G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #173
Written by Larry Hama
Art by Ron Wagner, Wil Rosado, S L Gallant
Inks by Brian Shearer
Colors by Priscilla Tramontano
Letters by Shawn Lee
Covers by Herb Trimpe, John Haynes, and Larry Hama
IDW Publishing
Release Date: December 21, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

This book is amazing! Every month when I read G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero it makes me feel like I’m reading a back issue of Marvel‘s G.I. Joe that I hadn’t read before except without the occasional appearance of a Spider-Man parade balloon or a guy dressed up in a Hulk costume.

Author Larry Hama tells three seperate stories going on in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #173. One, I found REALLY interesting, the next entertaining, and the third, honestly, I didn’t care for very much. And unfortunately, the third story gets the most pages. But, the other two stories make up for it in spades.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #171
Written by Larry Hama
Art by S L Gallant
Inks by Gary Erskine
Colors by J. Brown
Letters by Neil UyeTake
Covers by Larry Hama, S L Gallant, Gary Erskine, Herb Trimpe
IDW Publishing
Release Date: October 19, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

Rest easy, GI Joe fans, you CAN go home again. At least, as far as the GI Joe comics are concerned. I really believe IDW should get some kind of special recognition for bringing BACK 20-year-old continuity in a time in comics where continuity barely holds up from one issue to the next.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #171 might frustrate some newer or younger comics readers, simply for the fact that this IS a continuation of a 20-year-old series and it’s written like it. Storytelling in comics is a lot different now than it was then. What I love about this comic is that it IS written as an old school comic. You get a brief recap within the first few story pages, but other than that, author Larry Hama assumes that you’ve read previous issues and know what’s going on, and it doesn’t hurt the book one bit.

G.I. Joe Classic Vol. 1-4
Written by Larry Hama with Herb Trimpe and Steven Grant
Art by Various
IDW Publishing
Available Now

As much as I loved G.I. Joe when I was a kid, I never read too much of the comic series that Marvel released in the 80’s to tie into the phenomenon. And let me tell you, I loved the toys growing up, had a ton of them, and still have great memories of waking up before school to watch the show. Fortunately for me, IDW has set out to reprint the entire comic book series, and has done a great job with them. Having read the first four volumes that are out now, I realize that it’s kind of a shame I didn’t read these as a kid, because these are some damn fine books for readers of all ages.

The first volume is kind of weird, at least to someone more familiar with the G.I. Joe cartoon series than the comics, as these issues have a very different tone from the show. Gone are the goofy costumes (for the most part) and a lot of the classic characters. No, the series actually starts as a more or less straight war comic, with more focus on the regular soldiers than on any crazy technology.