G.I. Joe Special Missions #20 (April 1989) – “Snow Blind” – Larry Hama/Herb Trimpe/Andy Mushynsky
This one starts with some Joes checking out an armoured column of Russians (including the Oktober Guard) around the Bering Strait. The Russians seem to be there on a scientific survey, but the Joes are suspicious. They elect not to drop a team just yet, but change their minds after some Cobras show up and attack the Russians. While the Oktober Guard gets ready to chase the Cobras, the Joe transport drops Snow Job, Avalanche, and Frostbite in the Snow Cat. A blizzard hits
just as the Joes and Cobras engage, so they have to rely on heat-seekers. The Snow Cat has effective heat dampeners, so the Cobra missiles miss, but the Joes hit their target thanks to their more sophisticated electronics. The Cobras switch to radar-guided missiles and knock out the Snow Cat’s missile turret, but before they can finish the Joes off, the Oktober Guard shows up to help. They chase the Cobra Wolves, but one of them turns off their engines and buries itself in snow to remain undetected, so the Joes and Oktober Guard do the same. Snow Job tricks the hidden Wolf into firing (sending Horror Show out with a flare as a lure) so he can slap a magnetic mine on its hull and blown it to shit. The other two Wolves reappear but their heat 
signatures are weaker, so Frostbite wonders what’s changed. The Oktober Guard push past the Joes to claim the glory, but end up sliding into the ocean. The Cobras used the same trick the Joes did, sending ski-missiles to lure them into crashing into the sea. The Joes rescue the Oktober Guard and they realize Cobra lured them south because there’s something up north they want to hide. It turns out to be a Terror Drome hidden under the ice and the Joes and Oktober Guard use the last ski-missile from the Snow Cat to blow it to hell. This was a pretty good issue, with the Joes and Oktober Guard cooperating against Cobra. It makes sense the Russians would start to shift from enemies to allies, since the same thing was happening in the real world. It’s also cool to see some artic action; I had the Snow Cat toy, so it was nice to finally see it action.
G.I. Joe #85 (April 1989) – “SFX” – Larry Hama/Paul Ryan/Randy Emberlin
This is another of the famous “silent” issues, with the story told with only art and no dialogue, although this one does include sound effects, hence the title. It starts with Jinx attending an exhibition of Swords of the Ninja Clans at the de Young Museum (which is a real museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park). When she sees a sword from the Arashikage clan, she rushes to call Storm Shadow, unaware that the whole thing is a set-up. Zartan is lurking nearby in disguise and he traces the number Jinx called so he can locate Storm
Shadow. (As we saw last issue, Zartan figures Storm Shadow still wants him dead for killing the Hard Master, so he’s decided to strike first.) As soon as he has the number, Zartan orders his ninjas to kill Jinx and heads out to kill Storm Shadow. Jinx evades the ninjas long enough to grab the Arashikage sword and kill them, giving her time to take off and grab her motorcycle outside. Because the call from Jinx was cut off, Storm Shadow is expecting trouble, so he’s ready when Zartan shows up with more ninjas. Zartan has the same sound 
gear for his compound bow that he used to kill Hard Master and has equipped his ninjas with black boxes that ping so he can avoid shooting them. Storm Shadow turns out the lights and takes down some ninjas, quickly figuring out what the black boxes do. Jinx shows up on the motorbike to pick up Storm Shadow and Zartan takes off in a van. A chase ensues (it’s San Francisco, there has to be a chase scene!), with Zartan and Storm Shadow engaging in a bow and arrow duel. Storm Shadow kills Zartan’s driver and the van plunges of the Golden Gate bridge into the water. Zartan doesn’t surface, but I get the feeling he’s not dead yet. This was a good issue, with lots of ninja action and
some cool visuals. Like I said, I doubt if Zartan is really dead, so this doesn’t really put an end to the animosity between him and Storm Shadow … if anything, it’ll probably just make it worse.