G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeG.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1 (Devil's Due/Image, October 2001) marks the first revival of the G.I. Joe comic line after a nearly seven-year dormancy following the end of Marvel's 155-issue run in 1994, demonstrating that 1980s toy-franchise properties could sustain an enthusiastic audience in the direct-market era of the 2000s — a trend that anticipated Hollywood's reboot era. The issue introduced Kamakura, the first wholly new character created by the Devil's Due creative team to eventually be translated back into a Hasbro action figure, closing the toy-to-comic feedback loop the franchise had originally pioneered in 1982. Its outsized sales performance — reportedly outselling the majority of Marvel and DC releases that month — proved to publishers that licensed '80s properties still commanded serious commercial attention, and effectively demonstrated that the G.I. Joe comics continuity could be extended beyond what had seemed a definitive ending.
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In July 2001, Josh Blaylock's Devil's Due Publishing acquired the G.I. Joe comics license from Hasbro and arranged to publish the book through Image Comics. Blaylock wrote the series himself, with interior art by penciler Steve Kurth and inker John Larter, while J. Scott Campbell — already established as a fan of the property and creator of the Danger Girl series — provided the cover. Originally solicited as the first chapter of a four-issue limited series titled 'Reinstated,' the debut issue hit shops in October 2001 (the day after the 9/11 attacks, according to some accounts); its unexpectedly strong sales caused the publisher to retroactively convert it into an ongoing monthly series. Devil's Due later broke away from Image entirely and assumed direct publishing responsibility from issue #26 onward.
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- Published October 2001 by Devil's Due Publishing through Image Comics, based on the Hasbro G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy property.
- Writer: Josh Blaylock; Pencils: Steve Kurth; Inks: John Larter; Cover: J. Scott Campbell; Back cover: David Michael Beck.
- The series picks up seven years after the end of Marvel's original 155-issue run (1982–1994), with the G.I. Joe team officially disbanded and Cobra quietly re-emerging.
- First appearance of Kamakura (Snake Eyes' apprentice Sean Collins) in his named, comics-debuting role; he became the first character created by Devil's Due to be produced as a Hasbro action figure, in 2003.
- First appearance of Alexander Destro (posing as his father) and Mistress Armada, two new Cobra-side characters introduced in the 'Reinstated' arc.
- Originally planned as a four-issue limited series; strong debut sales caused it to be upgraded to an ongoing series that ran for 43 issues before being relaunched as G.I. Joe: America's Elite.
- IDW Publishing later reprinted the entire Devil's Due run under the banner title 'Disavowed' (in trade paperback collections), explicitly distinguishing it from the IDW/Hama continuation that picked up at issue #156.
- A Hasbro Comic Pack released in 2004 as part of the Valor vs. Venom toy line included a reprint of the classic Marvel G.I. Joe #1 (1982) bundled with action figures — this is the likely source of the '2004/Hasbro' attribution in the query, not a new original issue.
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