General Joseph Colton

Cover of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #152.

General Joseph Colton made very few appearances during the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero series. In issue #86, he is working with his old colleague Jane in a secure level in the Chrysler Building (renamed as the Studebaker Building due to licensing issues). The laboratories are attacked by Cobra forces, which desire the orbital pulsed weapon system hidden inside. Joe, Jane and a small squad of official G.I. Joe forces (including Repeater and Lightfoot) defeat the Cobra soldiers.[7]

In issue #127, General Colton explains the Rapid Pulse Electron Beam (RPEB) to Duke and Stalker. He discovers a tap into the control system, leading to a telephone switching station in New Jersey, where Cobra Commander has taken charge. Realizing that their systems are breached, General Colton has Jane shut down all systems. General Colton, Duke, Stalker and Wild Bill then head to the phone switching station, but Cobra shoots down the Joes Tomahawk, and Cobra Commander escapes, rushing to New York City and the RPEB. General Colton, Stalker and Duke use Battle Copters to fly back to the Chrysler Building, but Cobra Commander has already taken control of the RPEB, and uses it to eliminate a drug shipment by Headman. Cobra Commander and his crew then use civilian disguises to walk undetected past the Joes.[8]

General Colton also appears in issue #152, where he is called back to active duty for a secret mission. Ace is assigned to deliver Colton to D.C., and asks Colton when the last time he was in the back seat of a combat jet. This prompts Colton to reminisce about his earlier years in battle, leading to a flashback story about the original plan to form a G.I. Joe team.[9]

The first four issues of Devil's Due Publishing's G.I. Joe: Frontline featured Larry Hama's story of one last mission, "The Mission That Never Was." After the official disbandment of the G.I. Joe team they hold one last mission. They had to transport the Rapid Pulse Particle Beam from Florida to Colton's location in New York City. During this series, Colton is stationed in the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).[10]

General Colton appears later in the series. He comes out of retirement to lead the G.I. Joe Team, after Hawk is paralyzed by Cobra Commander.[11] His leadership is temporary, as he is quickly sidelined by the cabal of Generals known as the Jugglers who instead want General Philip Rey to lead the team.[12]

Colton becomes a target when the Red Shadows began going after G.I. Joe and Cobra agents. He is shot and apparently killed by the Red Shadow's leader, Wilder Vaughn, a man Colton once knew.[13] The injuries are critical, but Colton survives.

After a year of disbandment, General Colton is asked by the president to head a much smaller G.I. Joe team in the absence of Hawk. He is reluctant, but accepts the position, and leads the Joes from their new headquarters, a secret facility known as The Rock.[14]

When Cobra takes control of M.A.R.S., and begins to sell weaponry to insurgents, terrorists, and rebel groups, General Colton goes on the offensive, mobilizing the entire G.I. Joe roster, and launching missions to capture Cobra agents still at large. During "World War III", General Colton leads a small unit in retaking Fort Meade.[15] When the Joes attack Cobra's Appalachian base, General Colton is shot in the back by Cobra Commander, but again survives. At the end of the series, he is able to convince the president that G.I. Joe is still needed. With Hawk at his side, he leads a fully restored and recognized G.I. Joe team into battle.[16]

General Colton has made one appearance as a major character outside of the main G.I. Joe continuity.

During this fourth miniseries, Hawk discovered G.I. Joe was being held captive by the forces of Cobra-La in the Himalayas. Along with his team, Joe was captured by the Decepticons in 1978.[17] He later escaped to help Hawk and Optimus Prime defeat Cobra-La.[18]

In the Hasbro Comic Book Universe, Colton was a member of the Adventure Team, alongside Miles "Mayhem" Manheim, Mike "Atomic Man" Power, Richard "Bulletman" Ruby, and Lonzo "Stalker" Wilkinson. On their mission to the Tomb of Amtoltec, they battled an army of robotic mummies, before having an encounter with the Decepticon named Soundwave. By the end of the search, the Adventure Team retrieved an ancient artifact they codenamed as the "Talisman".[19]

After Megatron led the 2007 Decepticon invasion on Earth, Colton began fearing what the Transformers could do to humanity.[20] In the meantime, he joined his fellow Joes in their final victory against Cobra.[21] By the end, Colton's worldview is drastically changed after the treachery of Galvatron with the Earth Defense Command.[22]

Prior to the Revolution event, Colton was replaced by a Dire Wraith who attempted to control the Earth Defense Command by excluding Marissa Faireborn and Spike Witwicky.[23] He also made horrific experiments on Aaron Grundy (Axiom), a skilled computer programmer who would be transformed into a monster loyal to the Wraiths.[24] But the impostor was later killed by Rom, whose death made G.I. Joe declare war against the Autobots, until they realized the truth about the Wraith infiltration.[25]

Meanwhile, the real Colton is revealed to be alive, having cut off his right hand in order to escape from the Dire Wraith who replaced him.[26] Convinced that the Transformers are in league with the Dire Wraiths and must be destroyed, Colton went on hiding and became the international criminal known as "Baron Ironblood", which made him cross paths with the Action Man Programme.[27] He has been secretly recruiting villains to form the Iron Ring and launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Cybertron, setting the events of First Strike in motion.[28]

As the Iron Ring attacked Cybertron, Colton sent Doctor Mindbender (disguised as Ironblood) as a decoy while he searched the planet's core in order to power the Talisman and destroy the Transformers. Inside the core, Colton and the Iron Ring are confronted by Scarlett and her comrades. At the battle's climax, Colton's closest ally, Garrison Kreiger, reveals his true identity as Merklynn (a wizard from the planet Prysmos) and explains that he has been using the Iron Ring's needs so he could use the Talisman to transform Cybertron and Earth into new versions of Prysmos. He then magically teleports everyone back to Cybertron's surface, where Colton sadly surrenders, having realised that he helped an even worst enemy to ensure Earth's incoming destruction, rather than saving it.[29]

Colton was last seen in the Transformers: Unicron miniseries, where he reluctantly helps the Autobots to battle Unicron, who was awakened as side-effect by the same invasion he had caused on Cybertron.[30]