Comics! Weird albums of script-annotated drawings! Monthly gateways to a million slices of imagination!
I spent time yesterday evening reviewing G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero. A title with some interesting tales to tell even before you open a single issue.
While the name had seen some use before, the modern Joes vs Cobra format we're all familiar with started with Marvel in 1982. That lasted for 155 issues before cancellation, a terrific run for a toy-based property, achieving almost double the 80-issue Transformers run, a franchise with an arguably higher profile and was more popular.
Devil's Due publishing picked it up again in 2001, creating a volume 2 that riffed off the old series and lasted for 42 issues.
Then in 2009 the license fell to IDW who in 2012 decided to pick up directly where the Marvel run left off, (Hasbro deciding to write off the DDP run as Alternate Universe) bringing back original writer, Larry Hama, with a cheeky promo-sized 155.5 issue before commencing with a full 156. Their run ended in 2021 on issue 300.
But wait, there's more!
The license shifted ownership yet again moving to Robert "Walking Dead" Kirkman's outfit, Skybound, in 2023 who also felt that G.I.J: ARAH had more to give, re-re-restarting at issue 301, again with Hama onboard, bring us to the present day where issue 318 is on stands, 43 years after issue 1 dropped!
There are many titles of higher number counts but I don't know any that have pulled the trick through so many different publishers! Or still coming from the original writer. Can I get a "Yo, Joe!" everyone?
There are lots of other reasons to talk about this comic and the legendary Hama particularly but this has been a gentle intro to one of the most tenacious comics in the business. Feel free to drop your Real American Hero memories in comments below.
#Comics #GIJoe #RealAmericanHero #LarryHama
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