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Todd McFarlane Comes To The Aid Of The G.I. Joe Compendium Kickstarter

The G.I. Joe Compendium Kickstarter is not just content to be one of the biggest comic book Kickstarters of all time, but it wants to be the biggest.

Published Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:57:07 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

Todd McFarlane's rare G.I. Joe work aims to boost Kickstarter's record bid.
Restored G.I. Joe #61 with McFarlane art featured in $3M stretch goal.
Andy Kubert cover variant unlocked at $2.7M for G.I. Joe Compendium.
Kickstarter crusade nears $3M, targets Neil Gaiman's crowdfunded peak.

The G.I. Joe Compendium Kickstarter is not just content to be one of the biggest comic book Kickstarters of all time, but it wants to be the biggest. And it has Neil Gaiman in its sights. But what can take down Neil? How about Todd McFarlane? There would be an irony there…

Donors just unlocked the stretch goal at $2.7 million of a special Kickstarter Exclusive reprint of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #21 with an Andy Kubert cover that will be added to all physical pledges for the Compendium. with a black-and-white variant edition for an added $15.

But the next stretch goal at $3 million includes a reprint for one of the rarest G.I. Joe comics ever, G.I. Joe Special #1 with newly restored art will be added to all physicals pledge tiers G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero editor Alex Antone described what happened;

"In 1990, Marvel printed the interiors of this issue with a new cover that homages McFarlane's famous Spider-Man run. They called it G.I. Joe Special #1. It's one of the rarest and most coveted G.I. Joe comics in existence. In 1987, Todd McFarlane… was originally hired to draw G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #61, after drawing issue 60, but for reasons known only to a select few, his work was shelved and the issue was redrawn by Marshall Rogers and Danny Bulandi."

So G.I. Joe Special #1 was published two months after the last issue #155 of the main series was released. It reprints issue #61 of the regular comic, but with artwork originally created by Todd McFarlane but replaced before publication. As by then, he had become a star. However, it wasn't heavily publicised and now sells for big bucks. Raw copies have sold for $260, 9,8 slabbed copies for $1000.

The G.I. Joe Compendium Kickstarter has currently raised $2,813,941 against a $50,000 goal from 7,813 backers with 71 hours left to go

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