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

Will Larry Hama's GI Joe Become The Top Comics Kickstarter Ever? 

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero campaign still has a couple of weeks to go before it wraps on the 26th of June as a close number 2.

It's no secret that the Image/Skybound relaunch of Larry Hama's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero has been selling huge numbers and has been a cornerstone in Skybound redefining the G.I. Joe brand at record levels.  But now I've been hearing that Larry Hama and Skybound have broken another record, as the recently launched G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Compendium Set campaign set the new launch day comic book record on the platform with pledging over $767,000 (beating the previous record holder by almost $150,000).

The campaign has since gone on to earn nearly $2,000,000 in pledges, easily surpassing Keanu Reeves' BRZRKR campaign (whose first day was far less) to become the #2 most funded comic book Kickstarter of all time.

That means Snake Eyes and Cobra Commander find themselves aligned to topple comic book darling Neil Gaiman, whose Good Omens campaign with the late Sir Terry Pratchett and Colleen Doran reigns supreme with just over $3,000,000 raised in pledges.

While Good Omens has completed its campaign, the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero campaign still has a couple of weeks to go before it wraps on June 26 and seems well on its way to being a very close #2…and perhaps even besting Gaiman & Co as more G.I. Joe fans continue to discover this campaign each day. But will it reach the top of the charts?

And if does, a bigger question might be, how much does Larry Hama and other creators on the collected comics get paid, if anything? Licensed comics often don't pay out to creators after first publication, especially those that pass from publisher to publisher, and these comics are on their fourth publisher by now. This may be why Larry Hama is doing signed plates for the Kickstarter, in order that he at least gets something from this seven figure project, which is already a massive success for Skybound. Larry is also writing the ongoing G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero in the classic continuity for Skybound, so there's that, but maybe something else can be arranged for everyone else as well? We have asked, hope we get an answer. Larry did tell fans "I was taken by surprise by this- It went over a million overnight. My signed book plates sold out completely. I may have to sign another batch. Sincere thanks to all the fans who responded!"

That success is also mirrored in the monthly comic sales of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, which has now sold nearly 300,000 copies since it returned to stands last November, a monumental achievement for a series I am told was selling less than 8,000 units per month at its previous publisher in IDW.

One has to wonder now if Skybound can – or wants to – resist the urge to create its own Energon Universe-esque line of comics anchored by G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, perhaps bringing the Marvel Transformers continuity back and some of those lapsed fans along with them? It's surprising to see A Real American Hero outselling many Marvel and DC series, so the audience for this in comic shops – and Kickstarter – is even larger than anyone except Robert Kirkman seemed to imagine.

Either way, expect to see a lot of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero in your future from Skybound – once you've got two million dollars from a Kickstarter, you probably want to go back to those fans for more very soon. And maybe slip something to the original creators along the way? You can check out the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Compendium Set campaign right here before it ends on June 26.

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