G.I. Joe Special Missions #21 (May 1989) – “The Lower Depths” – Larry Hama/Herb Trimpe/Andy Mushynsky
This one starts with four Joes (Airtight, Tunnel Rat, Charbroil, and Spearhead) in the sewers beneath Manhattan. Someone found gas canisters with Cobra markings on them in the sewers, so the Joes are there to check things out, although Airtight figures the canisters are so obvious they must be a diversion for something else. Spearhead’s bobcat Max smells trouble and they run into some Cobras (including Buzzer and Zandar) welding another gas canister into place. The Cobras take off and Airtight soon realizes the canister contains nerve gas
and has so many booby traps they can’t possibly disarm it. They follow the wires, hoping to find a central firing point where they can put all the canisters out of commission. They stumble on an old private subway station where a bunch of homeless people have taken shelter, led by an Army vet called Sergeant Gamble. Gamble is cynical about the Army, since they treated him like crap once the wars were over, but Tunnel Rat appeals to his soldierly instincts so he’ll help them against Cobra. Gamble has been keeping an eye on Cobra’s efforts in the sewers and leads the Joes (after they barbecue an albino alligator) to an underground garage whee they find a truck full of 
nerve gas. They can’t start shooting without puncturing the tank and quickly realize more Cobras are behind them. They shoot their way through the Cobras at their rear and Gamble leads them through the tunnels to a sub-basement of the World Trade Center. Zandar blows the gas canisters, catching the Joes and Gamble before they can get out, but instead of nerve gas it turns out to be a giant stink bomb. Buzzer tosses a grenade at them to cover the Cobras’ retreat and Gamble throws himself on it. The grenade turns out to be a dud, but Gamble is dead anyway from a heart attack, his last act being one of heroism even though he’d been feeling cynical towards the Army. We see what Cobra’s big scheme was … they used the stink bomb to keep workers out of the tunnels while they tapped into the main phone lines. They’re
running a huge telemarketing scam and needed to connect to the main lines so they could rip people off and make millions for Cobra’s coffers. This is a pretty good issue that gives the Joes a different setting to fight in. Some of Sgt. Gamble’s bitterness rings true, especially his comments about homeless veterans, which was a big problem back then. It’s also interesting to see Cobra’s plans aren’t about taking over the world, just running an old-fashioned phone scam (or maybe they are taking over the world, just in a more subtle way).
G.I. Joe #86 (May 1989) – “Not Fade Away” – Larry Hama/Marshall Rogers/Randy Emberlin
This one starts with a team of Joes (Hawk, Stalker, Muskrat, Repeater, Shockwave, and Lightfoot) rappelling down to the Chrysler Building in New York after receiving a priority distress signal. Apparently some of Destro’s Iron Grenadiers are attacking a top-secret facility on the top floor that hides a Strategic Defense Initiative pulse-laser cannon that can bounce a highly accurate beam off satellites and hit a target pretty much anywhere in the world. The secret project is run by a guy named Joe and a physicist called Jane, who fill the Joes in on the
situation but aren’t too worried since the bunker they’re in is well-protected. But the Iron Grenadiers have special blasting equipment and Lightfoot realizes they’re preparing to blow the big door leading to the computer room. Jane heads up to the laser room while Joe and the Joes get ready to fight. The main hatch blows and a firefight ensues, with the Joes being forced to retreat to the laser room and seal the hatch. As the team gets ready to destroy the laser array, Joe realizes the intruders don’t need to capture the laser itself, they can just take the program files from the computer room. That’s exactly what they were planning all along and we see that it’s really a team of Cobras led by Firefly that are trying to steal the disks, not Iron 
Grenadiers. They get the disks and send a bunch of Tele-Vipers out of gyro-copters to deliver them, but Joe figures out that’s a ruse and the real disks are being delivered by drone. He gets Jane to use the laser to target the drone and it’s destroyed just before delivering the files to Cobra Commander and Dr. Mindbender. The rest of the Joes arrive for back-up and are astonished to find out that Joe is the original G.I. Joe from the 1960s and Jane is G.I. Jane, who used to be the team’s nurse. This is basically a filler story using the laser as an excuse to bring back the original G.I. Joe (and Jane) for the 25th anniversary of the toy release, based on the large action figures from the 60s. (And yes, Joe has a beard and a scar.)