Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Image, Rebellion / 2000AD | Tagged: action force, compendium, gi joe, kickstarter, omnibus

80's GI Joe & Action Force Comics Collections In Time For Christmas

Rebellion is putting the old IPC Action Force comics back into print in time for Christmas as Skybound kickstarts the Marvel GI Joe comics.

Action Force is a brand of European action figures released in the 1980s from Palitty based on the Action Man dolls, but used to introduce G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toys to European markets, that had no cultural attachment to the "GI Joe" phrase. In 1983, the Action Force characters initially guest-featured in a comic strip serial in the IPC war comic book Battle. A further five promotional mini-comics were included free with every IPC publication in the weeks to follow, for Action Force to become a main strip in Battle and for the comic to be renamed Battle Action Force, including backstories and storylines for the toys. When Hasbro bought the rights to GI Joe in 1986, the Action Force strip was cancelled, and Marvel UK got the licence, used to reprint the Marvel US GI Joe comics with the names changed, and new UK-exclusive stories when the US ran out of stories to reprint.

As Bleeding Cool scooped from the Diamond Retailer Day presentation from Steve Morris at Rebellion/2000AD that Rebellion, in association with Hasbro will be publishing the old Battle Action Force comics in three Battle Action Force volumes, for the first time in forty years, with treasury size editions in time for Christmas.

• GERRY FINLEY-DAY, CAM KENNEDY, GEOFF CAMPION ET AL,  DELUXE-SIZE TREASURY EDITIONS IN PREVIEWS OCTOBER 2024
• First time in print for 40 years!
• Officially licensed reprints from TotalToy with permission from Hasbro and in collaboration with Rebellion Publishing and Skeletron
• The Action Force tales from Battle Action Force are collected in a series of deluxe-sized treasury editions, which will be in print by December 2024.
• Four heroic Action Force teams protect the world against the evil machinations of Baron Ironblood, The Black Major and their army of brainwashed Red Shadows.

A well-timed announcement, as Skybound has announced "officially the BIGGEST first day in the history of comics Kickstarter" raising over a million dollars on day one for their GI Joe Compendiums from almost 3500 backers which Bleeding Cool also scooped the news on a couple of weeks ago.

• For the first time ever, Skybound, Hasbro, and Image Comics proudly present the definitive hardcover compendiums of the original G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO comic book series!
• These collections include every issue of the original 1982 series, G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO, G.I. JOE SPECIAL MISSIONS, G.I. JOE AND THE TRANSFORMERS, and the long out-of-print G.I. JOE: ORDER OF BATTLE and G.I. JOE SPECIAL #1! Lovingly bound and presented in the official reading order, these gorgeous premium hardcover editions won't be available anywhere else!

And also intended to ship in time for Christmas.

G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero! Compendium One Paperback – October 15, 2024
by Larry Hama, Herb Trimpe, Bob McLeod
For Fans of INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM and AVENGERS VS X-MEN OMNIBUS, G.I. JOE ARAH COMPENDIUM collects the very first issues of one of the longest running non-superhero series into a complete compendium for the first time ever. YOOOO JOE! The pop culture world changed forever when LARRY HAMA's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero made its comic book debut, and now you can experience every issue–from the original series and tie-ins–in this new reader-friendly compendium format for the very first time. Discover the incredible heroes of G.I. Joe, the terrifying villains of Cobra, and the unforgettable stories that set them on a collision course in this first volume, perfect for fans new and old. Collects G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #1-50

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