G.I. Joe (comic)

2023-06-19T23:19:18Z

15davimn: Fixed typo

{{disambig2|the Marvel comic series|its titular stars|G.I. Joe (team)}}
{{nav-gijoe|logo=GIJoe_Logo.jpg|size=250px}}
[[Image:Marvel_GIJoe-140.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Fly, my ugly, fly!"]]

'''''G.I. Joe''''' was a comic series from [[Marvel Comics]] that crossed over with [[Transformers: Generation 2 (Marvel)|Marvel's ''Generation 2'' series]]. Earlier, a [[G.I. Joe and the Transformers (comic)|Marvel ''G.I. Joe'' / ''Generation 1'' crossover miniseries]] had drawn from events in the ''G.I. Joe'' comic as though it were in continuity with it, but the ''G.I. Joe'' comic had ignored the miniseries at the time. During the ''Generation 2'' crossover, ''[[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]]'' characters showed familiarity with the [[Transformer]]s, perhaps indicating that the miniseries had been [[retcon]]ned into the ''G.I. Joe'' history.

In [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]], Marvel UK reprinted ''G.I. Joe'' issues as ''[[Action Force (comic)|Action Force]]'', adding new material of their own and even crossing over with the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)#Marvel UK|Marvel UK ''Generation 1'' book]]. There was no effort to maintain continuity between the ''G.I. Joe'' stories and the new ''Action Force'' comics, and this wiki considers the unique ''Action Force'' material to be its own [[Continuity|universe]]. The ''Action Force'' comic was eventually merged with the UK ''Generation 1'' comic, but by that point ''Action Force'' was nothing but ''G.I. Joe'' reprints.

{|style="margin:0 auto;padding:0 auto" align="center" id="toc"
|-
!align="center" bgcolor="#6699CC"|<font color="white">''G.I. Joe'' issues with ''Transformers'' content:</font>
|-
!align="center"|[[Unfoldings!|#138]] | [[Realignments|#139]] | [[Goin' South|#140]] | [[Sucker Punch|#141]] | [[Final Transformations|#142]]
|}

==Overview==
At the time that ''G.I. Joe and the Transformers'' was published, a storyline in ''G.I. Joe'' had [[Cobra Commander]] and [[Destro]] appear to perish in an assault on the [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]] base. ''G.I. Joe and the Transformers'' stayed true to this, featuring Cobra Commander in the [[Blood on the Tracks|first issue]] but noting his apparent death in the [[Power Struggle|second]] (even with a footnote encouraging the reader to read ''G.I. Joe'' #55 to learn if the Commander had truly died). Destro also disappeared from the story as soon as Cobra Commander's death was mentioned. However, the ''G.I. Joe'' book had no reciprocal ties to the miniseries, and in fact its use of characters like [[Doctor Mindbender]] and the [[Baroness]] was incompatible with their whereabouts in the mini. Then shortly after the mini concluded, the ''G.I. Joe'' companion series, ''G.I. Joe: Special Missions'', featured [[Slip-Stream]] giving another character a toy of a Transformer that he claimed to be [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]], though it looked like [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. This may have been a sign from [[Larry Hama|the author]] about how he viewed ''Transformers'' in relation to his ''G.I. Joe'' universe, although a [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] toy was also shown prominently in the crossover miniseries, so no interpretation is clear.

Years later, as the ''G.I. Joe'' comic's fortunes sagged, Marvel tried rebranding it as "G.I. Joe featuring Snake-Eyes and Ninja Force". Four issues later, two shadowy Transformers appeared in the story, intrigued by Destro's transforming castle. The next issue, its title changed to "G.I. Joe featuring Snake-Eyes and Transformers: Generation 2", opened with Megatron in full view, his body ravaged from the events at the end of the ''Generation 1'' comic. He was assaulting the castle in disappointment that it was not, in fact, another Transformer. But in the course of the battle, he was impressed by a [[rail gun]] that [[Cobra]] shot him with, and he made a deal to give Cobra [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]ian technology in exchange for rebuilding his body with the addition of the rail gun. When G.I. Joe learned of this partnership, they sent a message to the [[Autobot]]s on Cybertron, who sent a small team to [[Earth]]. The storyline came to a climax with G.I. Joe and the Autobots battling Cobra and Megatron in the [[United States of America|American]] town of [[Milleville]]. Megatron ended up destroying most of the Autobot squad and escaping in the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] with the [[Sidney Biggles-Jones|American double-agent rail gun inventor]], apparently without giving Cobra Commander his promised technology.

The ''G.I. Joe'' and ''Generation 2'' comics went in separate directions from that point. ''Generation 2'' added [[All or Nothing!|one more issue]]'s worth of material to the story, wherein Cobra was revealed to actually have a semi trailer full of Cybertronian tech that [[Hot Spot (G1)|Hot Spot]] gave his life to destroy. Also, Dr. Biggles-Jones was rescued from Megatron's captivity and returned to the Joes. Meanwhile, the ''G.I. Joe'' comic made reference to neither of these events, and while it did show the Joes being airlifted out of Milleville, the fact that alien robots had been involved was never brought up again. Moreover, the ''Generation 2'' comic featured planetwide devastation more than once, even [[The Gathering Darkness|showing G.I. Joe dealing with the aftermath]], but the world of the ''G.I. Joe'' comic was much less apocalyptic. Not once did it acknowledge anything related to ''Transformers'' in the year that it lasted before cancellation.

==Creative team==
Almost every issue of ''G.I. Joe'' (and certainly every issue that crossed over with ''Generation 2'') was written by [[Larry Hama]]. The series also shared several artists, most notably [[Herb Trimpe]] and the pencil/ink team of [[Andrew Wildman]] and [[Stephen Baskerville]]. Wildman and Baskerville even worked on the first crossover issue of ''G.I. Joe''.

==Other notes==
* In 1982, [[Hasbro]] had commissioned Marvel to create a story treatment for their ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' toyline, which Marvel then used as a basis for their comic series while Hasbro took it to [[Sunbow Productions]] to be made into a cartoon. This formula proved extremely successful, and Hasbro used it again for the launch of ''[[Transformers brand|Transformers]]'' two years later.
* [[Richard Starkings]] and [[Simon Furman]] didn't want to run ''G.I. Joe'' as a backup strip in ''Transformers'' (after the ''[[Action Force (comic)|Action Force]]'' merger), feeling it wasn't the best stablemate for a robot-based comic, but the order came down from on high. ''Transformers'' would greatly downplay the Joes, to the extent [[Wrecking Havoc|#172's]] TransFormation page joked that an F-14 Tomcat on the cover means "you may be forgiven" for thinking the team were getting a cover spot again. Furman told [[James Roberts]] this was a deliberate move to "suppress" a comic they felt didn't fit, "no offence to Larry".<ref>''Transformers Classic UK'' Vol.5, page 18</ref>
* The ''Generation 2'' crossover has been reprinted more often now than the ''Generation 2'' series itself, including from [[IDW Publishing]] who never even touched ''Generation 2'' with a pole.
* Though the contents do not fall under this wiki's purview, the Marvel ''G.I. Joe'' series was revived in [[2010]] by IDW Publishing, with Larry Hama returning to write. The IDW series ended with issue #300 in [[2022]], only to immediately pick up again with #301 under [[Skybound Entertainment]] the following year.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Back-up strips]]
[[Category:Comics]]
[[Category:Generation 1 comic series]]
[[Category:Generation 2 comic series]]
[[Category:G.I. Joe franchise]]

MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

G.I. Joe (comic)