Hooking 'em when they're young is the other half of the battle

In New York, we showed a few quick slides of an upcoming G.I. JOE children's picture book/graphic novel hybrid that were doing in July, but that's really been the extent of images we've shown. So here's a more detailed look at the book, which is aimed squarely at early readers (4-7-year-olds. Those kids love their guns-n-grenades, so who are we to deny them that? Even if the grenades might not make it onto the final printed pages).

This book, like the TRANSFORMERS: I AM OPTIMUS PRIME book coming in May, take the format of a typical childrens' picture book, a square, hardcover-with-dustjacket book with lush, colorful pages, and merges it with comic-book sensibilities, adding in panels and dialogue and telling a fun story for kids. It's timed to hit ahead of the movie, and since many of these kids will find their way into the movie, this is a good introduction for kids. The story's written by IDW editor Andy Schmidt and illustrated by our ASTRO BOY movie prequel artist, Diego Jourdan and Gaston Souto.

The cover image and art is still being finalized so there could be small tweaks to all of this, but the characters are all based on the Combat Heroes toys so hopefully they look familiar to the kids.