‘G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero’ Writer Larry Hama Admits To Being Blacklisted By Marvel And DC
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero writer Larry Hama recently shared that he was blacklisted from both Marvel and DC Comics following his now iconic run on the Marvel Comics series among a number of other grievances.
Hama took to Facebook where he shared, “I was considered a commercial hack by organized comic fandom for my entire Marvel run of GI Joe. I was considered not good enough to write for the GI Joe animated shows. My Wolverine run was mostly ignored by fanzines while it was running (never got invited to cons.) I was considered not good enough to teach comics at SVA.”
He then shared he was blacklisted, “I was black-listed by both Marvel and DC. The list goes on and on. I learned very early to ignore the negativity and Charlie-Mike with my best efforts.”
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As for why he was blacklisted, Hama explained, “I made the mistake of telling one head honcho that his brilliant online fumetti could not be shot for his allotted budget, and that there wasn’t enough bandwith in the universe at the time to put it up. There wasn’t. The result was that he fired the entire online department, and none of his editors would return my calls for years.”
“The other head honcho was pissed that I turned down a job offer because I thought the project should have been written by a woman,” he added.
Despite being blacklisted Hama relayed, “I have no grudge against Marvel or DC. They are corporate entities. I was done dirt by execs who are no longer at either company. I harbor no enmity towards the editors, artists, and writers who stabbed me in the back, conspired to have me fired off books so they could write them themselves, took credit for my work, etc, etc.”
“As my old compadre Howard Chaykin stated, my revenge is living well, having a loving family, wonderful friends and loyal fans,” he asserted.
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This rings true given Hama recently returned to Marvel Comics at the end of last year to write the miniseries Wolverine: Patch alongside Andrea Di Vito. In 2021, he also wrote a number X-Men Legends issues as well as Conan the Barbarian #25. He also wrote the Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon miniseries.
Hama also wrote a number of issues for DC Comics back in 2015 during their Convergence storyline. Specifically, he wrote Convergence: Batman: Shadow of the Bat and Convergence: Wonder Woman.
Interestingly, Hama would also admit he struggled writing G.I.: A Real American Hero issues because fanzines were not covering his work.
He wrote, “You have no idea how difficult it was to sit down every month and write another GI Joe story, when no fanzine would even deign to write a review, and I got no support from organized fandom.”
“But, I wasn’t writing for the gatekeepers. I was writing for my readers, and they always came first,” he concluded.
What do you make of Hama’s claims that he was previously blacklisted by both Marvel and DC Comics?
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