Larry Hama is a writer and editor for Marvel Comics. He is most well known for writing the G.I. Joe comic book of the 1980s, and developing many of the G.I. Joe characters for Hasbro. He has also written for the series Wolverine, The Nth Man , and Elektra. During the 1970s, he appeared in minor roles on the popular comedy television shows M*A*S*H and Saturday Night Live.

According to Hama, he was given the writing assignment for G.I. Joe by then Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter after every other writer at Marvel had turned it down. Because it was a promotional children's toy tie-in, the comic book series was expected to last for no longer than two years; however, Hama ended up writing the series for twelve years. Hama's writing was generally well received, easily exceeding expectations for a toy tie-in. He created characters and situations that were entertaining but — within the bounds of G.I. Joe's fantastic milieu, at least — did not strain credulity; at the same time, Hama managed to regularly incorporate new products into his storylines to satisfy Hasbro's promotional dictates. The Marvel comic book ran for 155 issues, with the first issue published in June 1982 and the final issue published in December 1994.

In addition to penning the G.I. Joe comic book, Hama wrote the majority of the filecards for Hasbro's action figures. The G.I. Joe filecards were short biographical sketches meant to be clipped from the cardboard packaging of every G.I. Joe and COBRA action figure. Hama's filecards often imparted a lighthearted touch — sometimes wry, sometimes pointedly lowbrow — to the toys. For example, the filecard for the character Major Bludd included an example of the Major's poetry:

When you're feeling low and woozy

Slap a fresh clip in your Uzi!

Many of the characters, meanwhile, were given tongue-in-cheek names: Quick Kick, G.I. Joe's Japanese American martial arts expert, was named "MacArthur S. Ito," while G.I. Joe's hovercraft pilot, Cutter, was named "Skip A. Stone."

Hama also wrote filecards for Hasbro's line of Futuristic Police, C.O.P.S. n' Crooks.