G.I. Joe #35 (May 1985) – “Dreadnoks on the Loose” – Larry Hama/Rod Whigham, Mark Bright, Bob Camp/Andy Mushynsky, Mike Esposito
This one starts with the Dreadnoks(Buzzer, Torch, and Ripper) admiring Zartan’s new motorbike. Buzzer demonstrates the holographic projector that allows the bike to look like something else (a van, a car, a semi-truck) and explains that it’s the same technology Zartan uses to make himself look like someone else. Buzzer decides to “borrow” Zartan’s bike for a little mayhem and the other two reluctantly follow him. At Cobra headquarters, Zartan is waiting to see
Cobra Commander, who has sequestered himself after the attempt on his life by his own son last issue. Major Bludd takes great delight in telling Zartan that the Dreadnoks have stolen his new motorbike. On the highway, they notice a Chevy Bel-Air with some surfboards on the roof and Ripper gouges the side of the car as they ride past. But the Dreadnoks don’t realize the three “squares” in the car are Rock n’Roll, Clutch, and Breaker heading out to California to do some surfing. (Rock n’Roll was a Malibu beach bum before joining the Army.) Rock n’Roll is pissed off about the damage to his car and chases the Dreadnoks, 
who are harassing other drivers along the highway. The Dreadnoks lead their pursuers towards a tunnel and Buzzer uses the holo-imager to make his bike look like semi, so when the “semi” emerges from the tunnel, Rock n’Roll swerves to avoid it and crashes. Just down the highway, a strange-looking bus (with no passengers and no destination sign) gets caught in traffic and is forced to pick up a little old lady. The old lady is quite talkative, unlike the bus driver, who doesn’t say a word. The bus passes the accident scene without stopping and we see the Joes being tended to by EMTs. Clutch is freaked out because he thinks they were run off the road by a ghost truck, but Rock n’Roll isn’t sure what the hell happened. A few miles down the highway, the Dreadnoks come
across an Air Force Base and use the holo-projector to bluff their way inside, where they proceed to start smashing up the planes. In the ambulance, the three Joes are reluctant to talk about the “ghost truck” for fear the others will think they’re crazy, but once they realize they all saw exactly the same thing, they know it was no delusion. Rock n’Roll thinks he’s missing some key detail, but can’t quite put his finger on what it is. The Dreadnoks are having fun smashing up jets, but accidentally blow one up and set off an alert. They use the imager again to look like a security team and leave the base, supposedly in pursuit of the saboteurs. When the ambulance passes them, Rock n’Roll notices the 
license plate on the “jeep” is exactly the same as the one on the phantom truck. He commandeers the ambulance to chase the Dreadnoks and blows up the “jeep” (actually Zartan’s new motorbike) with an oxygen canister. Buzzer is captured and the other two Dreadnoks look like they’re about to be run down by the bus we saw earlier. But the “bus” turns out to be some kind of helicopter with Zartan behind the controls. He picks up Torch and Ripper and takes off, with the little old lady still yammering in his ear. But when they land in Springfield, the old lady is gone, leaving behind her clothes, and Zartan realizes it must have been a ninja master in disguise. This issue is decent, but it seems like a bit of a mishmash. With the various artists credited I’m wondering if there were deadline problems. Rod Whigham is definitely my favourite of the early Joe
artists, so I wish he’d done the entire issue. The story is a bit disjointed too; were the three Joes really planning to drive all the way across the country to Malibu? Was Zartan really driving a holographically disguised helicopter along the highway? Would it even fit into a lane? The old lady in disguise is supposed to be the Soft Master, going to Springfield to find out who killed his brother, but that wasn’t made very clear. I do like the Dreadnoks and it’s nice to see them cut loose, but this story didn’t show them at their best.
G.I. Joe #36 (June 1985) – “All the Ships at Sea” – Larry Hama/Rod Whigham, Mark Bright, Bob Camp/Andy Mushynsky, Mike Esposito
This one starts in the South Atlantic, with several Joes (Cutter, Doc, Deep Six, and Trip Wire) aboard their freighter (nicknamed the G.I. Jane) on a scouting mission. Cobra has been messing around on some island (no, it’s not Cobra Island … that comes later) and the Jane has dropped off the Killer Whale hovercraft to go investigate, even though the seas are rough because of heavy weather. The Jane is attacked by four missiles and gets hit by one of
them. The Killer Whale (with Snow Job and Torpedo aboard) isn’t doing much better; they found the right island (more of an islet, really) but it’s full of Cobra gun emplacements and they’re immediately attacked. Torpedo decides the best defense is a good offense and heads straight for the islet. Back in New York, Scarlett and Snake Eyes (wearing a rubber mask as usual) are heading back to base on the Staten Island Ferry when they’re spotted by Fred Broca—well, this is actually the replacement version—and three Crimson Guardsmen, who were heading for a training mission. They don’t recognize 
Snake Eyes, but decide to grab Scarlett as soon as they get a chance. At sea, the Joes on the freighter try to contain the missile damage, while Torpedo and Snow Job find the islet is actually an atoll, so they drive the Killer Whale over the land into the lagoon, where the Cobra guns can’t get them (since they’re pointed out to sea). The Cobras launch a couple of hydrofoils to circle the atoll and keep an eye on the Whale. On the ferry, Fred II and the Siegies try to grab Scarlett, but Snake Eyes intervenes. In the confusion, Fred II shoots one of his own guys and Snake Eyes uses the fallen Siegie’s gun to shoot Fred II, tagging him slightly. Back at sea, Deep Six has an idea on how to handle the Cobra Rattlers that are trying to sink the Jane, while Trip Wire
and Doc try to get their main gun firing again. At the atoll, Torpedo plays tag with the Cobras, zipping back and forth from the lagoon to the ocean as soon as the Cobras traverse their gun emplacements. In the chaos, the Whale blows one of the hydrofoils out of the water. On the ferry, Scarlett starts fighting back and with Snake Eyes’s help, takes out the two Siegies. Fred II turns out the lights, thinking he’ll have an advantage because of the image intensifier scope on his rifle. At sea, Deep Six uncrates the SHARC and uses its missiles to blast one Rattler, while Doc and Trip Wire manually trigger the main gun to blow the other Rattler away. At the Atoll, Torpedo 
fakes out the Cobras so badly that they end up blasting their own hydrofoil, them he brings the Whale in behind them and blows all the gun emplacements up. On the ferry, Snake Eyes tackles Fred II and they start fighting. Fred pulls Snake Eyes’s mask off and freaks out when he sees his fucked up face, falling into the water. Luckily, Scarlett keeps a spare mask in her purse … maybe the masks get damaged when they’re banging so she likes to have a spare. Out at sea, the Killer Whale finds the remains of the Jane after she sank and picks up the four Joes in a life raft. They’re worried about making it back to land, but the aircraft carrier arrives to rescue all of them. This was a pretty good issue, although the multiple artists suggest it might have been another rush job. These two issues seem like filler, not really advancing the main storyline too much, so maybe they were rush jobs to fill the schedule or
maybe they were inventory stories adapted to fill some space and give the regular creators some breathing room. The sea battle is cool, with plenty of action and the Joes using their brains to win the fights. After the Joes leave the atoll, one of the Cobras says their main mission in the Gulf of Mexico can still go ahead, so I assume that’s referring to the upcoming creation of Cobra Island. Maybe this was a scouting or survey expedition. The fight between Snake Eyes and Fred II will have some interesting consequences, which means Larry Hama must’ve planned everything well ahead of time.