The Collectible GI Joe: An Official Guide to His Action-Packed World
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Fri., March 3, 2000
The Collectible GI Joe
An Official Guide to His Action-Packed Worldby Derryl DePriest
Courage Books, 176 pp., $19.98
As poster boy for the Dangers of Letting Boys Play With Dolls, I can't be trusted to be objective about any illustrated guide to the toybox warriors of the Sixties. Thousands of childhood hours spent on daring military operations, covert missions, and global crisis strike forces with Captain Action, Major Matt Mason, and Hasbro's original GI Joes have ruined me for looking at this stuff with a sober critical eye -- or even an adult one. Opening this book and seeing a full-size image of "America's movable fighting man" as he appeared for his debut, I was six years old again, murmuring, "Coooool." And there's lots of "cool" here; DePriest covers every aspect of the GI Joe line, 1964-1976 -- every model, every outfit, every accessory -- and presents them as they should be: in "action" poses, lovingly photographed by Curtis Fukada. Ideal for getting in touch with your inner commando.
