Marvel Comics's G. I. Joe was one of the longest running comic book series ever. Originally launched to support Hasbro's popular toy line, the success of G. I. Joe spawned a spin-off series, the 28-issue G. I. Joe: Special Missions, a G. I. Joe: Order of Battle handbook, a four-part G. I. Joe Yearbook and a G. I. Joe and the Transformers limited series.

The main series ran for a total of 155 issues, and one particular man was crucial to the popularity of the G. I. Joe comic at that time: Larry Hama.

There've been a handful of incarnations following that, such as the short-lived G. I. Joe Extreme series by Dark Horse, but by far, the most successful and popular has been the revival of the property by Devil's Due Publishing.

Although G.I. Joe under Devil's Due has been very successful, both for the publisher and the fans as well, one question always dogged Devil's DUe - when's Larry Hama coming back?

Like all things, everything old is new again. The X-Men experienced Chris Claremont's "second coming."

Simon Furman returned to make the Transformers cool again.

In June, veteran G. I. Joe scribe Larry Hame returns with a three-issue G. I. Joe: Declassified mini-series from Devil's Due.

Like they say, it's the 80s all over again. Yet, this time, it's also something new, something fresh for die-hard fans. But first, what does Hama think about the new directions that the guys at Devil's Due have taken the Joes? "I think it's a smart move to fix the time line, or at least put it into some sort of pseudo-Einsteinian stasis," Hama told Newsarama. "After all, Peter Parker is still twenty-something in the Marvel Universe and if he was in high school in the early Sixties, he'd be as old as George W. Bush! The new characters are cool, and the all the characterizations of the old ones are nice and consistent. I really liked the Snake-Eyes Declassified series. I haven't read enough of the Sigma 6 stuff to have an opinion yet. I'm sort of behind on my reading since so much of my time is taken up by research these days. It's an overall enthusiastic thumbs-up from Hama on the Devil's Due G. I. Joe front!"

As for how he came into the picture this time around, Hama said that he was contacted by Devil's Due Founder and President Joshua Blaylock, and editor Mike O'Sullivan (G. I. Joe: Special Missions, G. I. Joe Data Desk Handbook and the upcoming G. I. Joe Scarlett: Declassified one-shot with artist Phil Noto). "[They] asked if I wanted to do it. I said, "sure." I was assured that nobody would barf on my shoes this time."

In his Marvel days, Hama's stories and characters were very much based on or influenced by the Vietnam War and other historical references. Now that we've gone through two Gulf Wars and the September 11th incident is still fresh in the minds of everyone right now and the current situation that we're living in (Osama, terrorism on a global scale, bombings around the world - London, Bali, etc), how much is he influenced by today's events when writing new G.I. Joe stories? "How can one not be influenced by world events as they happen? It's a very different world and the way we all look at soldiers has changed. I live three blocks away from the World Trade Center site, and I saw the impact of the second plane from the street below and felt the heat on my face. I saw people jumping from the towers. I wish I could forget some of what I saw. Back in my apartment, as I was throwing toothbrushes into a backpack to evacuate the area, I saw the towers fall from my living room window. It took hours for the dust to clear enough so we could get out of the neighborhood, and that was only by improvising breathing masks from handkerchiefs. We weren't allowed to go back to our home for six weeks. Friends of mine have served in Iraq. Thankfully they are all home safe now. Another old friend of mine lost his only son in the London tube bombing. These events aren't just news snippets on TV or articles in the paper to me. They impact directly on me, and what I write."

Hama's Declassified will be set in an era before the team was even formed. "Editorial at Devil's Due thought the readers might like a glimpse at how the original 13 Joes all became part of the team," the scribe said. "Snake-Eyes and Scarlett have been pretty well covered, but what about Steeler? How did they get Zap? So on, and so forth. I thought it would be cool to frame the story with the events immediately preceeding what happened in Marvel's #1."

As mentioned, the three-parter will feature the original 13 agents as well as "Generals Austin and Flagg, Chuckles, Fred Broca, the Baroness, a lot of Chaplain Assistants, and some odd surprises."

Following this Declassified project, does Hama have more G.I. Joe stories to tell? Is there a single moment from his earlier Marvel run that he'd like to revisit or at least expand on if time and opportunity allow for it? Old friends (i.e. characters) that he'd like to say hello to again?

"Zartan!"

Issue #1 of the 48pg, bi-monthly limited series by Hama and artist Pat Quinn is scheduled to be in stores on June 7.