Both of these were among the very first Joe comics I bought (though as I've said before, I bought them several years after they were published). I loved the yearbook because I'd never read all the old issues, and since this was before the internet was around, I couldn't read summaries online. Therefore, the section at the end of the Yearbook that summed up everything that had happened in the Joe saga thus far was very handy for me.

As for issue 48-- It's definitely a fun read, thanks to Zartan's antics in the Pit and the classic introduction of Sgt. Slaughter. His appearance here wasn't quite as epic as his single-handed dismantling of a hundred B.A.T.s on the cartoon, but the facts that he beats up Clutch, Steeler, and Heavy Metal, then punches some guy who might be Zartan still bring him into the picture in an interesting way. I actually rather liked Larry Hama's take on the Sarge-- It's too bad he all but vanishes forever a couple of issues later.

Plus we get an appearance by Duke, who at this point Hama was phasing out again thanks to Hawk's return to the field. Any comic with more than a one panel cameo of Duke --as many of his mid-series appearances were-- is worth reading as far as I'm concerned.

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is on indefinite hiatus...