G.I. Joe Special Missions #4 (April 1987) – “No Holds Barred” – Larry Hama/Herb Trimpe
This one starts with a team of Joes (Wild Bill, Roadblock, Leatherneck, and Lifeline) in a cargo plane being pursued by a Russian HIND helicopter over the Malay Peninsula. The Joes have retrieved a Cobra Firebat and are trying to get the electronic black boxes out so they’ll know the technical specs of the plane, but the Oktober Guard want the black boxes too. The Joes’ plane is hit and they have to bail out before they can get the black boxes, but Leatherneck tags the HIND with a Stinger missile, causing them
to crash as well. Both teams head for the site of the downed plane to get the black boxes and Leatherneck is contemptuous of Lifeline because he’s a pacifist who refuses to fight or even carry weapons. But Lifeline is smart enough to know how to deal with leeches and even a tiger that they run into. The Oktober Guard sets an ambush for the Joes and Leatherneck and Wild Bill are both wounded. Schrage and Stormavik are wounded too, but Colonel Brekhov insists they continue to the crashed plane. The Russians arrive first and retrieve the black boxes, but the Joes show up and engage them in another fight. Before it can be resolved, some river pirates show up and both teams 
surrender since they’re heavily outgunned. The pirates take them prisoner and force them to fight each other. Lifeline ends up matched against Horror Show, which seems like a pretty one-sided contest. But Lifeline turns out to have a black belt in aikido, using his opponent’s own momentum against him instead of attacking. Lifeline wins, but refuses the let the pirate captain kill the Russians. He tells her how valuable the black boxes are and she’s impressed with his convictions so she frees all of them, dropping the black boxes into the river as an offering to the nature spirits. This is a pretty good issue that illustrates how we shouldn’t judge people based on one thing about
them. Leatherneck figures Lifeline is useless because he won’t fight, but Lifeline keeps his head when they encounter the tiger and he ends up saving them all from the pirates. The look on Leatherneck’s face when Lifeline was kicking the shit out of Horror Show was priceless. It was also cool to see Wild Bill take over after the plane crash. According to the background Larry Hama came up with for him, Wild Bill was in a LRRP unit before he became a pilot, so he’s definitely familiar with the jungles of Southeast Asia.
G.I. Joe #58 (April 1987) – “Desperate Moves” – Larry Hama/Rod Whigham/Andy Mushynsky
This one starts somewhere in the Middle East (apparently in the same nameless country from Special Missions 3), with Dusty and Mainframe helping some Royalists defeat the dictator Colonel Sharif’s troops. In return, the Royalists give the two Joes a motorcycle and sidecar so they can head for their own objective. They also furnish a guide, a thirteen year-old kid named Rashid who idolizes Dusty but only has contempt for Mainframe, a mere “fixer of computers”. Meanwhile in Denver, Cobra Commander (still in his civilian disguise) takes his comatose son Billy to a garage where one of the Crimson Guard (Fred
VII) works undercover. Cobra Commander figures this particular Fred can make his son whole again. In the desert, Rashid’s hero worship increases after Dusty single-handedly takes out some bandits at night who were planning to attack their camp. They make it to an oil refinery that seems to be hiding some secrets. In Denver, Fred gives Cobra Commander a new suit of battle armour he’s designed that enhances the wearer’s strength and is basically bulletproof. They hear a noise and find that Billy has awoken from his coma, but can’t remember who he is or anything that happened to 
him. In the Middle East, the Joes and Rashid go inside a fake oil tanker and find a Terror Drome. Mainframe connects through the computer to Joe headquarters so they can synch up the schematics they got from Destro last issue with an actual Terror Drome and figure out its true purpose. Unfortunately, Colonel Sharif’s guards surprise them and knock Dusty out. Mainframe surrenders and begs for mercy (earning more contempt from Rashid), but he’s just faking it to put the guards at ease. He kicks their asses and they try to get out, but more guards are outside. Mainframe programs the Terror Drome’s Firebat to strafe Sharif’s men, giving the Joes and Rashid time to get away. Later, Rashid asks Dusty why Mainframe didn’t mention that he
was a combat soldier before studying computers and Dusty says Mainframe doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone and that a soldier only wins by surviving. This issue is a change of pace but it’s cool to see guys like Dusty and Mainframe get the spotlight. We also see the return of Billy and Cobra Commander’s new armour. That was probably mandated by the toy line, but Larry Hama works well with the hand he’s dealt and manages to incorporate new characters and items without making it seem like a toy commercial.