The 80s GI Joe revamp was done by Larry Hama at Marvel comics - Marvel was pitching themselves as what we'd call an IP development company or something along those lines these days. Hasbro came to Marvel and said they wanted to revamp GI Joe and make it into an action figure line to compete with Star Wars, Hama dusted off an old pitch he had for a Nick Fury SHIELD series, reworked his SHIELD pitch into the new GI JOE organization and Hydra into Cobra and off they went. This allowed Hasbro to create a slew of unique characters with different "gimmicks" and uniforms for their action figure line, as well as a ton of fantastic vehicles, bases, and other toys within that setting.. I think maybe (though I really have not more than glanced through it) the comic was more following on that, vs the cartoon took things in a more fantastical almost super hero direction. I mean, the early G.I. Joe didn't even have stuff like 'Cobra', it was just about realistic army soldiers. I remember the ones I had were equipped with very detailed hand guns, rifles, holsters, uniforms, packs, boots, helmets, radios, etc. that were basically very authentic looking. There were tents, a vehicle of some sort, foot lockers, etc. It was almost more 'army life' vs combat and action.
IMO one problem with any reboot of GI Joe in this day and age is that it has to compete with Marvel - the GI Joe action figure/comic book/cartoon line is a very Marvel comics product. And so how do you do it in such a way that it doesn't look like a Marvel "rip-off"? (Also it's American-centeredness makes a problem as well - we're in an International market nowadays for pop culture items. But trying to turn something so originally tied up with the US military into an international product leads to its own issues).