| Larry Hama | |
|---|---|
 Hama in 2015 | |
| Born | (1949-06-07)June 7, 1949 (age 76) |
| Area | Writer,Penciller, Editor |
Notable works | G.I. Joe Bucky O'Hare Nth Man Wolverine |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (2012)[1] |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1969–1971 |
| Unit |  18th Engineer Brigade US Army Corps of Engineers |
| Battles / wars | Vietnam War |
Larry Hama (/ˈhɑːmə/;[2] born June 7, 1949) is an Americancomic book writer, artist, actor, and musician who has worked in the fields of entertainment and publishing since the 1960s.
During the 1970s, he was seen in minor roles on the TV showsM*A*S*H andSaturday Night Live, and appeared on Broadway in two roles in the original 1976 production ofStephen Sondheim'sPacific Overtures.
He is best known to American comic book readers as a writer and editor forMarvel Comics, where he wrote the licensedcomic book seriesG.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on theHasbrotoyline. He has also written for the seriesWolverine,Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja, andElektra. He co-created the characterBucky O'Hare, which was developed into a comic book, a toy line and television cartoon.[3]
In October 2024, Hama was inducted into theHarvey Awards Hall of Fame.[4]
Hama was born June 7, 1949.[5] Growing up, Hama studiedKodokanJudo and later studiedKyūdō (Japanesearchery) andIaido (Japanese martial artswordsmanship).[6] Planning to become a painter, Hama attendedManhattan'sHigh School of Art and Design, where one instructor was formerEC Comics artistBernard Krigstein. He was in the same graduating class asFrank Brunner andRalph Reese.[7]
Hama sold his first comics work to thefantasy film magazineCastle of Frankenstein when he was 16 years old, and he followed by collaborating withBhob Stewart on pages for the underground tabloidGothic Blimp Works.[8] After high school, Hama took a job drawing shoes for catalogs, and then served in theUnited States Army from 1969 to 1971, during theVietnam War, where he became a firearms and explosive ordnance expert.[9] Hama's experiences in Vietnam informed his editing of the 1986-1993 Marvel Comics seriesThe 'Nam. Upon his discharge, Hama became active in the Asian community in New York City.
High-school classmateRalph Reese, who had become an assistant to famed EC and Marvel artistWally Wood, helped Hama get a similar job at Wood's Manhattan studio. Hama assisted on Wood's comic stripsSally Forth andCannon, which originally ran inMilitary News andOverseas Weekly and were later collected in a series of books. During this time, he also had illustrations published in such magazines asEsquire andRolling Stone, and Reese and he collaborated on art for a story in theunderground comix-style humor magazineDrool #1 (1972). Through contacts made while working for Wood, Hama began working at comic-book andcommercial artistNeal Adams'Continuity Associates studio; with other young contemporaries there, including Reese,Frank Brunner andBernie Wrightson, Hama became part of the comic-bookinking gang credited as the "Crusty Bunkers."[10] His first known work as such is on theAlan Weiss-penciled "Slaves of the Mahars" inDC Comics'Weird Worlds #2 (Nov. 1972).
Hama began penciling for comics a year-and-a-half later, making an auspicious debut succeeding character co-creatorGil Kane on the feature "Iron Fist" inMarvel Premiere, taking over with themartial artssuperhero's second appearance and his next three stories (#16-19, July-Nov. 1974). He went on to freelance for start-up publisherAtlas/Seaboard (writing andpenciling the first two issues of thesword & sorcery seriesWulf the Barbarian, writing the premiere of thescience fiction/horrorPlanet of Vampires); some penciling work on the seminal independent comic bookBig Apple Comix #1 (Sept. 1975); and two issues of the jungle-hero bookKa-Zar before beginning a long run atDC Comics.
At DC, Hama became an editor of the titlesWonder Woman,Mister Miracle,Super Friends, andThe Warlord, and the TV-series licensed propertyWelcome Back, Kotter from 1977 to 1978. He then joined Marvel as an editor in 1980.
Hama had a brief acting career in the mid-1970s, despite never having pursued the field. The casting director for the musicalPacific Overtures,Joanna Merlin, called Hama because an actor friend of his gave her his name when asked if he knew any other Asian actors. He told her that he had never acted before and could neither sing nor dance, but Merlin was persistent, and when informed that casting was less than a minute away from his workplace at Continuity Comics, he agreed to audition and was ultimately cast in three roles.[10]
He also played a role in the 1976M*A*S*H episode "The Korean Surgeon" and aSaturday Night Live spoof ofApocalypse Now. However, though he had made a living as an actor for roughly a year, Hama ultimately discarded his acting career, explaining, "I always basically saw myself as an artist, not as anything else."[10]
Hama is best known as the writer of theMarvel Comics licensed seriesG.I. Joe, based on theHasbro line of militaryaction figures. Hama said in a 2006 interview that he was given the job by then editor-in-chiefJim Shooter after every other writer at Marvel had turned it down.[11] Hama at the time had recently pitched aNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off series,Fury Force, about aspecial mission force. Hama used this concept as the back-story forG.I. Joe. He included military terms and strategies, Eastern philosophy, martial arts and historical references from his own background. The comic ran 155 issues (February 1982 – October 1994).
Hama also wrote the majority of the G.I. Joe action figures'file cards—short biographical sketches designed to be clipped from the G.I. Joe andCobra cardboard packaging.[12] In 2007 these filecards were reprinted in theretro packaging for the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero 25th Anniversary line.
Hama said in 1986 thatG.I. Joe had an unexpected female following due to such strong female characters asCover Girl,Lady Jaye, andScarlett (whose personality was based upon his wife). "Most of the girls that write in [withletters to the comic] say that the reason they like the comic is that the women characters are simply part of the team. They’re not treated as any different from the other team members. They don't go around with their palms nailed to their foreheads. They’re competent, straightforward, and they go ahead and get the job done. They also participate emotionally. They have their likes and dislikes. They’re not ill-treated and they're not running around being worrywarts."[13]
Hasbro sculptors sometimes used real people's likenesses when designing its action figures. In 1987, Hasbro released theTunnel Rat action figure.[14] The character is anexplosive ordnance disposal specialist, whose likeness was based on Hama.[15]
In 2006, Hama returned to his signature characters with theDevils Due Publishing miniseriesG.I. Joe Declassified, which chronicled the recruitment of the squad's first members by General Hawk. In 2007, the company added the spin-off seriesStorm Shadow, written by Hama and penciled by Mark A. Robinson, which ceased publication with issue 7.[16]
In December 2007, Hasbro released 25th-anniversary comic-book figure two-packs that featured original stories by Hama. These new Hasbro-published issues were designed to take place between the panels of the Marvel series.[17]
In September 2008,IDW announced a new line of G.I. Joe comics with one series,G.I. Joe Origins, to be primarily written by Hama.[18] He wrote the first five issues, as the series was originally intended to be a miniseries, and returned to write four more issues (including #19, which was aSnake Eyes "silent issue") over the course of the book's 23-issue run. IDW later revived the Marvel Comics continuity with Hama taking the helm ofa new ongoing series, picking up where the Marvel series left off with issue #155 1/2.
In June 2023,Skybound announced the continuation of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero atImage. This would continue on from the IDW run, starting with issue #301.[19]
At Marvel in the early 1980s, Hama edited the humor magazineCrazy[20] and theConan titles,[21] and from 1986 to 1993, he edited the acclaimed comic bookThe 'Nam, a gritty Marvel series about the Vietnam War.
He also was an editor onPeter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham from 1983–1987.
Hama wrote the 16-issue Marvel seriesNth Man: The Ultimate Ninja (Aug. 1989 - Sept. 1990), concerning the adventures of John Doe, an Americanninja andSpecial Forcescommando in analternate reality in whichWorld War III is sparked after the world's nuclear weapons stockpiles are all destroyed. Hama also edited a relaunch of Marvel's black-and-white comicsmagazineSavage Tales, overseeing its change fromsword-and-sorcery tomen's adventure. Other comics Hama has written includeWolverine,Before the Fantastic Four: Ben Grimm and Logan,The Punisher War Zone, and theX-Men brand extensionGeneration X for Marvel; andBatman stories forDC Comics. His run onWolverine lasted over seven years, starting with issue #31 and ending with #118.[22] He wrote filecards for Hasbro's line of sci-fi/police action figures,C.O.P.S. 'n' Crooks.
While working atNeal Adams'Continuity Associates, Hama co-developed a series he and comic book artistMichael Golden first created in 1978,Bucky O'Hare, the story of a greenanthropomorphic rabbit and his mutant mammal sidekicks in an intergalactic war against space amphibians. Bucky O'Hare went on to become a comic, cartoon, video game, and toy line.
Hama is credited as a writing consultant on the 2004 independent animated filmThe Easter Egg Adventure and he also contributed scripts to the second season of the animated seriesRobotboy.
In 2006,Osprey Publishing announced that Hama had been commissioned to write for their "Osprey Graphic History" series of comic books about historical battles, including the titlesThe Bloodiest Day—Battle of Antietam, andSurprise Attack—Battle of Shiloh (both with artist Scott Moore) andFight to the Death:Battle of Guadalcanal andIsland of Terror—Battle of Iwo Jima (with artistAnthony Williams).
In February 2008,Devil's Due Publishing publishedSpooks, a comic book about a U.S. government antiparanormal investigator/task force. Hama created the military characters andR.A. Salvatore the monster characters.[23] He was also the writer of DDP'sBarack the Barbarian series, aConan the Barbarian parody starring U. S. PresidentBarack Obama.
On September 19, 2012, Hama released his three-part vampire novel entitledThe Stranger.[24]
On December 17, 2012, Hama portrayed himself in a Christmas-themed episode of theAdult Swim seriesRobot Chicken.[25]In 2014, Hama began working with award-winning filmmaker Mark Cheng on an original film project, calledGhost Source Zero.[26][27] The film was distributed bySony Pictures in 2018.[28]
In August 2014,Red Giant Entertainment announced that Hama would be writing the company's newMonster Isle monthly series debuting that November.[29]
On October 11, 2024, theHarvey Awards announced[30] that Hama was one of five comics creators to be inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame at the 36th annual Harvey Awards ceremony on October 18 at theNew York Comic Con.[4][31] The other four inductees wereArthur Adams,Akira Toriyama,Sergio Aragonés, andJohn Buscema. Hama reacted to the accolade by stating, "I am deeply honored to be inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame. I first met Harvey Kurtzman in 1966, when as a student at the High School of Art and Design, I would visit the office ofHELP! magazine. He and art directorTerry Gilliam were extremely kind to this nerdy fanboy cartoonist wannabe, and opened flat-file drawers to show me original art byR. Crumb,Willy Elder,John Severin,Jack Davis, and many others. His open, welcoming nature made me feel that my goals were not as unreachable as I feared them to be.”[32]
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| Preceded by | The Avengers writer 1990–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Wolverine writer 1990–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Generation X writer 1997–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Batman writer 2000 | Succeeded by |
