Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe 1982-1994 by Mark Bellomo
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Book Reviews of Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe 1982-1994
Book Review: YO JOE !!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
All you need in a G.I. Joe guide.
Good for The beginner or The veteran Joe collector.
Book Review: Excellent Collector Resource
Summary: 4 Stars
As an avid childhood collector of GI Joe 3 3/4 figures and vehicles, I can certainly say that this guide seems extremely accurate. Although most of my collection sadly did not survive my childhood, this book certainly brings back some memories. It also helps to appraise some the pieces that did survive. I'm only depressed now that I didn't take better care of my original collection as it would have been worth a lot. As a GI Joe geek, it was interesting to see Larry Hama's (the original author of the Joe's Filecards) comments and thoughts on the characters. As a kid, I can certainly say I never gave the ideas behind the characters much thought. I also didn't understand half the things written on the filecards as they had more military jargon than a Tom Clancy novel. It does contain numerous references to the GI Joe cartoons and comics to help illustrate complete character biographies - which is interesting only if you were (or are) well-versed in the comics, the cartoons, and the toys. Overall, this is a great resource for serious collectors and devoted GI Joe disciples, but it's probably a bit too technical for casual fans.Book Review: Great compilation, but missing a few basics
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very good reference book for the Joes of the 80s and 90s. It is very complete as far as items included. What makes this a must buy are the comments about prototype drawings and Larry Hama's own notes. They provide a fascinating insight into the origin of the best toy and comic collection of my generation (imho).
Sorry to nitpick, but a few glitches prevented a 5 star rating, for example: the darkness of some of the pictures (three helmets are pictured together and captioned as different shades of green, but all appear black), simple proofreading mistakes, slips such as using the same picture for both Tomax and Xamot (even though they were actually mirror images of each other), and not including more file card info like full name and hometown (which played such a huge part in the character personalities).
Don't get me wrong, it's a fun read and I would recommend it to collectors of any degree. I bought it to help with the long procranstinated inventory project of my own childhood GIJoe collection which had been collecting attic dust for over 15 years.
Yo Joe!
Book Review: Informative and practically complete
Summary: 4 Stars
As one reader had put it, it seemed sterile. I dont doubt for a second about the author's passion over GI JOE/ARAH, but I think including the box art, file cards and better photographs would have made this an amazing book. Like the Kenner SW ACTION FIGURE guide, I was bowled over. The shots made for the vehicles just seemed so plain and without any character..it was like, snap, there you go. The USS FLAGG for instance should have taken up at least two pages to show the side, fore and aft views as well as a dynamic display-ie like a pic from the WISHBOOK but with better resolution.
My only request is that Mark B. makes the shots more dynamic or at least more than just one shot. ARAH is still an incredible line, the photography should match it. Mark's knowledge is without precedent the best I have ever seen. I only suggest that perhaps in his next book, he include some great customs on folks that truly love this toy line. I wish Mark great success with this book and his second which I intend on buying as soon as I can.
Jon
Book Review: Great job overall
Summary: 4 Stars
I will start by saying I think this is just about the best book of its kind on the market. Lots of great pictures and item details. I wish book space hadn't been given for a price guide however because price guides in books are only a snapshot in time and 1-2 years from now may be worthless, but the toy history will last forever. Then only real price guide in my opinion is eBay and I wish people would stop putting price guides in publication. I also agree with a prior comment that most vehicle pictures were just top down shots and I think isometric shots of all vehicles would have been more valuable. Also a picture of the carded figures/boxed vehicles would have added nicely. Gripes out of the way, I do think that the amount of information and the order presented worked very effectively and I have not found another publication that comes close.