G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Yearbook #3 - Video Review by 80s Comics

Greetings. Today I'm taking you back to the 80s, which is funny because I never left the 80s. Why would you leave the 80s? We had everything: the constant fear of global thermonuclear war, Star Wars before Jar Jar, and incredible comic books like this. G.I. Joe Yearbook Number Three from March of 1987.

Let's start with the cover, which is an interesting color palette for one of the G.I. Joe comic books. I like this one. It's cool because we've got Snake Eyes strapped into something while Scarlett and Storm Shadow fight side by side. And maybe if you're new to G.I. Joe you're like, aren't they enemies? Well, yeah, but their whole relationship got complicated as the series progressed, which is actually one of the things that made it pretty good.

The yearbook is pretty big. The yearbooks are huge. They have really nice back covers, as you can see here. We've got Baroness. And you get more than just one comic book or one story. We get a story, G.I. Joe Hush Job, then a little glimpse of G.I. Joe on television, the cartoon series, a gallery of covers, the adventure continues, a little recap, and then G.I. Joe My Dinner with Serpentor, which is pretty funny, and then a pinup gallery with Lady J and a few other Joes, but really Lady J is the one you want.

Hush Job is basically G.I. Joe’s Silent Interlude in reverse. In Silent Interlude, Snake Eyes busts into a castle to save Scarlett from Storm Shadow, even though Scarlett doesn’t really need saving. In Hush Job, Storm Shadow busts into a castle to save Snake Eyes while Scarlett assists. That’s the storyline basically, and there are no words. The entire story is told with pictures. Not quite as good, not nearly as good as Silent Interlude, but still entertaining and worth the purchase of the book if you like G.I. Joe, which obviously you do or you wouldn’t be watching this.

It starts off with Snake Eyes being escorted into the castle or into the fortress in the middle of, what is it, New York? Did they get all the permits to build that thing? I doubt it. Anyway. Scarlett of course goes off into the woods and finds Storm Shadow. I love the subway shot here. What’s he trying to say there? What does that graffiti say? I don’t know. Who knows? Anyway.

Baroness looking pouty and angry. Scarlett’s helping out. Look, she’s in disguise. No way. This is a total throwback to Silent Interlude. Storm Shadow busts in there and of course saves Snake Eyes from the mental probe. But here’s the best part of the whole book. Snake Eyes is so badass that he’s blocking the mental probe. Subject is in Zen trance, complete brain block in effect. That’s a tongue twister.

And of course he shatters his chains or the restraints, starts kicking the crap out of Cobra soldiers. Storm Shadow breaks in, throws him a sword, and it’s pretty awesome. And at the very end here, gotta point this out, we get to see what Baroness has been wearing underneath her skin‑tight Cobra bodysuit for all those years since Scarlett disrobed her and locked her in the supply closet.

Hey, it’s AJ. And we get Joes on television. Yo Joe, fighting for freedom. On what network? I forget. I think it was syndicated. Never mind, disregard that.

Dr. Mindbender. Actually, that’s a really cool shot. Dr. Mindbender’s got the best purple pants. Overall, I feel like Dr. Mindbender was really underutilized. Here’s the cover gallery, which is pretty fun. Of course you can see most of these on 80scomics.com. . I have more or less the complete series, at least up to the first twenty issues. The first twenty issues are a little harder to come by, but after that I’ve got most of them.

We get a little recap on the character highlights and recaps. Other comic books. And then here we have an ad with the Transformers. Get all the adventure each month. The Transformers comic books were also incredible. I’ll be covering them soon enough. My Dinner with Serpentor is worth reading.

The Dreadnok is not bringing six packs of soda. I feel like they edited something out there. Like, if anything, Cobra would be drinking King Cobra 40s. Anyway, here we’ve got Xandar and Zorana, Dreadnoks and Hawk. The yearbooks are a lot of fun. They’re relatively easy to collect these days. I’ll be covering G.I. Joe Yearbook Number One soon, which I love because of the cover art, which is really unique. It’s a particularly nice drawing of the Rattler there.

But I’ll cover Number One later. Right now I’m covering Number Three. And Number Two is buried somewhere in my collection. I’ll have to dig that one out later. But you can’t go wrong with Hush Job, My Dinner with Serpentor, Pinup Gallery, G.I. Joe, Yearbook Number Three. Celebrate the 25th anniversary of Marvel, like thirty‑some years ago, with G.I. Joe Yearbook Number Three. Good stuff. Yo Joe.