REAL AMERICAN HERO continue with Skybound

The G.I. Joe: Real American Hero run written by Larry Hama — one of the longest ongoing stories in comics — will continue with Skybound, the publisher has announced.

Yesterday, Skybound officially announced that it had acquired the rights to publish G.I. Joe and Transformers comics, and that they would be doing so in the new Energon Universe, which was launched in a new property, Void Rivals. This came after those property’s most recent publisher, IDW, ended their respective runs last year. The G.I. Joe run wrapped up with a landmark 300 issue, by its writer from the start, Hama. 

Now, Hama’s run will be continuing with Skybound, with G.I. Joe: Real American Hero #301, due out November 14. Hama will team on the book with artist Chris Mooneyham. The run will feature covers by Andy Kubert (with accompanying open-to-order black-and-white variants for each issue).

The press released from Skybound teased the book as a great jumping on point for new readers, featuring all the familiar characters, plus “the return of the original Snake Eyes.”

“I am delighted to be continuing the saga of G.I. Joe with the good folks at Skybound and totally amped to be taking the G.I. Joe team to issue #301 and beyond,” Hama said in a press release. “Little did I know back in 1982 that I would be associated with the Real American Hero for over 40 years. My thanks to the whole crew at Skybound for allowing me to continue to chronicle the exploits of characters who have become like a family to me.”

The Beat also had a chance to speak with Skybound head honcho and Void Rivals writer Robert Kirkman about continuing Hama’s run. 

“I have to give IDW tremendous credit for bringing that series back, getting Larry on that book, continuing the numbering, shepherding that legacy for years and years, and getting all the way up to #300,” Kirkman said. “That G.I. Joe series is extremely special. That was so many people’s first comic. Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe run lead to countless people falling in love and becoming life long comic book fans.”

Skybound also plans to release in November G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1 Larry Hama Cut, which is a reprint of the series first issue. This book will feature Hama’s original, unaltered scripting, which includes a key moment that was altered in limited instances for the final print edition. In other words, the idea is to show readers the start of the run exactly as Hama originally intended.

“It’ll be really great to hopefully get him up to issue #400 and beyond,” Kirkman said.

You can check an extended Kirkman interview about the new shared universe, the news announcement, and a review of Void Rivals #1, all courtesy of us here at The Beat.

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