G.I. Joe Yearbook #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeG.I. Joe Yearbook #2 stands out from the four-issue Yearbook run as the one entry where artist Michael Golden contributed full interior story art, making it a showcase that collectors and fans have singled out as a cut above its siblings in the series. Its original story 'Triple Play' introduced Dragonsky — the Oktober Guard's flamethrower specialist and one of the unit's founding members — completing a roster that had appeared in the main series since issue #6 but had never included him before. The issue also elevated the Yearbook format itself: whereas the first Yearbook was essentially a reprint package, issue #2 established the template of pairing new original fiction with behind-the-scenes television content and cover galleries that the remaining two entries would follow. Its Cold War three-way standoff among G.I. Joe, Cobra, and the Soviet Oktober Guard in Afghanistan — set against the real-world backdrop of the Soviet–Afghan War — gave the story a geopolitical texture uncommon in toy-licensed comics of the period.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 14 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $4.88–$200 23 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Released on December 17, 1985 with a March 1986 cover date, the issue was written by Larry Hama and illustrated internally by Michael Golden, who brought a notably more cartoonish and kinetic visual style than the main series' standard realism. The cover — sources differ on attribution, with some crediting Golden for both front and back and at least one retailer listing Todd McFarlane — added an additional point of interest for early-career-McFarlane scholars. The Yearbook series itself was conceived as a magazine-style annual distinct from Marvel's typical annuals, incorporating TV production articles, story recaps, and cover galleries alongside original fiction; Hama used the expanded format of issue #2 to debut Dragonsky and stage a self-contained international thriller that required no prior reading of the main title.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published March 1986 (on-sale December 17, 1985) by Marvel Comics, 64 pages.
- Written by Larry Hama; interior story art by Michael Golden — the only Yearbook in the four-issue run to feature Golden's interior artwork.
- Cover artist is disputed across sources: several retailers credit Michael Golden for both the front and back covers, while at least one credits Todd McFarlane; this remains unresolved without primary source confirmation.
- First comic-book appearance of Dragonsky, the Oktober Guard's flamethrower specialist (real name: Andrei Freisov), who is established as an original team member despite debuting years after the Guard's first appearance in G.I. Joe #6.
- Original lead story 'Triple Play' is set in Afghanistan and pits G.I. Joe, the Oktober Guard, and Cobra in a three-way fight over a Soviet helicopter-mounted laser cannon.
- Non-story content includes 'The Joes on the Tube,' a behind-the-scenes feature on the Sunbow animated series with story editor Buzz Dixon previewing 1986 season changes and new characters (Low Light, Dial Tone, Lifeline, Mainframe, and others); a cover gallery of issues #1–44; and a plot-recap section pulling from issues #26–43.
- The interior story credits are entirely absent from the published issue.
- The story was reprinted in the UK in Marvel's Action Force #30, #31, #33, #34, and #35 (1987), retitled 'The Return of the Oktober Guard!'; IDW reprinted the issue as a standalone in July 2021, and all four Marvel Yearbooks were also collected in a G.I. Joe Yearbook TPB by IDW (2012) and a G.I. Joe Classics Yearbooks TPB (2021).
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #1 (1982), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #2 (1982), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #3 (1982), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #4 (1982), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #5 (1982), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #6 (1982), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #7 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #8 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #9 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #10 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #11 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #12 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #13 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #14 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #15 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #16 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #17 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #18 (1983), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #19 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #20 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #21 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #22 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #23 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #24 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #25 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #26 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #27 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #28 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #29 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #30 (1984), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #31 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #32 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #33 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #34 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #35 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #36 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #37 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #38 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #39 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #40 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #41 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #42 (1985), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #43 (1986), G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #44 (1986)
Reprinted in Action Force #30 (1987), Action Force #31 (1987), Action Force #33 (1987), Action Force #34 (1987), Action Force #35 (1987), Action Force #1/1988 (1988), Action Force #1/1988 (1988), Action Force #3/1988 (1988), Los Comics de El Sol #24 (1990), Los Comics de El Sol #25 (1990), G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: Rise of Serpentor #[nn] (2022), G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Kickstarter Compendium #2 (2024), G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Compendium #2 (2025), Action Force #1, Action Force / G.I. Joe #1/1988
Variants (2)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.