I have a complicated relationship with G.I. Joe.
I’m a child of the eighties, and action figures were all the rage. Sparked by Kenner’s unprecedented success with Star Wars, every toy company set out to cash in on the craze to make posable toys at the 1:18 scale (or thereabouts). Fisher Price had the Adventure People, Mattel had He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Kenner had both Star Wars and the DC Super Powers Collection and Mego had the Micronauts.
But the grand-daddy of them all was Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
G.I. Joe had, of course, existed in the 60s – 70s as a way to market 12 inch dolls for boys following the success of Barbie. But Joe had been absent from shelves for years, leaving Hasbro executives searching for a way to bring him back. They knew they wanted to refashion G.I. Joe as a smaller action figure but needed another property to help market their merchandize to kids.
Enter Marvel Comics.
At the behest of editor Jim Shooter, Marvel Comics enlisted writer/artist Larry Hama to adapt his idea for a Nick Fury-led special mission force into a new incarnation of G.I. Joe. Hama, a Vietnam War vet, established G.I. Joe as the code name for the team, while fellow Marvel writer/artist Archie Goodwin conceived of Cobra Command, a terrorist organization that would be the team’s primary antagonist.
Now, war toys have been part of childhood since the days of cap guns and green plastic army men. But, following the 60s counter culture movement and post-Vietnam fall-out, marketing war for kids was a sensitive issue. And yet, the eighties was also the era of Ronald Reagan. With an actor in the White House, and right-wing politics cozying up to corporate consumerism, war was literally big business.
It was the perfect time for “Yo Joe!”
In the eighties, I was a comics nerd. Though I loved Batman, I was naturally drawn to Marvel heroes like the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four. So, when I saw the splashy cover of G.I. Joe–featuring a dynamic group of soldiers charging into battle while backed by a friggin’ tank–I was hooked. The story, a daring rescue of a nuclear scientist from an isolated island, still holds up as a signature tale of action and adventure.
Weeks later, I spied a rack of G.I. Joe figures in a WHSmith store and bought my first Joe: Snake Eyes. The Joe team’s mysterious commando, the Snake Eyes figure is almost comically basic. Sculpted entirely in black plastic, with no painted highlights, the first iteration of the figure came with a satchel (explosives) and an UZI submachine gun. The personnel file on the back of package was equally cryptic. File Name: CLASSIFIED. Birthplace: CLASSIFIED. “The man is a total mystery…”
He quickly became mine (and many others) fave!
Snake Eyes would be the first of many, many more Joes to adorn my bedroom. Christmas mornings were never the same again as Santa gifted me with a growing array of figures and vehicles, each more compelling than the last. They had flashy names like Gung-Ho, Destro, Roadblock, Zartan, Baroness, Lady Jaye, and Flint plus iconic vehicles like the Skystriker jet, the Whale hovercraft, the MOBAT tank and the Rattler tank smasher. No surprise, the Hasbro line quickly outpaced anything put out by Kenner or Mattel.
Thanks to Hamas’ background, the comics and the toys were rooted in real military jargon and informed by his combat experience. This was particularly true for the comics where many Joe members were veterans of the ‘Nam (including Snake Eyes). Where the SunBow cartoon was awash in high-tech bravado and jingoism, the comic often explored darker, more nuanced storylines. Where death never happened on the cartoon, the comics reminded readers that the Joes were combat professionals and Cobra were dangerous terrorists with no qualms against murder.
I loved it all.
Indeed, for much of my middle and high school years, I seriously entertained the idea of joining the Canadian military to be a communications officer (a la Breaker). Don’t laugh. Immediately following screenings of Top Gun, Air Force recruiters were said to have set themselves up outside theatres to lure moviegoers to join Tom Cruise on the Highway to the Danger Zone.
But as I grew older something didn’t feel quite right. I was still collecting comics, but trips to the toy store to gawk at G.I. Joes felt different. I was getting older and, perhaps, I was wondering if a senior in high school really ought to be collecting toys. I had also come out of my nerd shell, and was hanging out with a super supportive and cool bunch of friends. Did I really need my Real American Heroes? That was part of it, I’m sure.
But there was something more. A growing sense of another real story. A story around the military, foreign policy and the reality of war.
I wasn’t there yet… but it wouldn’t be long.
**To see parts of my G.I. Joe collection, along with dozens of other plastic treasure of the eighties, check out Winterfest POP! in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. Running from Feb 2-19, Winterfest is an annual celebration of arts and culture with over 70 events at different locations. Find out more HERE
Near and Now 