This pretty much captures it for more as well. Well wrtiten, Red Sox.

As a child I remember the show being on alternately before school or after. I would get up at 6 AM to watch the show and eat cereal, when I could have slept until 6:30 and still been on time for the school bus. I was happy when it shifted to the afternoon and I could watch it after I got home.

As I grew older, the cartoon still interested me, but the comics satisfied other portions of my mind that the cartoon didn't. Also, I helped my brother learn how to read by reading the comic to him. He had reading issues but would follow along (because of his interest in G.I.Joe). Eventually I made him read to me, and he progressed with his problems. The cartoon really wouldn't help with that...but it is what got HIM interested in the comic. (Well, that, and hanging out with his big brother... )

Now that I am "older", I still pick up and re-read Marvel issues. It is far more rare that I will re-watch the cartoon, although occasionally my 6 year old wants to see it.

Both the comic and cartoon greatly influenced me, or otherwise I wouldn't be typing this early in the morning. I suspect Hasbro recognized that potential sales demographic might have susceptability to variant marketing venues, and decided to use both mediums to widen and saturate the appeal for their products. In retrospect, that is quite impressive, all things being considered.

Remember Hasbro went to Marvel to establish the comic tie-in before they'd even finished designing the toy line, as it was the creative-types there who came up with the characters' personalities, Cobra, etc... I do wonder if they would have done a cartoon just as early if the law hadn't been so strict at the time with regards to cartoon series based on toys. That was why they made such a big deal out of the animated commercials for the comics, which were created before the book had even been written but just happened to feature action-packed footage of new toys and vehicles Hasbro wanted to give a particular push to...

To answer lesreh's earlier question; the cartoon was never broadcast on UK TV but we did have quite a few videos released, starting in 1987 or so when I would have been 7 (Hasbro only started marketing the Action Force toys with GI Joe-style packaging and continuity in the latter half of 1986). At least in my experience, the cartoons took on a more mythic status, since it was rare that any kid could find or afford all the videos. It became more of an event when you got to see them, like when you went to a schoolfriend's house who didn't live close enough for you to just hang out with every day.

I'd been reading comics (British kids' humor anthologies, Marvel super-heroes and various toy/TV tie-in titles) since about the age of 3, and while I didn't collect GI Joe (or Action Force) comics until the late 80s I did have a few and always had more innate respect for their depth & complexity. I was also used to seeing comics as the "real" continuity, probably due to the Marvel Universe being from the comics before any cartoons, and also because of the UK Transformers comic which had its letters pages answered by "actual Transformers" (Soundwave, Grimlock, Dreadwind & Hi-Test, Blaster, and Ratchet once...). They would often take letters asking about contradictions between the cartoons and the comics, with the explanation that the comics chronicled the "true" account of the TF's adventures and the people who made the cartoons didn't tend to have the full information...

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Come check out my Flickr account for more pics of my collection and additional shots from my JoeDios photoshoots. Includes my "Class Reunion" and "Foes Of The Joes" sets, exclusive to Flickr!

Last updated 2/5/10.

Didn't they do that with Action Force comics as well? I have three issues of 'GI Joe European Missions' which are reprints of Action Force monthly.Very cool,well written-in some cases by people that write sci-fi novels now(I have a couple of those novels,set in the Warhammer 40K universe).

Anyhoo,I seem to recall Super Trooper answering the letters in one issue.Also,the Filecards and Technical Data they printed is VERY 'Mil-Tech.....

It wasn't a standard thing; the letters page, "Mail Call," wasn't answered entirely by one character (which is a shame) although I think with certain character-specific questions they'd answer "So-and-so says: '...' " Would that be Dan Abnett? I know he wrote for Marvel UK and has written some 40K stories. He's also still writing comics (often with Andy Lanning,) such as Marvel's current Nova series and other Annihilation tie-ins (dealing with intergalactic war, funnily enough...).

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* * * * *
Come check out my Flickr account for more pics of my collection and additional shots from my JoeDios photoshoots. Includes my "Class Reunion" and "Foes Of The Joes" sets, exclusive to Flickr!

Last updated 2/5/10.