Joe was also the first comic book to be advertised on television, in what has been called a "historically crucial moment in media convergence".

Hama wrote the series spontaneously, never knowing how a story would end until it was finished, but worked closely with the artists, giving them sketches of the characters and major scenes.

Joe Team battling against the forces of Cobra Command, an evil terrorist organization, many also focused on the relationships and background stories of the characters.

In the early 1980s, Hasbro noted the success of Kenner Products' Star Wars action figures, and decided to re-launch its long-running G.I.

[5] Coincidentally Larry Hama, then an editor at Marvel, had begun to design characters and background for a series concept he was pitching that would be entitled Fury Force, about a team of futuristic super-soldiers affiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D., an existing Marvel Universe property combining military and science fiction genre elements.

[8] Soon after this, Hasbro hosted a meeting with Hama, Jim Shooter, Tom DeFalco, Archie Goodwin, and Nelson Yomtov to discuss the future of the property.

[9] Based on the results of this meeting, Hasbro contracted Marvel to produce a comic book series featuring the toys.

Joe #49 was published, introducing the character of Serpentor, a genetically created amalgam of history's greatest warriors.

Serpentor played a significant role in the Cobra Civil War, which occurred in issues #73-76, a landmark story event that involved nearly every G.I.

[16] In the early 1990s, however, it began to drop in quality, and was canceled by Marvel in 1994 with issue #155 due to low sales.

Between the lack of new toys and the cancellation of the second TV series three years earlier, the comic book could not count on the same cross-platform support it had enjoyed in the past.

Narrating from his perspective, Snake Eyes tells his story through recollections of his many comrades-in-arms who have died over the years.

Joe Special #1 was released in February 1995, containing alternate art for issue #61 by Todd McFarlane.

In the years following, McFarlane became a superstar comic artist, and Marvel eventually decided to print the unpublished work.

[2] By not showcasing any characters and toys outside of the comic book context, they were able to include a full thirty seconds of animation.

Somebody at Hasbro (who was actually sort of a genius) named Bob Pruprish, realized that a comic book was protected under the first amendment, and there couldn't be restrictions based on how you advertised for a publication.

[11] Between the toy line, comic books, commercials and subsequent cartoon series, Hasbro's marketing plan was highly successful and eventually became an industry standard, an early example of a practice that would years later be described by Jenkins as a "transmedia narrative".

[14] Many readers praised the series for its attention to detail and realism in the area of military tactics and procedures.

Much of this was due to Hama's military experience (he was drafted into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the Vietnam war), but he also did a large amount of research in order to be as up-to-date as possible.

He worked very closely with the artists in plotting the book,[9] and wrote the series spontaneously, never knowing how an issue would end until he got to the last page.

Joe featured an ensemble cast, with the original thirteen characters being Hawk, Stalker, Breaker, Clutch, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Rock ‘n Roll, Steeler, Grand Slam, Flash, Short-Fuze, Grunt, and Zap.

[11]Hama tended to base the personalities of the characters on people that he knew, and he credits this technique for the realism of his characterization.

Joe toys",[26] and by 1988/89 a survey conducted by Hasbro found that "two out of every three boys between the ages of five and eleven owned at least one G.I.

[29] In comics, where images are at least half the language, pictures can form valid narrative as easily and functionally as words – and, at times, without them ... such as the lauded GI.

It does at least prove, as if there were any doubt, the viability of visual narrative.An early issue that attracted much attention, both positive and negative, was G.I.

Each issue contained articles about the animated TV program, a summary of the comic book's plot to date, and one or two original stories written by Larry Hama.

Joe: Order of Battle, was a 4-issue mini-series running from December 1986 to March 1987, reprinting the data found on the action figures' file cards with some edits.

The story had the Joes and the Autobots joining forces to stop the Decepticons and Cobra from destroying the world.

The series was also translated into several languages, including German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, French (Canada), Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Japanese, Arabic, and Indonesian.

Joe: A Real American Hero continuity, as an ongoing series in 2010, with a special #155½ issue released on Free Comic Book Day.