{"id":1733,"date":"2024-10-13T18:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T22:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/?p=1733"},"modified":"2025-05-08T08:41:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T12:41:54","slug":"short-box-g-i-joe-a-real-american-hero-compendium-tp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/2024\/10\/13\/short-box-g-i-joe-a-real-american-hero-compendium-tp\/","title":{"rendered":"Short Box: G.I. Joe A Real American Hero Compendium TP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero Compendium TP<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Release: Oct 09, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Creators<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Writer<\/td>Larry Hama<\/td><\/tr>
Artist<\/td>Herb Trimpe<\/td><\/tr>
Cover Artist<\/td>Herb Trimpe<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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As a kid, I picked up some G.I. Joe action figures before I ever picked up an issue of the comic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking through this compendium, I think the first issue I got was #10, which I undoubtedly picked up because it had Scarlett and Snake Eyes on the cover, which were two of the figures I had, and I thought they were cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, I picked up a few more issues of the comic here and there – but I don’t think I ever got any additional figures* – but didn’t really stick with it. I’d already stopped reading it for quite some time when I picked up the G.I. Joe Yearbook<\/em>, and I didn’t pick up any issues after I got that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, what issues I did have were lost to the ages<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, I was never a huge Joe fan, and haven’t kept up with their post-Marvel adventures, but while I didn’t buy the series regularly back then, I did enjoy what I did read, as thanks primarily to the brilliance of Larry Hama it was so much better than the extended toy catalog it might have been in different hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This compendium, collecting issues 1-50 of the original Marvel comics, gives me a chance to look at what I overlooked back then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most notable things about this compendium is that while it has fifty comics’ worth of content and is three inches thick the book itself is light as a feather. I almost hurled it across the comic shop when I took it off the shelf because I grabbed it more forcefully than necessary as I’d anticipated it being considerably heavier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge its weight by its size, I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason it’s so light – and the main reason I wanted to write a Short Box post about it – is that, apart from the cover, it’s printed on low-cost newsprint, just like the original comics were in the ’80s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s kind of a neat gimmick – if only because of how surprisingly lightweight it is – though also kind of odd, and maybe a bit pointless. I mean, sure, it adds an air of authenticity and presumably reduced the cost – at $64.99 it was considerably cheaper than a typical similarly-sized compendium – but even with those whys it leaves you wondering “But why though?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or it leaves me <\/em>wondering, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, it was a compelling enough bargain to get me to pick it up, and I look forward to reacquainting myself with the stories I’ve read and reading the many other stories I haven’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*I never had any vehicles. My total collection consisted of Flash, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, Breaker, and Grunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Born and raised in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Jon Maki developed an enduring love for comics at an early age.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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