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This week’s reading - Classic G.I. Joe, volume 1 

Written by Larry Hama
Art by Herb Trimpe, Mike Vosburg, and Don Perlin

Like many other people between the ages of 25-32, the classic GI.Joe cartoon and comic series was massive pop-culture influence on my life. While some of the stories were a bit absurd ( Anyone remember Zartan’s evil band, Cold Slither)it was a series with very endearing and interesting characters. It was also a property aimed a kids that never treated them like kids. The GI.Joe universe was so rich and deep, but also had fun espionage plots and military intrigue. A lot of people have some sort of nostalgic tie to this property and it’s something so unique of the times too. There have been many attempts to reboot or repackage GI.Joe but nothing has come close to how good it was back-in-the-day.

Classic G.I. Joe volume 1 contains the first ten issues of the original GI.Joe series released by Marvel. The original series had a run between 1982 and 1994. That’s a long running series. In 2008, IDW acquired the rights to the GI.Joe franchise, they are now reprinting the series in a glossy print, re-colored graphic novel series.  I was much more familiar with the GI.Joe cartoon as opposed to the comic series, which thankfully means I can now read these wonderful comic stories I’ve heard so much about.

Since this trade collects the first ten issues of the series, it starts off with the formation of GI.Joe and the primary Joe roster is formed. With this being an early team, this is much more military based than the cartoon was. There is no Shipwreck, Dusty, Deep-Six or any other location themed characters. This team is a strictly military strike force, mainly consisting of Hawk, Duke, Flash, Scarlet, Steeler, Clutch, Rock & Roll and Snake Eyes.

The majority of the original GI.Joe comic series was written Larry Hama, which is no surprise since he truly gets these characters. He also fuses the stories with enough military intrigue, wit, action and character development that no one else has been able to live up to Hama’s writing of the GI.Joe team. This first volume is fantastic and it’s so nice to be able to read these timeless Joe tales that hold up perfectly. This is a must-read for GI.Joe fans alike and something I would even recommend to non-Joe fans too since it’s such a quality series.