Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Image, Walking Dead | Tagged: gi joe, larry hama, skybound

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Sells Over 100,000 at Skybound So Far

The return of G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero has already sold over 100,000 copies across just three releases, #301, #302, #1 reprint.

We've been telling you a lot about Robert Kirkman's Energon Universe – the new shared universe published by Image/Skybound featuring Transformers, G.I. Joe and Void Rivals that has become the biggest Hasbro comic launch ever (as we told you first).

But there's more to the deal between Skybound and Hasbro that's hit the market, namely the continuation of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero from series writer Larry Hama, new series artist Chris Mooneyham and cover artist Andy Kubert that debuted on the 15th of November .

While we've been talking more about the record-breaking sales of Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers, Robert Kirkman and Lorenzo De Felici's Void Rivals or speculation around the upcoming GI Joe-related series from Joshua Williamson with Tom Reilly (Duke) and Andrea Milana (Cobra Commander), I'm told that the return of A Real American Hero has already sold a massive over 100,000 copies across just three releases (#301, #302 and a special #1 reprint).

That includes G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #301 selling over 50,000 copies – a number that is not only notable for likely generating envy from the execs at Marvel and DC for doing so without any high ratio variants but also a massive growth over the series sales at former publisher IDW (where it averaged anywhere from 7-10K unit sales per issue). This also tops the sales for other recent high-profile GI Joe launches, including Rob Liefeld's Snake Eyes: Deadgame #1 and more than doubling sales for the variant cover-laden anniversary issue G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #300.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #302, which just FOC'd on Monday, came in with orders at nearly 30,000 units – still nearly 3-4x its previous average sales at IDW – and at the level we see many DC and Marvel series selling on a monthly basis (and many of them not 300+ issues in given the constant relaunching and renumbering).

And equally meaningful is the nearly 25,000 copies sold of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1 Larry Hama Cut, a reprint of the series debut issue from Marvel with correct dialogue honouring Hama's original wishes and printed on pure nostalgia, I mean "newsprint." While the issue has been reprinted many times, this is the first time with the aforementioned dialogue correction and it looks like the G.I. Joe fans turned out in a way we haven't seen in quite a long time.

Both issue #301 and #1 Larry Hama Cut sold out before they went on sale, with the former already coming back to print and increasing demand for the latter – but like its Energon Universe counterparts, will a second printing be enough, or will G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero be knocking on the 150k Club door very soon after a fourth or fifth printing?

It seems like Kirkman and Skybound have brought new excitement to G.I. Joe in comic books that we haven't seen in two decades since Image/Devil's Due relaunched the franchise, albeit without Hama and at the height of an 80s animated series-resurgence in comics. With Duke #1 FOCing on Monday– including some rather unique video incentives from Williamson and on-sale right after Christmas in comic shops, we might just be seeing a third coming of G.I Joe in comic shops.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #301 and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1 Larry Hama Cut are both on sale now, though good luck finding copies on the racks at your local comic shops. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #302 is on sale Wednesday, the 20th of December.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!