The Official 30th Anniversary Salute to Gi Joe 1964-1994 by Vincent Santelmo (1994, Hardcover)

Before Ollie North, there was GI Joe. With his battle scar and extremely posable design, Joe took the mid-1960s toy world by storm. His sales waned later, and he was suspended for a few years, only to come back, smaller, as an action toy and attain new commercial heights. Recently, large-format Joes have come back, too. Santelmo takes us deep into Joe's world in a lavishly illustrated volume that includes important manufacturers' information for collectors as well as an entertaining history of America's favorite dress-up warrior. Santelmo describes how Joe was created as a Barbie doll for boys, at the same scale and with various uniforms to collect. His midlife slump coincided with a time when war was unpopular, but then the overwhelming success of Star Wars action figures reopened the market for toys dealing with fantasized death and destruction. Time for Joe to reemerge as an action toy sporting molded plastic clothing and an amazing array of weapons and vehicles.

This is a very nice coffe table book. Lots of history, photos (color and black and white and geneology section. Unique and fun photos of Joe and the gang in "action-environment" poses.. ready for action!!! Photos of various product packaging, advertising, and comic books make this a very informative Pop Culture research guide. I salute Vincent Santelmo on a job-well-done on this 30th Anniversary book!

I bouth it because I wanted to know more about the story of GI action figures. I think it has a lot of information, but its more centered on the 12 inches figures than the 3 3/4 ones that are more my focus.