Written by by James McFadden
Published by BearManor Media
Yo, Joe! If ever there were a niche for this book, I am that guy!
As a reviewer fascinated by both real-world history and the fictional continuity of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, a connection so deeply rooted I have an Arashikage tattoo, I come to this massive tome with decades of entrenched interest.
My fandom is rooted in the 1980s shadow of the Vietnam War, our childhood tradition of creating our own file cards and code names, and the memory of that G.I. Joe Giant (12 inches) that loomed over the smaller figures.
Fully enlisted in the world of Larry Hama’s Marvel run, the UK Action Force printings, and the early Transformers crossovers, the promise of finally untangling those overlapping realities is why this book, Fighting for Freedom: The Unauthorized G.I. Joe Chronology, is a welcome addition.
To say James McFadden has meticulously chronicled “All Of It” really doesn’t do the effort justice.
This book is an absolute monster of a text that addresses every spare part, from the original toys to the Devil’s Due books I had previously avoided. This is not a simple history, and that must be stated upfront. It reads part encyclopedia, part Rashomon.
In an archive room, deep within “The Pit” we are taken on this journey. The brilliant and often exhausting challenge of this book is that these foundational histories (ranging from World War II to the fictional stories of Cobra, Snake-Eyes, and the Transformers crossovers) are constantly overlapping and interweaving, forcing the reader to move between the different threads to see where the real and unreal events converge. This is an essential, exhaustive document for the most dedicated operatives.
I highly recommend photocopying pages 13-14 to reference the abbreviation key: ARAH = A Real American Hero, ORDB = Order of Battle, and, helpfully REAL = Real Life among others. Make a bookmark, because you won’t want to put this down but you will have to!
For dedicated fans, the density and spaghetti timelines, while dense are indeed, chronological; you are moving one way in time, forward.
Starting at 2001’s The Secret of Mummy’s Tomb toy set MUMN at 1,000 B.C., kicking off not the origin of Serpentor, but an Original Joe Colton’s adventure, through to the prevention of World War III this volume covers everything in between.
Snake-Eyes fans will be fascinated to know such facts as the incident where he was disfigured was based on a failed Delta Force mission in Tehran. This is key to one of the most fascinating characters and backstories in Hama’s canon, and there is no satiating the hunger to learn more about Snake-Eyes or his adopted Arashikage family. Arashikage literally means—Storm Shadow, his brother ninja’s code name which is also addressed in detail in the book.
Some well versed fans already know that former Marvel editor in chief Jim Shooter was stuck in as an Easter egg in the first issue. Callouts here give a definitive origin of the Joe called Shooter, Jodie Craig who was recruited in a backdoor way in the Devil’s Due Declassified run (DEGI).
As you can see here, the spaghetti is already mixed in the pot. McFadden took out every piece, from toy lines to comics, and even records and coloring books to give us a Rosetta Stone of all things Joe.
And all things Joe also includes in further sections G.I. Joe Extreme, G.I. Joe Reloaded, Battle Action Force, and multiple crossovers with Hasbro’s other important IP, The Transformers.
One should stress this is not for the casual reader, but the ultimate fan.
At times the book reads academically, and that is a good thing, but the sheer density and swirling of emotions you may feel remembering where you were when you found out who was really the assassin behind the Hard Master’s death!
Admittedly, I come with a strong ARAH bias here, but knowing there are some gaps that can be filled, not only in my own collection of floppies, but gaps in the imagination filling in backstories found on File Cards, in Declassified and Disavowed comics is really quite fascinating. Heck, I’d even read a few adventures of the original G.I. Joe Colton given a free comic to read on the train! Or coloring book for that matter! I only know him from surprising us in both ARAH and 2013’s G.I. Joe Retaliation!
Even birthdays and days of enlistment are included here. For instance, did you know that Dragonsky was born in 1937 in Moscow? Come on, you remember Dragonsky from Oktober Guard? This book is basically a printed “Joepedia”, except with more information. (Joepedia now lives at (https://gijoe.fandom.com).
What Fighting for Freedom lacks in illustration more than makes up with cited, exhaustive research. The most fun parts to read are the callouts, specifically connecting or expanding on the lore, which break up the design and attention of the reader making their way through.
I’ve noted my personal bias, but also I do believe this is for fans of all things Joe.
Lots of fans were first introduced to the Devil’s Due run, or perhaps they are long in the tooth fans that begrudgingly went along with the smaller figures and storylines ‘just to see what the kids were up to’. You know, hip hop and rock and roll seemed to last a bit after they were introduced! Rock and roll not to be confused blonde surfer from Malibu, Craig S. McConnel! He’s Rock N’ Roll!
Fighting for Freedom: The Unauthorized G.I. Joe Chronology is a definitive work, and one for referencing if not consuming all at once or in small chunks. My favorite parts were connecting the real world history with how Hama and other writers reflected the times they were creating in, their experience living in the world, and in the service to create color around the world of G.I. Joe that now generations have enjoyed.
If you’ll excuse me, now that I have all of this knowledge, I need to read my books again, pick up some trades, and watch a few Ken Burns documentaries (in that order).
In honor of my signoff in my letter printed in ARAH #110, “Well Until Next Time, Make Mine Fighting for Freedom, Yo, Joe!”
