IDW Publishing, which promised a far-reaching G.I. Joe publishing program when the license was acquired earlier this year (see “IDW Gets G.I. Joe”),  has announced its first three G.I. Joe comic series for 2009, which will be introduced in its #0 issue in October.  The three new series will launch sequentially in the first three months of 2009, and all will be promoted with multiple covers.  Each of the three series is represented in the #0 issue by a short story by the series creative team. 

G.I. Joe, by Chuck Dixon and Robert Atkins, launches in January with covers by Dave Johnson, Atkins, and for the first issue, a special wraparound cover by Gabriele Dell’Otto.  The story is set after Larry Hama’s G.I. Joe series, and will feature a new set of adversaries, a shadowy organization introduced in the #0 issue in October.  

G.I. Joe:  Origins, by Larry Hama and Tom Feister with covers by Feister and Adrea Di Vito, launches in February.  The storylines will look at the formation of the G.I. Joe organization and its members.  

G.I. Joe:  COBRA, a four-shot miniseries written by Christos Gage and Mike Costa with art by Antonio Fuso and covers by Fuso and Howard Chaykin, launches in March.  The storyline follows a G.I. Joe member as he tries to infiltrate Cobra.   

Other G.I. Joe titles planned for 2009 include deluxe reprints of older material and comics that lead into the August 7th release of the live action G.I. Joe feature film (see “G.I. Joe Lead Cast”).   The G.I. Joe property will also get a boost early in 2009 with the launch of a series of short animations, written by Warren Ellis (see “Warren Ellis Writing G.I. Joe Cartoon”).