G.I. Joe Graphic Novel Reading Order

Looking to get caught up on your favorite special mission force, but don't know which volume 3 goes with which volume 1? We're here to lend a hand.

As I start my series on the reading order for some of the graphic novel series, I thought I'd start out with G.I. Joe. G.I.Joe was my introduction to comics, so I figured it would be a good place to start my efforts to create a place where people can go to get the definitive lists of what order to read the consolidated trade paperbacks in. So here's the G.I. Joe graphic novel reading order:

G.I Joe: A Real American Hero

These are the original comics written by Larry Hama and published by Marvel. These are reprints being published by IDW. The last couple are not yet released, but are available for pre-order.

Classic G.I. Joe Volume 1 Contains issues 1-10 of the original series
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 2 Issues 11-20 of the original series
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 3 Issues 21-30 of the original series. Includes the famous "Silent Interlude" story, and the famous two-part series on Snake-Eyes's origin. If you just get one Classic trade, this is the one to get.
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 4 Issues 31-40 of the original series.
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 5 Issues 41-50 of the original series. Includes the battle for Cobra Island, the identity of the Hard Master's killer is revealed, and Serpentor is born.
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 6 Issues 51-60 of the original series.
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 7 Issues 61-70. Includes the ninjas rescuing Stalker and Quick-kick from he Soviet Gulag.
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 9 Issues 81-90
Classic G.I. Joe Volume 10 Issues 91-100

Going along with these, IDW has published a "Best of" series, featuring the best stories of characters like Snake Eyes, , Storm Shadow, Destro, Hawk, the Baroness, and even a big hardcover book they've dubbed The Best Of Larry Hama. These each contain a few select issues of the original run that focus on a particular character and don't really have an order, per se. They're superfluous if you're getting the trades above, but might be perfect if you just want a book or two to bring back memories.

G.I. Joe: Special Missions

This was a second series published by Marvel in the 1980's. These were also written by Larry Hama, but were mostly stand-alone stories. If you're like me, you had to be selective with your comic book dollars back then and didn't always spring for the stand alones.

Issue number 6 I had, though--it was a continuation of the storyline from issue 61 of the regular series that picked back up in issue 63 of the regular series.

G.I. Joe: Special Missions Volume 1 Issues 1-7 of G.I.Joe: Special Missions
G.I. Joe: Special Missions Volume 2 Issues 8-14 of G.I.Joe: Special Missions

Frontline, Master and Apprentice, and Declassified

Although published during and after the regular Devil's due series, these two series served as bookends to the original series.

The Frontline series took place after the original series and before the "Reinstated" storyline, and the first volume is written by Hama himself.

G.I. Joe - Frontline Volume 1: The Mission That Never Was
G.I. Joe - Frontline Volume 2: Icebound
G.I. Joe - Frontline Volume 3: History Repeating
G.I. Joe - Frontline Volume 4: One Shots

The Master and Apprentice series focused on how Snake Eyes took on an apprentice. This also took place after the original continuity and before the Reinstated storyline. Master & Apprentice 2 featured Storm Shadow taking on a student, but was never released as a trade.

G.I. Joe - Master & Apprentice

The Declassified series took place prior to the original series, and featured origin stories of major characters. The Snake Eyes declassified story was, unfortunately, not penned by Hama, although he did write the G.I.Joe Declassified trade. There was also a Declassified 48 page one-shot about Scarlett, but it was never collected in a trade.

G.I. Joe - Snake Eyes: Declassified The Origin of Snake Eyes
G.I. Joe - Declassified Features the original 13 Joes in an early adventure. Written by Hama.
G.I. Joe - Dreadnoks Declassified The origin of Zartan and the Dreadnoks



Reinstated/Disavowed

In 2001, Devil's Due publishing began a take on the G.I.Joe series that picked up where the original series had left off. The new writer was Josh Baylock, and is commonly called the G.I.Joe: Reinstated line. IDW, who is starting their own series picking up where the old one left off, has started re-releasing these under the name G.I.Joe: Disavowed.

The new version, so far, only has two volumes, but they contain more issues each than the original trades:

G.I. Joe: Disavowed Volume 1
G.I. Joe: Disavowed Volume 2

These are the original editions, in order, which are all out of print, but used copies are sometimes available.

G.I. Joe: Reinstated
G.I. Joe: Reckonings
G.I. Joe: Malfunction
G.I. Joe: Alliances
G.I. Joe: The Return Of Serpentor
G.I. Joe: Players & Pawns
G.I. Joe: Union Of The Snake
G.I. Joe: Rise Of The Red Shadows


G.I. Joe: America's Elite

Picking up one year later, G.I. Joe: America's Elite continued the same continuity as the Reinstated line, with new authors and artists.

G.I. Joe - America's Elite: America's Newest War
G.I. Joe - America's Elite: The Ties That Bind
G.I. Joe - America's Elite: In Sheep's Clothing
G.I. Joe - America's Elite: Truth & Consequences
G.I. Joe - America's Elite: WWIII

These two series take place during the same timeline as the America's Elite series.

G.I. Joe - Special Missions Volume 1 Not to be confused with the 1980's series above, this issue collects 3 of the 5 issues of the new series launched with America's Elite.
G.I. Joe: Storm Shadow Volume 1: Solo Another Hama written series, about Storm Shadow on his own.

Other Pre-IDW stories

There are a couple of other stories from before the current Era that are worth mentioning:

G.I. Joe: Arashikage Showdown Volume 1

While often listed as a trade paperback, this is actually a manga-sized black and white story where Snake Eyes and Scarlett fight with Storm Shadow over a mystical crystal. Because of the magic elements it's not really cannon to any other continuity.

G.I. Joe - Reborn
G.I. Joe - Reloaded Volume 1: In The Name Of Patriotism

The Reborn/Reloaded series was an attempt by Devil's Due to see what they could do with the franchise if it was revamped from the ground up. While there are some big changes, it's suprisingly good and sad that it got cut off so short in it's life. After the Reborn mini-series, the Reloaded regular series was meant to be ongoing, but only lasted 14 issues. Only the first five issues of that are collected in the trade.

G.I. Joe - SIGMA 6

A short series based on the TV show of the same name, with exactly the same style of art. Contains the six issues of the series, which are each stand-alone stories.

IDW's 3 New Titles

After accquiring the publication rights to G.I.Joe in 2008, IDW began a 3 title take on the Joes, outside of any other existing continuity. These three titles were:

G.I.Joe: Origins

The first issues of this series were penned by Hama, but contain little overlap with the original continuity. It tells the stories of the formation of the new Joe team, as well as histories of several of the villians.

G.I. JOE: Origins Volume 1 Issues 1-5
G.I. JOE: Origins Volume 2 Issues 6-10
G.I. JOE: Origins Volume 3 Issues 11-15

G.I.Joe

This is the main title of the series, focused on the conflicts between G.I.Joe and Cobra in this new iteration of the conflict. It's written by Chuck Dixon.

G.I. Joe Volume 1 Issues 0-6
G.I. Joe Volume 2 Issues 7-12
G.I. Joe Volume 3 Issues 13-16 & GIJoe: Helix
G.I. Joe Volume 4 Forthcoming

G.I.Joe: Cobra and Limited Series

This one is about Chuckles going undercover with the mysterious new organization "Cobra" to gather intel. Didn't sound promising to me, but it's most people's favorite of the new series, so I need to give it a go.

G.I. Joe: COBRA Issues 1-4 and a special edition issue
G.I. Joe: Cobra Volume 2
G.I. Joe: Hearts & Minds A Major Bludd story

G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra

When the movie came out, IDW also did a few comics to tie in with its continutity, and some of those are collected in trades:

G.I. JOE Movie Prequel
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - Official Movie Adaptation
G.I. Joe Movie: Snake Eyes Co-written by Ray Park, the actor who plays Snake Eyes
G.I. Joe: Operation Hiss

Classic G.I.Joe--It's Back

While not in trade paperback yet, this year's free comic book day featured a special G.I.Joe issue--G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero issue 155 1/2. Inside was the announcement that Hama will be starting the original series, which ended at issue 155, right where it left off, starting with issue 156. This is why IDW is tossing all the Devil's Due continuity--inlcuding the stories written by Hama himself--out the window. This will now become the "true" continuation of the stories we all knew as kids.

So that's the breakdown. Hope it helps. Cuz now you know. And . . .

Well, you know the rest.