G.I. Joe #100 (May 1990) – “Seeds of Empire” – Larry Hama/M.D. Bright/Randy Emberlin
This one continues from last issue, with Cobra invading the struggling industrial town of Millville, led by the newly-revived original Cobra Commander. Mutt and Spirit are in Millville visiting Mutt’s uncle, and they try to stay out of the way of Cobra troops until they can find a way to get a message out to the rest of the Joe team. But Cobra has already cut the phone lines, replaced the cops with Crimson Guardsmen, and blocked all roads out of town. Cobra Commander gives a speech to the people of Millville, promising them jobs with good wages (and
no income tax), subsidized housing, free medical care, no crime, and plenty of other benefits if they sign up with Cobra willingly. Most people are thrilled except for a few, like the Vietnam vet who tries to warn everyone about trusting Cobra. Mutt and Spirit try to use a ham radio to call for help, but Cobra has a plane above the town, jamming all radio and TV frequencies. As the people of Millville file into a trailer to sign up, they find there’s something Cobra Commander forgot to mention … they’re all going to be brainwashed. Not intense brainwashing (like Clutch and Rock n’Roll got), just some low-level stuff to make them more docile and willing to follow orders. Out at the Pit in Utah, 
the Joes are trying to figure out what to do with Tiff and Roxy, the two teenage girls who were caught snooping around last issue looking for UFOs. The phone lines are down, so Flint and Lady Jaye leave the girls with Clutch and Rock n’Roll while they head out to find a working phone. Outside, Zarana and a Cobra team are approaching the Pit and are responsible for the lack of communications. They’re trying to get close enough to trigger the implants in Clutch and Rock n’Roll to make them go nuts and wreck the Pit. The Cobras are using stealth tech to get close, but Dusty notices something weird and heads out with Wild Card and Muskrat in the Mean Dog. Clutch and Rock n’Roll try to impress the girls with the hardware in the Pit, but they’re not really into guns. Flint and Lady Jaye find a local gas station owner tied up and realize Cobra is
making a move. Outside the Pit, Zarana transmits the signal that makes Clutch and Rock n’Roll want to go nuts, and they start by threatening Tiff and Roxy. Zarana’s team tries to get away from the Mean Dog and their air support comes down to help, which ends the jamming. A fight ensues but the Joes get the upper hand when they lead the jet into the sights of the hidden mobile command unit and Steamroller takes it down. The pilot manages to crash the jet into the command unit, taking it out of the fight too, while Zarana’s team are attacked by Flint and Lady Jaye. They capture a Tele-Viper who tells them what’s going on, so Flint and Lady Jaye head back to the Pit to stop the brainwashed Joes. In Millville, Spirit and Mutt hijack a HISS tank so they can get out of town and find the Vietnam vet tied up in the back. In the Pit, 
Lady Jaye leads a team to find the brainwashed Joes, but they’re both unconscious and the girls are fine. Apparently, Clutch and Rock n’Roll’s own sense of ethics conflicted with Cobra’s programming and they ended up passing out from the strain. In Millville, Mutt and Spirit stop at Mutt’s uncle’s house to bring him along on their escape, but he’s already been brainwashed by Cobra and they’re captured. This is a pretty good issue that seems to put an end to the brainwashing storyline while opening up a new one with the stuff in Millville. I’m assuming the Vietnam vet that Mutt and Spirit found will help free them, but I’m not sure how they can take on an entire town of Cobras and brainwashed citizens.
G.I. Joe #101 (June 1990) – “The New Guard” – Larry Hama/M.D. Bright/Randy Emberlin
This one continues from last issue, with Mutt and Spirit in Millville being captured by Cobra. They manage to escape with some help from Junkyard and Russ, the Vietnam vet who uses the captured HISS to blast some Cobras. They take off and trick the Cobras into blowing up the empty HISS while they hide. Russ says he knows a place nobody will find them and they might even find some help there. Back at the Pit, Hawk and General Hollingsworth inform the Joes that they talked the top brass out of disbanding the team, as long as their next ultra-secret mission goes well. That mission involves Flint, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, and Muskrat but they’re surprised when they get picked up by a Russian plane. they’re even more surprised to find the new Oktober Guard on the plane:
Daina and Dragonsky (from the original Guard), along with new recruits Lt. Gorky and Sgt. Misha. In Millville, Russ’s friends are a bunch of street punks he’s been counselling, but they seem to think Cobra might not be offering such a bad deal. It takes a speech about liberty and basic rights from Russ to change their minds and they agree to help fight Cobra. On the Russian plane, the teams read their orders which consist of them working together to help the local rebels in Sierra Gordo get rid of Cobra and Destro’s forces. Lady Jaye and Daina think that’s pointless since the country will just go back to internal squabbling once Cobra is gone. The plane gets tagged by a missile and has to crash land, but they manage to turn the tables and take out some of the 
attackers, getting away in tanks. Meanwhile in New York, Scarlett is still comatose but seems to be doing better, probably because of Snake Eyes’s constant presence. Unfortunately, her sister Siobhan shows up with a court order to terminate Scarlett’s life support. This is a pretty good issue that introduces a us to the new Oktober Guard and takes them back to Sierra Gordo, where most of the original team died. There’s a humorous sub-plot about Gorky flirting with Lady Jaye, but I assume that’s not really going anywhere. The stuff with Scarlett is interesting, but I can’t see Snake Eyes just standing by and watching her die, so he’ll probably figure out a way to fight the court order … or get Scarlett out of there.