G.I. Joe Special Missions #22 (June 1989) – “Decisions” – Larry Hama/Dave Cockrum/Andy Mushynsky
This one starts at an isolated farm in Iowa where three terrorists have taken hostages after an attack at a nearby airport. Some Joes (Chuckles, Lady Jaye, Hit & Run, and Shockwave) are aware of the situation and do a recon by driving by on the main road in a plumber’s van. They (and we) get a look at four people in the kitchen: a guy with a mean-looking grin (Laszlo), a rough-looking woman with a cigarette (Fatima), and a couple of nice-looking people at the table (Tom and Mary). Upstairs
the third terrorist (Erich) is with the couple’s kid (Mikey) and he’s suspicious of the van even though it didn’t slow down. The Joes head to a secluded spot in the woods where the FBI (led by Agent Saxon from issue 17) are ready to move on the farm house. Lady Jaye warns there’s no cover and the hostages will be butchered before they can get anywhere near. Saxon says they can try their own methods, but it’ll have to be fast. He briefs them and shows them a video taken at the airport of the terrorists killing a number of people. The terrorists are wearing masks and have made no demands, so the Feds aren’t even sure who they are, but Shockwave says the shit-eating grin on one 
terrorist’s face as he was killing people matches the one on the guy at the farm. Unfortunately, the Bronskys have just moved to the farm, so nobody around there knows them and there are no photos of them yet, which will make it hard to distinguish hostage from terrorist when the Joes go in. While Lady Jaye drives up to the house as a distraction, Hit & Run crawls through a drainage pipe and Shockwave approaches the house from the back. Lady Jaye pretends to be selling cosmetics but when she hands the sweet-looking lady a card saying she’s there with a rescue team, all hell breaks loose. Yeah, the nice couple are the terrorists and the scuzzy-looking ones are the hostages. Mary shoots Lady Jaye (who’s wearing body armour) and Chuckles pops out of the trunk to shoot back, while Shockwave crashes through the upstairs window to kill Erich. Tom forces Laszlo to pick up an
M-16 water gun, so Hit & Run is confused when he busts into the kitchen, but he figures things out in time and blows Tom away. Mary grabs Mikey and takes off into a field where a plane is landing to pick up the terrorists. Hit & Run won’t take the shot for fear of killing the kid, so Laszlo takes his rifle and puts a bullet in Mary’s head. Turns out Laszlo was an instructor at the Marine Sniper School. This is a pretty good issue with the Joes having to deal with a hostage situation. The obvious message is that you shouldn’t take appearances at face value, since the sweet-looking couple turned out to be sadistic terrorists, and Laszlo turned out to be more than he appeared at first glance too.
G.I. Joe #87 (June 1989) – “Assault on Castle Destro” – Larry Hama/Tony Salmons/Randy Emberlin
This one starts in Scotland outside Castle Destro, where Destro and Baroness are flying around checking out his neighbour, who has just put up a trailer park on his land. Destro is suspicious of all the trailers, not to mention the carnival that suddenly opened nearby and the Romani who have moved into the adjoining woods, so he tells Voltar and the Iron Grenadiers to get ready for a fight. Voltar has already deployed defenses inside and outside the castle. The whole thing is observed by some Joes (Flint, Sneak Peek, Shockwave, and Outback), who quickly realize the “Romani” are Cobra soldiers in disguise. We see that Cobra Commander is
behind the covert assault, trying to get back at Destro for cutting into Cobra’s arms sales. The Cobras attack on three fronts and Destro fires back with mortars. Tomax and Xamot lead some Crimson Guardsmen to knock down the drawbridge so the Cobra armour can get inside the castle walls. It works, but Destro was way ahead of them: he sends Nullifiers to attack the trailer park, while hidden tanks pop out of the haystacks he’d deposited around the castle earlier. The tide quickly turns and Destro attacks Cobra Commander’s trailer himself, capturing the Commander and Dr. Mindbender. Thanks to the Baroness, Destro knows the Commander is really Fred VII, so he proposes a deal, 
which Fred has no choice but to accept. When Destro announces that Cobra and his arms company have come to a new business arrangement, Flint is disappointed because he figures Destro is selling out his integrity, but Outback points out that the only alternative would be to kill everyone, so Destro is kinda taking the high road here. This is a pretty good issue, with the Joes as observers instead of participants. It was interesting to see Cobra fighting Destro and I like how Destro ended up getting the better of Fred; Destro seems to outmaneuvering everyone lately.