In celebration of Skybound Entertainment acquiring the G.I. Joe license, the publisher will be re-releasing the first issue of the classic ’80s series. This time, however, that historic issue will be published with Larry Hama’s original, unedited dialogue for the very first time. Skybound surprised the comics world earlier this summer when it announced that it had acquired the Hasbro properties Transformers and G.I. Joe, which will be relaunched in an all-new shared continuity dubbed the Energon Universe. In addition, Skybound will also be picking up the baton from previous publisher IDW for Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero continuation of the classic Marvel series, which ended on a cliffhanger with the 300th issue last year.
If that wasn’t enough, Skybound will be re-issuing a special edition of the very first issue from 1982, presenting a version of the classic comic that fans have never seen before. “Celebrate the return of G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO with the definitive edition of its historic first issue!” reads the solicitation for the Image Comics re-release by Larry Hama, Herb Trimpe and Bob McLeod, currently set to drop on November 15 of this year. “This issue restores Larry Hama’s original, unedited dialogue, which has never before seen print!”
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1 Restores Larry Hama’s Unedited Dialogue
It will be interesting to see what exactly that “original, unedited dialogue” consists of when the Skybound re-release drops later this year. Given that G.I. Joe was always intended as a tie-in for the action figure line, it’s unlikely that Hama’s original dialogue was overly controversial – however, it can more accurately convey his vision for the franchise, which has now been proved incredibly popular with fans. In a 2016 interview with Comics Alliance, Hama expressed his displeasure at one change fans can expect to see reversed:
I never rewrote a single word of anybody’s script in all my time as an editor. If a change had to be made, I had the writer do it himself. I was sensitive to this because an editor changed a whole balloon in G.I. Joe #1. The original line was, “A soldier’s job is to do the unthinkable and be forgotten.” What was substituted was some jingoistic patriotic crap that I carried the baggage for in silence for 30 years.
It’s clear that Hama’s original issue has more to say than was initially allowed, and any fans who haven’t read the original issue now have the perfect opportunity to dive into one of the greatest runs in mainstream comics history. Against all odds, Hama and his artists took what could have been a throwaway toy cash-in and turned it into a thrilling adventure serial with drama and pathos, all of it bolstered by Hama’s real-world military experience and personal philosophy. Die-hard fans will also want to give the reprint a look, as there seem to be a host of extras added to the package, given the solicits list the reprint as being 56 pages long.
Whether new to the franchise or returning after a long stint away, fans won’t want to miss Skybound’s Larry Hama cut of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1 when it drops November 15 from Skybound Entertainment.
