G.I. Joe #21 (March 1984) – “Silent Interlude” – Larry Hama/Steve Leialoha
As the title implies, this issue is completely silent, with no dialogue or captions to aid in the storytelling. Larry Hama did the breakdowns as well as the overall story, so he obviously had a vision of what he wanted this to be. It starts with a ninja in white (who fans will immediately recognize as Storm Shadow) bringing a prisoner to a Cobra mountain fortress. The prisoner is Scarlett, which impresses the hell out of Cobra Commander. Soon after, a plane drops a lone paratrooper over the fortress … yeah, it’s
Snake Eyes, who else? Storm Shadow seems not to bear Scarlett any ill will, even holding back from killing her after she bites his hand. Snake Eyes lands in the fortress and starts taking out Cobras, while Scarlett gets out of her manacles and starts looking for a way out. Destro sees a Cobra (tossed by Snake Eyes) falling past the window and rushes to the roof with reinforcements, but Snake Eyes fools them by disguising himself as a defeated Cobra. Scarlett takes out some guards and steals a CLAW, which is basically a powered hang glider. Snake Eyes runs into some of the red-suited Cobra ninjas who will become so prevalent later in the series, and ends up in a quick skirmish with Storm 
Shadow. Scarlett sees Snake Eyes on the battlements and swoops down to pick him up, but Storm Shadow hurls his sword straight at Snake Eyes’s heart. Scarlett lands in front of Snake Eyes to take the sword hit, but he reaches past her and catches it in mid-air. They both escape on the CLAW, leaving Storm Shadow to ponder the encounter. This is a classic issue and it is a really cool story. Larry Hama will do several more silent stories, sometimes adding sound effects to enhance things a bit, but this is the original and probably the best. It gives us our first look at Storm Shadow (although we won’t learn his name until next issue) and confirms the strong relationship between Snake Eyes and Scarlett. From the way Storm Shadow is acting here, I can’t help wondering if the whole thing was just a way to draw Snake Eyes out so he could
confront him. Those two will end up having a complicated history, so maybe Storm Shadow heard rumours about a Joe with ninja training and wanted to confirm whether it was Snake Eyes or not. When he threw the sword, it may have been a test to see if Snake Eyes could catch it, which would explain why he looks so shocked when Scarlett gets in front of the sword. We get a glimpse of Storm Shadow’s Arashikage clan tattoo in the last panel, but we’ll have to wait to find out more about him and why he’s working for Cobra.
G.I. Joe #22 (April 1984) – “Like Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust” – Larry Hama/Mike Vosburg/Jon D’Agostino
This is a rebuilding issue, in more ways than one. The Joes are repairing (and redesigning) the Pit under Fort Wadsworth after Cobra wiped out the false-front HQ a few issues ago. The Joes are adding new features and trying to make the Pit more secure, so we see various groups contributing to the effort, while telling the regular army people at the Fort that a boiler exploded. We get vignettes of different Joes working together, like Gung Ho showing how strong he is, Snow Job, hitting on Cover Girl, and a few Joes messing with Zap. We also see Snake Eyes taking Kwinn’s body (and kayak)
to Montauk Point to return his spirit to the ocean. At Cobra headquarters, Cobra Commander plans to use a new jet prototype (the Rattler) to disrupt General Flagg’s funeral at Arlington tomorrow and wipe out some Joes. We learn that the mountain castle Snake Eyes invaded last issue belongs to Destro, but Storm Shadow supposedly brought Scarlett there to impress Cobra Commander. (The Commander mentions that Snake Eyes “violated neutral airspace” by parachuting into the castle, so does that mean it’s in another country? I know Destro is revealed to be Scottish later, so maybe the castle is in Scotland, although I don’t think Scotland has any mountains like that.) Meanwhile, 
Major Bludd has taken Baroness to a clinic in Switzerland (run by a Doctor Hundtkinder) for reconstructive surgery. At Arlington, General Flagg’s funeral is a rather solemn occasion, at least until the Rattler shows up to bomb everyone. Luckily, two new Joes (Roadblock and Duke) are there for back-up and they shoot the plane down. Roadblock is the heavy machine gunner (although he’d prefer to be a top chef) and Duke is the new first sergeant, there to whip the Joes into shape. Later, we see a different cemetery, this one a Potter’s Field on City Island in New York, where a couple of city workers are burying Dr. Venom. This is kind of a transition issue, with the three burials representing the end of the original Joe team and a new beginning. Roadblock and Duke
are only the first of a bunch of new characters that’ll be showing up and the storylines will focus more on them, while moving some of the original Joes into the background. Cobra is evolving too, with Storm Shadow representing a new direction that’ll eventually dominate the book. It’s interesting to see the contrast between the three burials: General Flagg’s is large and full of pomp, Kwinn’s is small and very spiritual, and Dr. Venom’s is basically anonymous. We also learn that Scarlett was doing her annual qualifying jump when Storm Shadow grabbed her, but she’s not giving any details of what happened. I’m not sure how Snake Eyes knew where she’d been taken, unless they somehow tracked Storm Shadow’s CLAW … or maybe Storm Shadow left some kind of trail if he wanted Snake Eyes to find him.