G.I. Joe Special Missions #28 (November 1989) – “Condor” – Larry Hama/Herb Trimpe
This one starts with Ace, Slipstream, and Payload launching in the Joe space shuttle for a top secret mission. Another team is standing by as support on the USS Flagg aircraft carrier in the Caribbean, but a heavy storm limits their chances to do anything meaningful. Meanwhile, the Joes have talked the president of Punta Del Mucosa (a fictional country right beside the equally fictional Sierra Gordo) into letting them establish a secret base in his country. Hawk and El Presidente fly in to inspect the base, which Scarlett and Ghost Rider have been prepping for inspection. The shuttle’s mission is to check
whether the base can be detected from orbit by Cobra satellites, but they find another intruder flying over Punta Del Mucosan airspace. That turns out to be Cobra Commander and Darklon, who are aware of the covert base and plan to blow it to hell, along with the numerous stealth aircraft stationed there. Cobra Commander has already sent some stealth Python Conquests to attack the Flagg, keeping below radar level until they pop up to release their missiles. When the stealth base hears about the attack on the Flagg, they figure they’ll be next but they don’t know that El Presidente’s aides are 
working for Cobra and have planted a homing device in one of the stealth fighters. The attack on the Flagg cripples their launch capabilities, so their only option is to send up Dogfight in the new Mudfighter prop-driven plane. At the stealth base, Ghost Rider finds the homing beacon and gives it to Hawk before taking off in his stealth fighter and running right into some Cobra Stilettos. Meanwhile, Dogfight finds the Conquests and engages them, even though he’s outnumbered three to one. Back above the stealth base, the Joes have left the beacon with the two traitors (who get blown to hell by the Cobra Condor bomber) and Ghost Rider takes out some of the Stilettos, but ends up having to confront the Condor too. Slipstream drops down in the shuttle’s drone
fighter to help Ghost Rider and the two of them take out the condor and the Stiletto. Over the Caribbean, Dogfight does pretty well against his last two opponents but gets into trouble and has to be rescued by the shuttle swooping down from orbit. The shuttle actually lands on the Flagg and we get a big splash page since this is the last issue of Special Missions. This was a pretty good issue to go out on, with plenty of aerial action (which was a specialty of Herb Trimpe) and a few new vehicles getting the spotlight.
G.I. Joe #93 (November 1989) – “Taking the Plunge” – Larry Hama/M.D. Bright/Randy Emberlin
This one starts with Baroness and Zarana fighting (again) on the way to the Cobra consulate in New York. Destro breaks it up (again) and asks if their plan to brainwash Clutch and Rock n’Roll is going ahead. The plan is almost finished, with false memories of being deep cover Cobra operatives implanted in the Joes’ brains, all that’s left is to erase their memories of Broca Beach and the brainwashing process itself. When that’s done, Zarana and the Dreadnoks take the Joes out to drop them off, but Baroness is so pissed off at Zarana that she decides to sabotage the plan (since it was all Zarana’s idea) by tipping the Joes on where to find their missing friends. In Switzerland, Scarlett and Snake Eyes go to a clinic so
Snake Eyes can get reconstructive surgery from a doctor named Hundtkinder, who seems to think he can restore Snake Eyes to a fairly normal appearance. We finally get a look at Snake Eyes’s scarred face and it’s kinda underwhelming, considering all the times people have been horrified by it. In New York, some Joes (Roadblock, Repeater, Flint, and Lady Jaye) intercept Zarana and rescue the two prisoners. Zarana realizes Baroness must’ve ratted them out and vows revenge. Before the Joes can secure the prisoners, they’re accosted by a bunch of Yuppie assholes who are mad about traffic being blocked. They can’t fight back without provoking a lawsuit, which gives the Dreadnoks the chance the take off with Clutch and Rock n’Roll still prisoners. Roadblock scares the Yuppies away and the Joes chade the Dreadnoks in the Tomahawk chopper. At the Cobra consulate, Baroness gets 
a call from Dr. Hundtkinder (who restored her damaged face back in issue 22), who tells her about Snake Eyes being at the clinic. When he faxes her an old photo of Snake Eyes, she recognizes him as the guy who killed her brother in Saigon almost twenty years ago. Zarana calls to ask why Baroness betrayed her and Barones says it was to lend credibility when the Joes got their (now brainwashed) friends back. Since that didn’t work out, Baroness goes with plan B … detonating a bomb on the truck carrying the Dreadnoks and the captive Joes. This is a pretty good issue that advances the brainwashed Joes storyline and sets up the next three issues exploring Snake Eyes’s past an his connections to Baroness.