Every week, I will be sharing with you three comic book "easter eggs." An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So come check 'em all out and enjoy! Also, click here for an archive of all the easter eggs featured so far! If you want to suggest an easter egg for a future column, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (do not post your suggestion in the comments section!).

This week, all easter eggs from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic books!

Enjoy!

Reader Adam F. suggested a pair.

First off, in a rare issue not written by Larry Hama, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #119 was written and drawn by Herb Trimpe. It is about the bad guys creating realistic robots of famous people. In one scene where we see a bunch of famous figures, we also see the feet of Spider-Man!!



Cute bit.

Adam suggested a bit from the very next issue (written by Hama, drawn by Andrew Wildman), where Destro and the Baroness take on four Red Ninjas, who each wield a very specific weapon...







Yes, while I suppose it is not BLATANT that this is an homage to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (who each wield a katana, a bo staff, nunchucks and sais, respectively) it is pretty close to it.

When Cobra Commander escapes into a mall in G.I. Joe #55 (by Hama and Rod Whigham), we see a few familiar action figures to fans of independent comics and manga...



The aforementioned G.I. Joe #120 also had a REALLY clever one, where Destro comments on who designs his chess pieces...



This is a reference to Bill Merklein, who sculpted the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero figures during the 1980s (and yes, also did the sculptures used for the credit card holograms).

Finally, in the recent G.I. Joe #180, the Joes head to San Diego Comic Con and artist S.L. Gallant has a blast with it, in an almost Where's Waldo-esque scene of little easter eggs (I especially like him drawing himself at a table with nearly no one trying to get anything signed by him)....



Great stuff (click on the page to enlarge)

Thanks for the suggestions, folks! If you have more G.I. Joe easter eggs or more easter eggs in general, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!