G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Kickstarter Exclusive Box Set

G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero! Compendium #1-4

by Larry Hama

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Exclusive Compendium Box Set

4881 pages, Hardcover

About the author

Larry Hama is an American writer, artist, actor and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s.

During the 1970s, he was seen in minor roles on the TV shows M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live, and appeared on Broadway in two roles in the original 1976 production of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures.

He is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor for Marvel Comics, where he wrote the licensed comic book series G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero, based on the Hasbro action figures. He has also written for the series Wolverine, Nth Man: the Ultimate Ninja, and Elektra. He created the character Bucky O'Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon.

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 1

An easy 5 stars. This is G.I. Joe in its prime. These first 50 issues are G.I. Joe to me, and the stories I know the best. While nostalgia plays a part I'm sure, even now at 52 I still think this is one of the greatest comic book runs of all time.

Volume 2
Another easy 5 stars here as the prime continues. The constant introduction of new toys could have thrown this series off the rails but Larry Hama somehow continues to keep it all together.

Volume 3

While there are some lower points in the storytelling in this volume the overall consistency of quality is surprisingly high. Larry Hama wrote all but a small handful of this series and I am amazed at what he was able to do with it.

Volume 4

This volume does contain the weakest stories in the series, but still sees Hama churning out some great stuff and trying some innovative things. The artwork here is a big disappointment though. It was the 90s by this time and I really dislike most of the art from that period.


Overall this is a soaring 5 stars and an amazing accomplishment. These 4 volumes contain all 155 issues of the original series, all 28 issues of the spin off series Special Missions, the 4 issues of Order Of Battle, and the 4 issues of the Transformers crossover (the less said about that one the better).

[Bo Dixen Pedersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure nostalgia right into my veins.

This is my childhood.