I first learned of the vast existence of international GI Joe comics from GI Joe Comics International. It was there that I first saw the Chinese GI Joe comics, and up until last week, I had never seen them myself or had the opportunity to buy them. So when I saw these on eBay, I snapped up all 5 as soon as I saw them. As an added benefit, they will look great with the rest of my Chinese release items!
Chinese GI Joe Comics
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #199
Larry Hama 
• S L Gallant (a & c)
THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN! G.I. JOE has escaped the situation in Sierra Gordo intact… but COBRA has taken over their headquarters! That means only one thing: it’s time for a head-to-head confrontation between America’s best and the villainous COBRA COMMANDER’s forces. Join the battle in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #199 and prepare for everything to change in next month’s landmark issue #200!
Well guys I have been busy buying all kinds of stuff lately, so I will have a lot of great new, unique and rarely seen content coming up. In addition, I am going to start putting pictures of my entire collection online. It will be a mammoth undertaking and something that will be work in progress for awhile. As a start, I have edited the “My Collection” page and formatted into different picture galleries. The First one up is a small portion of my Funskool GI Joe figure and vehicle collection. More will be added this weekend.
First up for some hard to find items that many have probably never even heard of are GI Joe comics from Egypt and India! There were 4 GI Joe comics produced in Egypt in Arabic. Pictured below are 3 of the 4. These are vary rare and I know of only one other person that has them (but this being GI Joe, I am sure there are others out there with them).
The next two pictures are of GI Joe #1 and #2 produced in English, in India by Funskool (who also produced the GI Joe toys in India). The Covers of these are in a lot rougher shape but the inner pages are white with bright colors. I believe there was only 1 other GI Joe comic produced in India.
In upcoming posts I will also share other rare international versions of GI Joe comics, so if you enjoy seeing all the different places that GI Joe was produced, keep coming back for more.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #194
Larry Hama • S L Gallant, Hama (a & c)
G.I. JOE makes its way to Sierra Gordo, looking for the next piece of the puzzle that will reveal COBRA’s newest plot. But when they find that the evil corporation Revanche has a presence in Latin America, they could be involved in something far more sinister than the typical COBRA plot. What secrets does Revanche hold?
G.I. Joe: The Cobra Files #7
Mike Costa • Antonio Fuso (a & c)
BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE – PART 1! FLINT is ready to disband the COBRA FILES team, but CHAMELEON will have none of it. But what neither one suspects is that TOMAX, the captive COBRA member, has an ace up his sleeve that will rock the team to their core. No punches are pulled in G.I. Joe: The Cobra Files #7!
With the release of IDW’s December solicitations, it was revealed that Cobra Files, considered by many to be the best of the GI Joe books, will come to a sudden end. This makes two surprising and disappointing GI Joe comic announcements in quick succession.
Costa himself confirmed the news on Twitter: “Yes, the final issue of COBRA FILES is 9. That may seem premature, but I’ve been building to this for two years – long before the relaunch.”
Costa went on to say: “I want to thank IDW and Hasbro for letting me end this run the way I always intended. And it’s not the last you’ll see of me in the Joeverse. Some characters’ stories will end FOR EVER. Some characters will show up in other books. Some of those books will be written by me.”
While a am a bit worried with the current state of Joe comics with the announced departures, I am happy to hear that Costa will be back writing Joe in the future.
About a week about, Newsarama broke the news that IDW GI Joe main title writer Fred Van Lente will be leaving the book after #11. I was really disappointed when I heard this because I really enjoyed the direction that Fred had taken Joe. It was a breath of fresh air and I was very surprised by this. Fred said his reason for leaving was that he had too much going on and something had to give. I was also surprised to hear that Fred thinks he accomplished all that he had wanted with Joe through only 11 comics. This makes me think that IDW and Van Lente agreed to a short run from the beginning. How could you accomplish all your goals with a GI Joe comic in 11 issues?
Leaky Suit Brigade 