G.I. Joe #27 (September 1984) – “Snake Eyes: The Origin Part II” – Larry Hama/Frank Springer/Andy Mushynsky
Last issue, some Joes (Torpedo, Trip Wire, and Mutt) went into the Everglades to flush out some Cobras (Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness, and Zartan) who were hiding there. They captured Firefly and Wild Weasel, who quickly escaped, forcing the Joes to track them through the swamp. Meanwhile, Mutt’s dog (Junkyard) made friendly contact with the Cobras and led them into the swamp. The Cobras figured the dog was leading them to the Joes, but he actually led them into some quicksand. Naturally, the Cobras are pissed off but have to let Junkyard go while they extract themselves from the quicksand. Junkyard
catches up to the Joes and passes them, following Firefly and Wild Weasel, who have been setting up traps in the woods. Back at the Pit, Hawk, Stalker, and Scarlett are still putting together the pieces of Snake Eyes’s history (since they found out he has some connection to the Cobra ninja, Storm Shadow). Hawk and Stalker tell how they recruited Snake Eyes for the Joe team, finding him living alone in the mountains with only a wolf for company. Scarlett recounts how she first met him during a training session, where he pretended to be less skilled than she was to keep her from looking bad in front of the others. Scarlett tells them how she and Snake Eyes got closer 
(although she was a bit pissed off when he said she reminded him of his sister) and how he told her about losing his family in the car crash. She then tells how Snake Eyes got his face blasted (and lost his voice) pulling her out of a crashing helicopter. In the Everglades, Junkyard springs Firefly’s trap and the Joes show up to grab them, but the other four Cobras arrive and it turns into a big fight, with the Joes seriously outnumbered. In New York, the Soft Master tells Snake Eyes he’s been trying to track down Storm Shadow for years, believing that he’s the one who killed his brother, the Hard Master (even though the dying Hard Master claimed it wasn’t Storm Shadow who killed him). Storm Shadow shows up and grabs the arrow that killed Hard Master, then takes off followed closely by Snake Eyes. A chase ensues, with Storm
Shadow leading Snake Eyes through several streets before confronting him on top of a moving train. The Joes have heard about the disturbance and come to help, but Scarlett and Wild Bill can only watch helplessly as the train heads towards a low tunnel. Snake Eyes sees the tunnel and saves Storm Shadow from getting his head knocked off. Storm Shadow tells him he didn’t shoot the Hard Master all those years ago, but he did see a masked assassin escaping in a Cobra helicopter. That’s why Storm Shadow joined Cobra and why he’s been working his way up the ladder, to find out who the assassin is and take revenge. When Scarlett catches up to the train, she finds Snake Eyes is fine but Storm Shadow is gone. In the Everglades, the Joes have escaped from 
the Cobras, so Zartan decides to call in some help. This concludes the two-part origin of Snake Eyes, although there will turn out to be a lot more secrets buried in his past that’ll come out in the future. This one had fewer flashbacks, but it did feature the confrontation between the two ninjas that everyone was waiting for, and it gives us a new mystery … who actually killed the Hard Master? That will be resolved in a future issue, but it’s interesting to see how dedicated Storm Shadow is to bringing his uncle’s killer down. We also see the genesis of Scarlett and Snake Eyes’s romantic feelings for each other, although that seems to be a bit of an on-again-off-again thing at the moment.
G.I. Joe #28 (October 1984) – “Swampfire” – Larry Hama/Marie Severin/Andy Mushynsky
This one starts with Torpedo, Trip Wire, and Mutt (and Junkyard, of course) returning to the Joe ship off the Florida coast after escaping the Cobras last issue. Duke shows up and wants to send a team back in to take care of the Cobra high command immediately. Zartan and his Dreadnoks have seen the Joes reach the ship and know a heavy firefight is coming, so they take off and leave Cobra Commander to deal with the Joes. Destro, Baroness, and Wild Weasel are out in the Water Moccasin when Cobra Commander lets them know the Joes will soon be arriving in force. Luckily, Baroness had some extra Cobra firepower shipped to Florida just in case. But the Joes have reinforcements coming too, in the
form of a Mobat tank that emerges from a moving train, pissing off a local sheriff and his deputy (who look like something out of Smokey and the Bandit or Dukes of Hazzard). Meanwhile, Hawk, Cutter, Roadblock, and Deep Six are heading back into the swamps with the Killer Whale hovercraft. Baroness’s extra firepower turns out to be three Rattler jets, so while she heads back to Springfield, Destro and Wild Weasel go into the swamp to pick up Cobra Commander and Firefly. Apparently, Zartan has been working on a “secret robot project”, which turns out to be some remote-controlled HISS tanks manned by robot soldiers. The Mobat blasts quite a few of the tanks 
(with help from the sheriff), but needs to call the Killer Whale for back-up. Destro and Wild Weasel target the tank (and cop car) forcing the Mobat to retreat into the swamp and try to mask their heat signature by pouring water on the engines. Baroness reaches Springfield and goes straight to the detention section, where she offers Major Bludd his freedom. He asks who she wants killed in exchange. In the Everglades, the Rattlers lose the Mobat’s heat signature and the Killer Whale blasts Destro’s plane. It’s not enough to stop Destro from strafing them, wounding everyone and disabling the turret guns. Roadblock uses his muscular body to prop up one of the turret guns so Deep Six can
blast Destro’s Rattler. (Destro bails out.) Meanwhile, Wild Weasel picks up Cobra Commander from Zartan’s cabin, but Firefly is forced to stay behind. He blows up the cabin and takes off into the swamps, swearing vengeance on Cobra Commander, and runs straight into Destro …who says he can help Firefly win his revenge. Meanwhile, Zartan and the Dreadnoks are heading north, looking for some Joes to kill. This is a pretty good issue, with some good fights, the usual Cobra backstabbing, and Larry Hama’s patented brand of sardonic humour. The hillbilly cops are a bit of a cliché, but I like 
the old couple who look exactly like the people in Grant Wood’s American Gothic painting. I’m wondering if the two conversations (between Baroness/Bludd and Destro/Firefly) are the beginning of the assassination plot against Cobra Commander that comes to a head in issue 33. Also, we keep getting promised some Dreadnok action with no follow-through, but hopefully we’ll see them take a more prominent role next issue. (Yeah, I’ve always liked the Dreadnoks, what can I say?)