I had been looking to get the second edition of the Mark Bellomo 'Ultimate Guide to GIJOE 1982-1994' ever since I heard it was in the works. I added it to my wishlist on Amazon and checked back as the release date drew near.

Borders won't get it until the 30th, so I logged into Amazon on the 10th and saw that not only was it available already, it was also available at a discount.

I ordered the book and other item to allow me to get free shipping and waited for it to arrive.

I stopped by the Post Office today and there it was.

I've glanced through it a few times now and still haven't been able to put it down.

My thoughts:

I am impressed with the new design and layout. The pictures are bigger, allowing for better IDing of the figures and vehicles. Also the bland overhead shots of the vehicles from the first edition have been replaced with better sideviews and close-up views. New information and notes have been added for each figure/vehicle/playset.

My only gripe is that the alphabetical index was removed. Small price to pay, but such a minor issue it's moot.

I don't know what more I can add to this, since I feel my review is rather lacking. I would highly recommend this book to every GIJOE collector because the book is definitely worth the price. Amazon has it for $17.81, but I would have dropped the cover price in a heartbeat if I had found this in the store.

Hopefully the link here won't show my personal info:
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-G-I-1982-1994-Identification/dp/0896899225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245446241&sr=8-1

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The first version was awesome... and this new version blows the pants off the original. My only regret is the additional stuff he said he didn't have room for. I hope he finds a way to get it out somehow...

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He handed out that info at the Canadian GI Joe Convention to everyone that attended his presentation. I had to leave the presentation to take care of something, but I still have mine.... it's marked, TOP SECRET.

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Over on Yo Joe, the author posted that he recently registered http://www.markbellomo.com/ and will be posting the information the editors cut on that site.

It's a great book... I don't even collect the vintage stuff but I bought it just to relive my childhood. Definitely worth the cover price to me.

I got the book myself and I love it. The upgrades to it are enormous. Great pictures, more details. A good read on every item. Unfortunately it does have a significant flaw in that the index was dropped from it. Mark has said he had to cut a lot from the book because of publisher limitations. But this is a reference book and it handicaps that function greatly without that index. The index from the first version of the book was only 2 pages. You would think the publisher could give up a couple of more pages to allow the book to serve its original purpose.

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I took this with me today to read.

After taking some time to look through it, I am amazed at just how different and better this version is.

I also am curious about the 'Indian' esque guy in the paintings at the beginning. There is no info about him, so I have no idea what he is/was supposed to be.


Buy the book

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