of five and eleven owned at least one G.I. Joe figure." These boys were drawn to the G.I. Joe comic book through its association with the toy line, and then went on to other comics. As Hama puts it:According to comic book historian John Jackson Miller
John Jackson Miller
John Jackson Miller is an American comic book writer and commentator, known for his work on the Star Wars franchise as well as his research into comic book circulation history, as presented in the Standard Catalog of Comic Books series.-Biography:...
, Hasbro's promotion of the comic resulted in dramatic sales increases, from 157,920 copies per month in 1983 to 331,475 copies per month in 1985, making it one of Marvel's "strongest titles." According to Jim Shooter
Jim Shooter
James Shooter is an American writer, occasional fill-in artist, editor, and publisher for various comic books. Although he started professionally in the medium at the extraordinarily young age of 14, he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comics' ninth...
, G.I. Joe was Marvel's number one subscription title in 1985.
By 1987, the main title was getting 1200 letters every week. Hama read every one, and sent out fifty to one hundred hand-written replies every week.
Spin-offs
In 1986, the success of A Real American Hero lead Marvel to produce a second title: G.I. Joe: Special Missions which lasted 28 issues. Herb Trimpe was the artist for most of the run, with Dave CockrumDave Cockrum
David Emmett Cockrum was an American comic book artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus...
providing pencils on several issues. Spinning out of G.I. Joe #50 and set in the same continuity, the series presented more intense violence and a more ambiguous morality than the main title, and the Joes faced enemies who were not related to Cobra. Each issue usually featured a stand-alone mission focusing on a small group of Joes.
Two mini-series were also produced. The first, G.I. Joe: Order of Battle, was a 4-issue mini-series running from December 1986 to March 1987, reprinting the data found on the action figures' file cards with some edits. Written by Hama, with all-new artwork by Trimpe, the first two issues featured G.I. Joe members, while the third issue focused on the members of Cobra Command, and the fourth highlighted the vehicles and equipment used by both organizations. A trade-paperback
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
edition, which included material from all four issues, was published in 1987.
The second, G.I. Joe and The Transformers, was a 4-issue mini-series running from January to April 1987. The story had the Joes and the Autobots joining forces to stop the Decepticons and Cobra from destroying the world. A trade paperback later collected all four issues.
Reprints and revivals
The first 37 issues of the main series were released in thirteen digestsDigest size
Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately 5½ x 8¼ inches, but can also be 5⅜ x 8⅜ inches and 5½ x 7½ inches. These sizes have evolved from the printing press operation end...
titled G.I. Joe Comic Magazine. Subsequently, Tales of G.I. Joe reprinted the first fifteen issues of G.I. Joe on a higher quality paper stock than that used for the main comic. Four Yearbooks (1985–1988) also collected some previous stories, summarized events, and published new stories that tied into the main title, aside from the first Yearbook, which re-printed the seminal first issue. The series was also translated into several languages, including German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, French (Canada)
Canadian French
Canadian French is an umbrella term referring to the varieties of French spoken in Canada. French is the mother tongue of nearly seven million Canadians, a figure constituting roughly 22% of the national population. At the federal level it has co-official status alongside English...
, Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, and Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
.
G.I. Joe European Missions was published monthly from June 1988 until May 1989. The European Missions series are all reprints of Action Force Monthly, which was published in the UK. Unlike the weekly Action Force
Action Force
Action Force was a 1980s range of European action figures initially based on Action Man, and later used to introduce G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toys to European markets...
series, these were all original stories, never before seen in the U.S. They were not written by Larry Hama.
In July 2001, Devil's Due Publishing
Devil's Due Publishing
Devil's Due Publishing is an independent comic book publishers in the United States. Based in Chicago, Illinois, DDP is best known for its wide selection of genres, including licensed and original creator-owned properties that populate its monthly comic book series and graphic novels.Though...
acquired the rights to G.I. Joe and released a four-issue limited series entitled G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Reinstated). Strong sales led to Reinstated being upgraded to ongoing, and it lasted for 43 issues, before being relaunched as a new series G.I. Joe: America's Elite
G.I. Joe: America's Elite
G.I. Joe: America's Elite is a series of comic books set in the G.I. Joe universe that began publication in June 2005. The events of the series begin one year after the conclusion of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero . The Special Missions series features reservist G.I. Joes and expands on plots set...
, which lasted for 36 issues. Devil's Due's license with Hasbro expired in 2008 and was not renewed.
Building on the success of the Devil's Due Comics run of G.I. Joe, Marvel Comics collected the first 50 issues in five trade paperbacks
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
, with ten issues in each book. All covers for the trade paperbacks were drawn by J. Scott Campbell.
In 2009, IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
began to re-publish the original series again as Classic G.I. Joe, and like Marvel before it, collects ten issues in each volume. As of November 2011, thirteen volumes have been published. IDW also revived the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero as an ongoing series in 2010, with a special #155½ issue released on Free Comic Book Day
Free Comic Book Day
Free Comic Book Day is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to help bring new readers into independent comic book stores. Retailer Joe Field of in Concord, CA brainstormed the event in his "Big Picture" column in the August 2001 issue of Comics & Games Retailer...
, followed by issue #156 onwards in July 2010.
External links
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero on Joepedia, an external wiki
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series archive at YoJoe.com
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series archive at JMM's G.I. Joe Comics Homepage