G.I. Joe Special Missions #9 (February 1988) – “Plausible Denial” – Larry Hama/Herb Trimpe
This one starts with some rebels in Afghanistan using Stinger missiles to bring down a couple of Soviet helicopters. The rebels capture the passengers and we learn that the Americans have given them a bunch of Stingers in exchange for turning over the Soviets (who just happen to be Spetsnaz soldiers) to the Joes. Lt. Falcon, Psyche-Out, and Slipstream are going to disguise themselves as Soviet soldiers so they can “rescue” the Spetsnaz troops and use them for
their own ends, something that doesn’t sit well with Falcon. The ruse works and the Joes convince the Spetsnaz soldiers (Gomorov, Orlov, and Pritkin) that their country needs them for a mission. They’re to go into Iran and bring back an American CIA agent (Chip Toler) so he can be interrogated. (Of course, the Joes’ real mission is to bring Toler home, they’re just using the Russians to do the hard part.) In a weird reversal, the Spetsnaz troops end up disguising themselves as the Joes so the Americans will be blamed for the rescue attempt if anything goes wrong. They fly a WWII-era plane into Iran and the Russians parachute out near the target. But Spetsnaz soldiers aren’t stupid, so they realize their rescuers are American. They decide to go along with the ruse and try to turn things around at the end, something Psyche-Out was expecting. The Russians run into a busload of 
Zoroastrians, who are actually happy to see Americans since they’re persecuted by the present Iranian regime. They drop the Russians in town where they invade the building and rescue Toler. The Joes have refuelled the plane and are waiting, but they get a bit of a surprise: Toler comes back on the bus with the Zoroastrians, the Iranian militia is right behind them, and the Russians are nowhere to be seen. Apparently, the Russians told the Zoroastrians they would get asylum in the States if they helped save Toler, and since Toler doesn’t want to upset anyone who’s against the current Iranian government, he forces the Joes to honour that deal. The Joes, Toler, and the refugees take off just in time, while the Spetsnaz guys watch from nearby,
thinking the Iranians will be so focused on finding the Joes that they can slip out of the country unseen. This is an interesting story, with the Joes trying to use psychology to anticipate the Russians’ reactions. But they ended up being countered at every turn, something Falcon says he’s okay with as long as everybody gets away safely in the end. It was nice to see some new faces and, since Spetsnaz are true-to-life bad-asses, it was cool to see them do so well against the Iranians.
G.I. Joe #69 (March 1988) – “Into the Breach” – Larry Hama/Tony Salmons/Randy Emberlin
This one starts in Rio Vista, the capital of Sierra Gordo, where rioters are running wild through the streets. Since the news became public about Cobra using their Terror Dromes to sow the seeds of discontent, the Sierra Gordans have decided they don’t want any outside influences in their country, which includes the Americans who were helping the counter-revolutionary forces. A new strongman (General Villavaca) has risen to take power, supported by the military and the North American Banana Company (who have a monopoly on the banana trade and need peace in the country to insure continued profits). Hawk, Roadblock, and
Psyche-Out head for the American Embassy to get the ambassador out safely. After a tense confrontation with a would-be flag burner, they find the ambassador, but have to destroy all the files before they leave. Elsewhere, General Villavaca and a North American Banana rep (Goodfellow) are in a chopper with Destro watching the General’s troops assault the last of the Terror Dromes. Inside, Zarana and the Dreadnoks launch a Firebat as a diversion so they can get away in the Thunder Machine. It works, although the Terror Drome is destroyed, and Destro manages to take out the Firebat. Instead of going after the Dreadnoks, Destro says they need to get to the American ambassador, since he has evidence of collusion between Villavaca 
and North American Banana. The General and his troops surround the Embassy and the Joes come out with the ambassador like they’re going to surrender, but when the explosives they set go off they use the diversion to take off towards the airfield. There we see Wild Bill, Crazy Legs, and Maverick waiting for their teammates, trying to push back all the Sierra Gordans who want to board the plane. Zarana and the Dreadnoks show up and want to use the plane to escape, but Wild Bill refuses … until Zarana threatens to start wasting civilians. Wild Bill is forced to take off just as the other Joes arrive, hotly pursued by Villavaca and his troops. The plane takes some ground fire and loses an engine, going down in the jungle. Before Villavaca can kill the other Joes (and the ambassador) he and his men are attacked by counter-
revolutionaries with pretty sophisticated weapons. The counter-revolutionaries tell Hawk they’ll escort him to the border as thanks for tipping them off to Villavaca’s location, but Hawk says he never sent them any message. Villavaca and Goodfellow know the Joes will head for the border and also know they have to recover the evidence from the ambassador. Villavaca figures they can upgrade their armaments from Destro and Goodfellow says North American Banana will bankroll the purchase. You can probably guess what’s happening here: Destro is manipulating both sides into fighting (it was him who tipped off the counter-revolutionaries) so he can sell weapons to everyone … and so far, it seems to be working. This is a pretty good story that puts the spotlight on Sierra Gordo. It gets a bit confusing sometimes, 
keeping all the sides straight, but I guess that fits with real-life Cold War politics in Central America. Larry Hama’s writing is great, giving us believable characters and motivations. He doesn’t seem to favour one philosophy over another; he has Roadblock threaten to shoot a rioter who’s about to burn an American flag, but on the next page Hawk mentions how the Americans have pissed away their credibility by supporting a series of right-wing dictators and monopolizing trade to the detriment of the local people. We see some new characters (Crazy Legs, Maverick) and also see Destro’s new look, complete with gold mask. I think this is the start of the Iron Grenadier stuff, where Destro forms a third faction between the Joes and Cobra, motivated mostly by business interests.