Lately, I have been considering re-collecting Marvel's old G.I. Joe series. I read it as a kid and really enjoyed it. Something got me thinking about the series again, but I am wondering if spending all that money will be worth it.

Has anyone read the any of those issues lately? Do they still hold up? Are they something I could enjoy as an adult? Or is this just nostalgia clouding my memory?

The new comics license holder will be bringing the Marvel issues back to print in trade which may be the safer route to see if the stories hold up for you. If you can find good runs now may be a time to pick them up before the movie though.
I reread the first 30 issues recently and it still pretty well held up for me. Though some of those earlier issues didn't hold up as well until the Kwinn/Snake Eyes/Doc Venom storyline really kicks in.

IDW is going to be the new holder of the license, and if they follow in their handling of G.I. Joe in the same way as they have two other old Marvel properties (Transformers and Doctor Who), they might reproduce some of Marvel's old stories in monthly comic form, too, not just trades.

Generally, IDW does a good job with their properties (Simon Furman is still an integral part of Transformers, and I believe IDW has even gone as far as to say that Larry Hama will be involved in the new books, too), so even after a quality series by Devil's Due, I'm really looking forward to new IDW stories in a couple of months.

As for the old Marvel stories specifically, I've had a chance to look back at some of the older stories which have appeared with the 25th Anniversary line of figures in Hasbro's comic two-packs. For me, they still hold up quite nicely - in terms of storytelling and innovation for its time, the 'silent issue' (#21, I think) would still rank in my top 20 Marvel single issues of all time, and the run remained quite solid through number 50 or so.

Yes, they definately still hold up. Most properties from that time didn't but GIJoe does.

About the new comics, IDW plans to publish new Movie Universe (with the upcoming film) comics and a new relaunched GIJoe book written by Larry Hama. The latter will NOT continue the old Marvel continuity as the Devil's Due books did (very sad!).

IDW does a Best of UK Transformers title that republishes UK issues of the book from way back that were never printed before in the US, I wonder if they will do the same with the old UK GIJoe issues (Action Force)?

It was one of my favorite comics, so I guess my opinion on the matter is pretty biased. I think they hold up well. I'd recommend the whole series if you can find/collect it. The comic had soooo many characters and lot of different plot points that took a long time to resolve. Many of the story arcs are great, and sometimes the one-shots (IIRC they were few and far between...mostly the Special Missions were one-off stories and the main mag continued the story) were great as well.

You've got more than that clouding your memory!

This was one of my favorite series as a kid.

I would think that from a nostalgic stand point, they would withstand the test of time.

Marvel collected the first 50 issues in 5 TPB, details can be found here...

http://tplist.millarworld.net/index.html

The comic holds up much better than the Cartoon has.

The key is that Larry Hama is a great military writer that knows the little details that make reading the comics special. I have vol #1-4 of the rereleases... vol # 5 is hard to find.

I'd be very excited if the new rights owner worked with Marvel to get the original comics into trade again... and hopefully past just the birth of Serpentor. I really need the burried tanker saga in trade.

I never got the Order of Battle ones, but the Special Missions book was quite good. It had a lot of good, one off stories.

One of my favorites was two Cobra Eels taking over a freighter and fighting a Joe team

I assume you mean the landlocked freighter? As much as Hama should be praised for taking something as ridiculous as Hasbro's Serpentor and making him bad-### (see the first war circa issue 50), the "second" Joe vs. Cobra war on Cobra Island (issues 73-77) was flipping amazing , and all the stuff that happened with/in the freighter (pretty much here and there up to issue 100) was awesome as well.

Agreed, I tried rewatching the cartoons and they were VERY disappointing, not at all as good as I remember as a kid. The comics are still a good read.