Regular Joes Volume One

by David Pisani, Tod Pleasant

GI Joe collectors have long suspected their action figures (a phrase coined by Hasbro when the GI Joe was designed in 1963) had personalities. Using short, full-color photo-stories laid out in a graphic novel panel format, David Pisani and Tod Pleasant bring two original 12-inch GI Joe action figures to life in Regular Joes Volume One. Regular Joes not only brings a 1964 Action Soldier and 1973 Adventure Team Land Adventurer to life, but the rest of the action figure world as well: Marx’s Johnny West, Ideal’s Caption Action, Kenner’s Six Million Dollar Man, an assortment of Mego figures, and even Mattel’s Mr. Potato Head. There’s also a brief cameo by George Lucas. The stories chronicle the antics of the two main Joe characters as they play practical jokes on the good-natured, and slightly smaller, Big Jim (Mattel’s 10-inch answer to Hasbro’s Joe), and find themselves in a variety of self-induced predicaments.

The authors, both avid GI Joe collectors, began chronicling the adventures of the two Joes in 2004 as contributors to the GI Joe Collectors Club monthly newsletter. Regular Joes is a collection of the early newsletter photo-stories with a few extras added. Other enthusiastic collectors will appreciate the subtle homages to other classics from yesterday and today sprinkled throughout the stories.

54 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007