G. I. Joe #11 (May 1983) – “The Pipeline Ploy” – Larry Hama/Mike Vosburg/Jon D’Agostino
This one starts with some new Joes (Doc, Snow Job, and Gung Ho) being brought in to relieve the team during a firefight with Cobra along the Alaskan Oil Pipeline. Hawk explains how Cobra had been sniffing around the pipeline and how they engaged with them and took out most of the Cobra artillery before their own tanks were blasted. As the Cobras retreat along the pipeline, the Joes prepare to follow, commandeering an abandoned HISS tank to help carry everyone. Along the
way, Snow Job tells Rock n’ Roll about Gung Ho’s sister (a real looker who’s a fashion model) and Doc learns not to mess with Snake Eyes’s mask. At Cobra headquarters in Springfield, Cobra Commander has assessed the situation and decides to bring in a specialist, someone who has a sharp tactical mind and is capable of subtlety when called for. He’s not named and we don’t see his face (or “face”, I guess), but it’s obviously Destro, and Cobra Commander is a bit surprised to find out Baroness already knows him. Thanks to a supersonic jet, Destro reaches Alaska quickly and takes over the mission, 
splitting the Cobra forces. He leaves a small team at a pumping station (with some mysterious steel canisters) and leads the main force farther down the pipeline. Hawk decides to capture the pumping station before pursuing the rest of the Cobras and they take out the handful of Cobra troops easily. But in the fight some of the canisters are breached and a Cobra captive tells them it’s a new strain of plague toxin and they all only have six hours to live since Destro has the only antidote. Before they can make plans, a Cobra ambush team takes out the HISS tank, leaving the Joes just the Polar Battle Bear. Hawk orders Snow Job, Doc, and Snake Eyes to go after the main Cobra force
and radios their base for help. Wild Bill, Zap, and Airborne pile into the Dragonfly to come reinforce the Joes left at the pumping station. Snow Job’s team makes it past the Cobras (with Snake Eyes grabbing an RPG on the way), so Hawk’s team just has to hold on until help arrives. Snow Job’s team follows the Cobras to a nuclear plant and finds out they blitzed through, only slowing down long enough to steal some plutonium. As they move out to follow, they’re attacked by some Cobras on hang gliders. Wild Bill’s chopper arrives and drops Airborne (on a hang glider) to help the Joes on the Battle Bear and 
swings by Hawk’s position to check on the rest. The Cobras try to take the Dragonfly with a surface-to-air missile, but Gung Ho goes out and pounds them all. The chopper reaches the next pumping station, hoping to deal with the plague virus in the pipeline, but the technicians tell them shutting down is complicated because they have to send a probe with a radioactive beacon through the line first to check for leaks. When Snow Job’s team shows up, they realize the Cobra tank is in a shed at the station, so the “technicians” are really Cobras in disguise. They warn the others and Wild Bill shows off his fast draw to take out the fake techs. Destro pops up to let them know the
stolen plutonium is on the “probe” and a Cobra team will be retrieving it at the next pumping station. He confirms the deadliness of the plague virus and shows them the antidote. Doc (who doesn’t use weapons) throws a snowball and tackles Destro, but gets tossed back easily. Destro takes off, but Doc managed to grab the antidote. They head to the next pumping station and tell the Cobras there that they turned the flow back on, so now they’re all infected with the virus. The Cobras aren’t suicidal and trade the plutonium for the antidote, but we find out Doc was lying and they were never infected. We also find out that Gung Ho’s sister is a nine year-old beauty contest winner, 
and Rock n’ Roll realizes Snow Job’s code name comes from his ability to sling bullshit with the best of them. This issue introduces some new characters who will go on to become fan favourites (Gung Ho, Snow Job, Airborne, Wild Bill, and especially Destro), as well as some new vehicles (the Dragonfly, Polar Battle Bear, and the hang gliders). I think Marvel’s deal with Hasbro mandated that they had to use every new toy in the comic and Larry Hama was really good at incorporating new characters and weapons without making the story seem like just a showcase for the toys.
G. I. Joe #12 (June 1983) – “Three Strikes for Snake Eyes” – Larry Hama/Mike Vosburg/Jon D’Agostino
This one starts with some Joes (Scarlett, Breaker, and Clutch) in San Francisco chasing some Cobras who are carrying stolen MX missile guidance chips disguised as video game circuits. Naturally, we get a classic San Francisco car chase (with a bit of humour thrown in thanks to a couple in a Pinto and a punk who loves the Plasmatics), but the Cobra van crashes and explodes. One Cobra (with a scar across his face) survives and takes off clutching a briefcase. Scarlett and Breaker have to deal with some unruly
bikers and Clutch takes a bullet in the leg chasing Scar-Face, who gets away. Turns out the stolen chips were supposed to be shipped to a (fictional) Central American country called Sierra Gordo. Hawk decides to send Breaker, Stalker, Snake Eyes, and Gung Ho to Sierra Gordo—which is currently in the middle of a revolution—to figure out what Cobra’s up to. They go to the capital (Rio Lindo), where Stalker and Breaker pretend to be in the market for some video games, while Snake Eyes and Gung Ho observe from nearby. The head of the video game company turns out to be Dr. Venom (from issue 10) and Snake 
Eyes recognizes him right away. When Snake Eyes and Gung Ho charge in, they run into Scar-Face, but Snake Eyes is more interested in Dr. Venom, who has quickly figured out Stalker and Breaker are full of shit. The Joes capture Dr. Venom and the Cobras, but are surprised and disarmed by Kwinn, the Eskimo who ran into some Joes in the Arctic in issue 2. Dr. Venom has the Joes put on a boat, except Snake Eyes who he pounds in revenge for striking him a couple issues back. Kwinn tries to stop Dr. Venom (since Kwinn’s deal with Cobra was that no one was supposed to die), but Snake Eyes is already dead. They leave him in the warehouse and set it on fire, but as the boat moves down the river, Dr. Venom realizes Snake Eyes used the same trick as before, slowing his
breathing and heart rate to simulate death. Snake Eyes escapes the burning warehouse, losing his mask in the process, and ends up in the river. Gung Ho uses Breaker’s bubble gum to attract some rats to gnaw off their ropes as the Cobra boat heads down the river (and of course we get a “Heart of Darkness” reference). At the Cobra bunker, Baroness, Dr. Venom, Scar-Face, and Kwinn go inside to finish the deal and Snake Eyes shows up to help rescue the others. He insists they take the boat full of stolen microchips while he stays behind to deal with the Cobras in the bunker. Snake Eyes eavesdrops and learns that the chips are secondary to Cobras plans; the real prize is a virus that they’ve 
developed here in Sierra Gordo which needs a catalyst serum to activate in … a serum that Scar-Face brought from San Francisco and is now supposed to deliver to Cobra headquarters, along with the virus. Kwinn realizes Snake Eyes is listening and Baroness orders him and Dr. Venom to stay behind on the island to neutralize Snake Eyes while she and Scar-Face go after the other Joes in a plane. The three Joes abandon the boat just before Baroness blows it up and Snake Eyes jumps Dr. Venom before he can shoot Kwinn in the back. Baroness goes back to bomb the island and Kwinn pushes Snake Eyes towards the bunker just as the bomb lands … but the entire island is basically vapourized. I like how Larry Hama keeps up some continuity by bringing back Kwinn and Dr. Venom,
and making Scar-Face slightly more distinctive than the usual faceless Cobra operatives. There’s some good humour too, with the Plasmatics reference, and the Ford Pinto exploding when the Cobra van hits it from behind. Hama seems to be ahead of the curve again with the video game/missile microchips and uses Sierra Gordo as a stand-in for all the Central and South American banana republics that seemed to be having revolutions every year or so back then.