Go Joe!

G.I.Joe was never that big in Australia, as far as I know. I don't think the cartoon was ever shown for example. The Transformers were a cousin to G.I.Joe. Both toylines came from the same company. The success of Marvel's "G.I.Joe" comic obviously helped the "Transformers" comic come in to being. Both the America and England comic books had crossovers between the two. The British G.I.Joe comic known as Action Force wasn't very successful and eventually the reprints of the US Joe comics became a backup strip in the UK Transformers from issue 153 onwards with only a few small gaps.

Because the UK "Transformers" comic also reprinted US "Transformers", sometimes the only new material to read were the Joe stories, and they included exciting storylines such as the Joes raiding Cobra's small-town base, then Cobra destroying the Joe's base in retalitation. We saw the rise of Serpentor and of the survival and scheming of not-so-dead Cobra Commander and Destro. In my favourite storyline a group of Joes were abandoned while undercover in a far east european country and Scarlett and Snake-Eyes faked their deaths to rescue them. When the Joe comic ceased being reprinted in "Transformers" it was in the middle of a full-out Joe attack on Cobra Island as Cobra was in the midst of infighting.

The "G.I.Joe" comic went for 150 or so issues. Along the way it served as a lead-in to the "Transformers Generation 2" comic. Now seven years later G.I.Joe comics are back. Produced by Devil's Due and published by Image Comics the new comic starts as a four-issue bi-monthly limited series. With stunning covers by J. Scott Campbell and, from what I can tell from preview art, brilliant art, plus all the classic characters, this time I'm getting in there at the start. Plus it's success (or lack of) may influence hopes of a new Transformers comic.

Visit the official site on the new G.I.Joe comic for more info!