G.I. Joe has been the title of comic book licensed by Hasbro, G.I. Joe from 1967 to present, with only two interruptions longer than a year (1977–1981, 1997–2000). As a team fighting Cobra since 1982, the comic book history of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero has been covered by three separate publishers and four main-title series, all of which have been based on the Hasbro toy line of the same name.
The first series was produced by Marvel Comics between 1982 and 1994, running for 155 issues, and spawning several spin-off titles throughout the course of its run; the second and third series, published by Devil's Due Productions from 2001 to 2008, totaled 80 issues and included several spin-off titles as well. The fourth series has been published by IDW Publishing since October 2008, and various spin-off titles have also been launched.
Custom Comics In 1967, Hasbro released a single small comic book with its action figures titled America's Movable Fighting Man and produced by Custom Comics, Inc, an imprint of American Comics Group. Featuring illustrations by Kurt Schaffenberger.
In 1969, issues of a larger format comic with more elaborate stories were released with toys as The Adventures of G. I. Joe. From 1970 to 1976, Hasbro continued to reprint and publish new comics in-house as The G. I. Joe Adventure Team (see the Hasbro section).
Comic book advertisement (1975-1976) Between 1975 and 1976, Hasbro published comic book advertisements starring the Adventure Team, featuring the original G.I. Joe, Atomic Man and Bulletman as members.
Marvel Comics A Real American Hero (main series)
Hasbro relaunched their G.I. Joe franchise with G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which was supported by a Marvel Comics series of the same name. It was unique at the time in that it was a comic book series that was promoted on television commercials which also supported the toy line. This 155-issue series is considered to be one of the longest-running comic book tie-ins to a toy line. Much of its success is to be credited to Larry Hama, who wrote the entire series save for a few issues with guest writers. Rather than treating the stories as a mere promotion for the toys, Hama wrote the series with seriousness and infused it with doses of realism, humor, and drama. To keep the series up-to-date on military technology and terminology, Hama continuously read through technical manuals. Other than Transformers, no other series based on a toy line was able to duplicate its success. Other notable & recurring artists include Herb Trimpe, Ron Wagner, Rod Whigham, Mike Vosburg, Andrew Wildman, Phil Gosier, Chris Batista and Marshall Rogers.
A number of differences existed between the comic book and the animated TV series. Certain characters who were very prominent in the comic book, such as Stalker, were featured very little in the cartoon, while characters who were less prominent in the comic book, such as Shipwreck, were very prominent in the cartoon series. Another difference was that in the comic book featured a romance between Scarlett and Snake Eyes, whereas in the cartoon, she was paired with Duke. The most notable difference between the comic and the cartoon, however, is in its handling of combat. While the cartoon had the characters use semi-futuristic laser rifles and pistols (due to an edict for "no bullets" from the studio), the comic book did not shy away from using real-world pistols, rifles, SMGs and ammunition. The cartoon characters would almost comically wade through waves of enemy fire untouched, while the comic book would routinely have characters suffer injuries from bullets or shrapnel. The cartoon showed that nearly every soldier in every battle survived (for example, many shots of aircraft being shot down were shown to have its pilot escape in a parachute), while the comic did not shy away from character deaths; for example, issue #109 included the deaths of a large number of Joes, including fan-favorites like Doc, Breaker, and Quick-Kick, while other storylines included the deaths of Serpentor and Dr. Mindbender.
G.I. Joe: Order of Battle was a 4-issue mini series which ran from December 1986 - March 1987. Written by Larry Hama, with art by Herb Trimpe, the first issue spotlighted G.I. Joe characters with code names from A-K. Subsequent issues spotlighted G.I. Joe characters from M-Z, Cobra characters, and vehicles respectively. The second issue erroneously listed Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa character as a member of G.I. Joe. While negotiations had taken place to license the character, the deal had fallen through. The third and fourth issues contained a retraction stating that Rocky Balboa was not and had never been a member of G.I. Joe. A trade-paperback including material from all four issues, was published in 1987, and removed mention of the Rocky character entirely.
G.I. Joe: Special Missions The success of the main title lead Marvel Comics to produce a secondary title, G.I. Joe: Special Missions which lasted 28 issues. Herb Trimpe was the artist for nearly the entire run, with Dave Cockrum providing pencils on several issues. Spinning out of a story in issue #50 of the main title, the series featured more intense violence and more ambiguous morality than the main title, while the enemies were conventional terrorists as well as Cobra itself. The first four issues, as well as the backup story from issue #50 of the main title, were later republished as a trade paperback.
Reprints The first 37 issues of the main series were released in thirteen digests titled G.I. Joe Comic Magazine.
Tales of G.I. Joe reprinted the first 15 issues of G.I. Joe on a higher quality paper stock than that used for the main comic.
Shortly after the final issue, a G.I. Joe Special #1 was released, with alternate art for issue #61 by Todd McFarlane. The cover features Snake Eyes in a crouched-down position, in a homage to the Spider-Man title that McFarlane illustrated during his tenure at Marvel.
In 2001, with the success of 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. The Marvel trades were heavily criticized due to printing errors, as the first three volume featured missing pages and pages published out of order. Production of the trade paperback series ultimately ended after the fifth volume, due to low sales and the fact that Marvel only had the original artwork and film negatives for the first 50 issues; further volumes would require tracking down and scanning the uncollected issues and remastering them for publication, which was deemed to be not cost effective given the poor sales of the books.
In 2009, IDW Publishing began to publish the series again. Called Classic G.I. Joe, the 15 volume trade paperback set collects all 155 issues (minus back-up features). The first five volumes use the same J. Scott Campbell covers as the Marvel trades (and correct printing errors found in the Marvel trades), volumes six through nine utilized Campbell's covers from the first 4 issues of the Devil Due series, and volumes ten through fifteen would ultimately feature new artwork commissioned for the trade paperbacks.
Foreign-language versions G.I. Joe was published in a number of languages, sometimes by local publishers. Issues were translated into German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, French, French (Canada), Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Greek, Japanese, Arabic, Indonesian, and other languages.
Additional series A four-issue limited series titled G.I. Joe and the Transformers teamed-up the Joes with the other popular Hasbro property of the 1980s, Transformers. Written by Michael Higgins, and with art by Herb Trimpe, set inside the continuity of both series, this was not acknowledged until the Transformers showed up in the main G.I. Joe comic years later. The final issue introduced the Transformers character Goldbug, who later appeared in the main The Transformers comic book series. A trade paperback later collected all four issues.
Action Force was the British counterpart to the 3-inch G.I. Joe toy line. The Action Force comic was launched by Marvel UK in 1987, tying into the previous Battle Action Force, and publishing original strips as well as modified reprints of the U.S. comic, with the team renamed "Action Force". The title lasted fifty issues before merging with Marvel UK's The Transformers in early 1988.
Later in 1988, a second series, Action Force Monthly, was launched due to Marvel UK's decision to produce comics in the American monthly format, and ran for fifteen issues before it was cancelled. The Action Force Monthly title was published in the U.S. as G.I. Joe: European Missions, which kept all of the dialogue from the UK version without attempting to incorporate the reprinted stories into the continuity of the U.S. G.I. Joe comic. The comic also included a tie-in story for the UK release of G.I. Joe: The Movie.
After the cancellation of Action Force Monthly, the U.S. G.I. Joe comic continued to be reprinted in Marvel UK's The Transformers comic as a back-up feature, with the dialogue kept intact, until it was dropped in 1991.
Blackthorne Publishing Blackthorne Publishing released six issues of G.I. Joe in 3-D and one annual. These issues were meant to be read with 3-D glasses. The stories didn't contradict the ongoing Marvel Comics series, but weren't considered canon.
Blackthorne also published three issues of How to Draw G.I. Joe, as part of their Official "How to Draw" series.
Dark Horse Comics In 1996, the G.I. Joe toy line was relaunched with the G.I. Joe Extreme series. Dark Horse Comics acquired the rights to publish comics based on the G.I. Joe Extreme property. The first series was a four-issue limited series written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Tatsuya Ishida, which introduced the main characters. The ongoing G.I. Joe Extreme series that was launched afterward dropped the word "Extreme" from the title. The ongoing series lasted four issues before being canceled, although Dark Horse referred to the title as being on hiatus.
Benchpress Comics In the spring of 1999, Benchpress Comics announced the acquisition of the rights to produce new G.I. Joe and Transformers comics. The G.I. Joe project was to have included Larry Hama as writer. Benchpress's initial plan was to release two G.I. Joe titles; one would feature a core cast of characters (similar to the Marvel Comics series), while the other would have featured a rotating cast (similar in style to the Special Missions title). For unknown reasons, negotiations over hiring Larry Hama stalled, and Benchpress went bankrupt, losing the license in the process. Larry Hama's series proposal and the three sample pages of the comic that were produced are available online.
Devil's Due Publishing G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (G.I. Joe Reinstated)
In July 2001, Devil's Due acquired the rights to G.I. Joe and released a four-issue limited series through Image Comics, written by Josh Blaylock with John Larter and Steve Kurth as the artists. The title quickly became known to the fans as A Real American Hero (vol. 2) (following from Marvel's original series), or G.I. Joe Reinstated (the title of the first four-issue arc). A comics convention special was released before the first issue. Strong sales on the limited series led to it being upgraded to an ongoing series, with the publication of a fifth issue and a monthly schedule.