G.I. Joe #102 (July 1990) – “What Did He Say?” – Larry Hama/Mark Bright/Randy Emberlin
This one starts in Sierra Gordo, with members of the Joe team (Flint, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, Muskrat) and the new Oktober Guard (Daina, Dragonsky, Misha, Gorky) fleeing the wreckage of their plane pursued by Darklon and some Cobras. The Joe/Guard team were supposed to have support from local rebels wanting to oust Cobra and Destro’s forces, but it looks like they’re on their own. Darklon tags the Russian tank with a missile and the Joes leave them (a decision Daina agrees with, saying he’d have done the same in their position). But the other Joes talk Flint into going back, even though he’s
jealous of Gorky’s attentions to Lady Jaye. Darklon is gaining on the overloaded jeep, but Muskrat takes one pursuer down with a missile. Flint ends up jumping the jeep across a chasm, while the first pursuit vehicle crashes and burns. Darklon is pissed off about missing the Joes and Oktober Guard, but his lieutenant points out that they’ve just landed in a sacred Tucaro burial ground, so the Tucaros will probably kill them. Meanwhile back in Millville, Cobra Commander is gloating about his success in taking over the town and brainwashing its citizens into mindless compliance. He’s even figured out how to put off friends and relatives who call, by having someone be rude to them on the phone (which is what Law gets when he calls looking for Mutt). Cobra 
Commander’s good mood evaporates when several explosions tear through the town, destroying the brainwashing trailer and HISS tank storage, and losing a cache of weapons from the main police station. Of course it’s Mutt, Spirit, and their new friend Russ (along with Russ’s street punk pals) who are causing all the mayhem. They’re pursued by Cobra troops, but lure them into an ambush so they can strip more weapons and supplies from them. Later, the Joes discuss things with Russ, talking about how some of the kids seem to love combat while others are traumatized by it. Spirit points out that either way, they can’t go back to being normal teenagers afterwards. In Sierra Gordo, the Joes and Oktober Guard are quickly surrounded by Tucaros, who Misha
seems to think are a bunch of ignorant savages. Roadblock knows better, since he met some Tucaros when the Joes came to rescue Dr. Burkhart. He mentions Recondo (who lived with the Tucaros for a long time) and their leader (Anibal) appears, sounding like a preppie college student. Destro and Baroness are visiting Rio Lindo, where Darklon tells them Anibal and the Tucaros won’t have a jungle to hide in for much longer, since El Jefe has leased the logging rights to a multi-national corporation. In New York, Scarlett’s sister (who seems like a real asshole) has enforced the court order to turn off Scarlett’s 
life support. Snake Eyes freaks out, rips the bandages off his face, and goes in to see her, managing to say her name even though he’s supposed to be mute. This is a pretty good issue, with some more action in Sierra Gordo and a new player on the scene with Anibal, the MIT-educated Tucaro leader. The Millville fight is heating up and it looks like the end for Scarlett, but I still think she’ll come back somehow. She’s too good a character to just kill off like this.
G.I. Joe #103 (August 1990) – “The Amazing Welkin” – Larry Hama/M.D. Bright/Randy Emberlin
This one starts with Storm Shadow sneaking into the Pentagon to confront the secret cabal of military brass known as the Jugglers, who are the unseen puppet-masters for the Joes. Storm Shadow wants them to give Snake Eyes a mission to distract him from his vigil at Scarlett’s bedside (who is apparently still alive even with her life support being turned off last issue). Storm Shadow has stolen a top secret file about a soldier named George Strawhacker, some kind of scapegoat who ended up in a Borovian prison. Storm Shadow figures rescuing Strawhacker would be a good mission for Snake Eyes and basically blackmails the Jugglers into agreeing
to it. In Sierra Gordo, the Joes and Oktober Guard are following the Tucaros through the jungle, but progress is slow and Darklon’s men are right behind them. They reach a narrow pass and Roadblock and Misha stay behind to delay the pursuit. They’re both wounded, but they give the others a chance to get ahead. In Millville, Mutt, Spirit, Russ, and company are ready to break Cobra’s hold on the town by liberating the zombified workers from the steel mill. But when they get there, none of the workers shows any sign of brainwashing and the mill seems to have legitimately re-opened. Even worse, nobody in town seems like they’ve been brainwashed and they can’t remember anything 
about Cobra being there, so it looks like Mutt and Spirit led a bunch of punks in an insurrection against a normal town. When Hawk shows up, he’s forced to place them under arrest. Storm Shadow shows up at the hospital in New York with the mission for Snake Eyes. Stalker figures Snake Eyes won’t take an assignment with Scarlett still clinging to life, but it turns out that George Strawhacker was the fiancé of Snake Eyes’s twin sister. In Sierra Gordo, Darklon’s forces reach the pass but can’t find any trace of the defenders. Darklon doesn’t care, since they can just clear-cut the jungle to keep the Tucaros and their allies from coming back. The Joes and Oktober Guard are worried about Roadblock and Misha, but they both make it out (although Roadblock can’t see and Misha can’t walk). In Millville, it turns out all the
people are still brainwashed, they were just snapped out of it (and back in again) by the code word “Broca”. So now Cobra can use Millville as a covert manufacturing centre without anyone suspecting what’s going on. Over Borovia, Storm Shadow prepares Snake Eyes for his mission, telling him he needs to forget his humanity and become a remorseless engine of destruction, since Borovia has descended into chaos after its Commie government fell. Snake Eyes accepts that willingly, probably happy to distance himself from his emotions now that he figures Scarlett is as good as dead. But back 
in New York, Scarlett wakes up from her coma and immediately asks where Snake Eyes is. This is a pretty good issue that shows how smart Cobra Commander really is, making Mutt and Spirit look like crazy renegades while keeping all the people of Millville zombified. I’m wondering what’ll happen to Russ and his friends; were they arrested too (in which case they might “disappear”) or were they kicked out of town? I knew Scarlett would wake up sooner or later, and now I’m thinking she might go help Snake Eyes on his mission in Borovia … if she can even find out about it.