G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (Devil's Due)

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
Cover to G.I. Joe A Real American Hero Vol. 2 #1. Art by J. Scott Campbell.
Publication information
Publisher	Devil's Due Publishing Image Comics
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Military
Publication date	October 2001 – June 2005
No. of issues	43
Main character(s)	See List of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero characters
Creative team
Written by	Josh Blaylock Brandon Jerwa
Penciller(s)	Steve Kurth Kevin Sharpe Brandon Badeaux Tim Seeley
Inker(s)	John Larter Andrew Pepoy Cory Hamscher

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (also known as G.I. Joe vol. 2 or G.I. Joe: Reinstated) is a comic book that was published by Image Comics from 2001 to 2005. Based on Hasbro, Inc.'s G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line of military-themed toys, the series picks up seven years after the end of the Marvel Comics series, and has been credited for bringing back attention to other 1980s properties such as Transformers, Masters of the Universe and Voltron.

In July 2001, Devil's Due acquired the rights to G.I. Joe, and released a four-issue limited series through Image Comics, written by Josh Blaylock with John Larter and Steve Kurth as the artists. The title quickly became known to the fans as A Real American Hero vol. 2 (following from Marvel's original series), or G.I. Joe Reinstated (the title of the first four-issue arc). Strong sales on the limited series led to it being upgraded to an ongoing series, with the publication of a fifth issue and a monthly schedule.

The new series picked up seven years after the end of the Marvel Comics series, and also used elements from the animated TV series. Several older characters were featured in the title alongside several new recruits. While primarily continuing the stories from the Marvel Comics series, the success of the G.I. Joe comic allowed Devil's Due to branch out with more properties, and experiment with creating their own continuities. Devil's Due eventually broke off from Image to become their own company, and took over the publishing of the book with issue #26. The series ended with issue #43, and the introduction of a new enemy, the Red Shadows.

The series was relaunched as a new series G.I. Joe: America's Elite, which lasted for 36 issues, and was cancelled when Devil's Due's license with Hasbro expired in 2008 and was not renewed.

A comics convention special was released before the first issue. IDW Publishing reprinted the entirety of the Devil's Due G.I. Joe run, under a "Disavowed" banner (as IDW would begin their own continuation to the original Marvel series in 2010, which ignored the DDP run), with five trade paperback collections of the original DDP series, as well as five collections of the America's Elite series.