G.I. Joe #124 (May 1992) – “Triptych” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Randy Emberlin
As suggested by the title, this issue tells three stories simultaneously: the drug problem in Broca Beach, the toxic waste stuff in the Gulf of Mexico, and the big ninja fight in Trans-Carpathia. The stories are actually told in parallel, with each getting one panel per page (interrupted by the occasional set of splash pages). Instead of trying to do all three at once, I’ll take each story in turn, starting with the drug stuff in Broca Beach. Some Joes are on the scene (Bullet-Proof, Shockwave, Mutt, and Cutter) and they bust in on the drug lab, run by the imaginatively-named Headman.
Naturally, the dope dealers fight back and things spill out onto the street, where a woman starts blasting them with an assault rifle. This is the same woman who called the government for help last issue because her son was hooked on drugs (and she was married to one of the Fred series Crimson Guardsmen, but the Joes don’t know that the whole town of Broca Beach is a Cobra front). Headman shoots the woman and Shockwave and Cutter stay with her while Mutt and Bullet-Proof chase the drug dealers to a funhouse on the waterfront. The funhouse operators consider helping the Joes against the dope dealers, but are afraid of blowing Cobra’s cover. It probably doesn’t matter because Cutter has already recognized the woman’s rifle as Cobra issue and she tells 
Shockwave something important just before she dies. Meanwhile in the Gulf of Mexico, Flint leads Ozone and Clean Sweep in an assault on an offshore oil rig that’s loaded with toxic waste. The mastermind is Cesspool, who we saw last issue was hired to develop toxic weapons for Cobra but ended up exceeding his orders and going overboard. Cesspool seems to be a profit-oriented yuppie in the Gordon Gekko mold, but he leads the defense of the rig and seems to know how to fight (not to mention he looks a lot like Cable from X-Force). The two sides go back and forth, blasting each other with plasma-tox and neutralizer. The Joes manage to surround Cesspool and his lieutenants, but he burns a whole in a tank of fluorocarbons and Ozone has to seal it to protect the environment. That gives Cesspool time to capture the other two and when Flint won’t answer his questions, he prepares to throw him in the toxic waste tank. Finally, we have the big face-off in
Trans-Carpathia between the Joe Ninja Force and the red ninjas led by Slice and Dice. Last issue, Snake Eyes tried to defuse things by holding a sword to the throat of the red ninja leader, but Slice solves that problem by impaling the leader with his own sword. Instead of wasting their forces in a pitched battle, Slice proposes a death duel between two champions, himself and Snake Eyes. Slice is pretty good and gets Snake Eyes against a tree, seemingly disarmed, but of course Snake Eyes turns things around. Before he can finish Slice, the red ninja leader interrupts them, miraculously healed from the sword that went through him a few minutes ago. Apparently, this is someone special (since the other ninjas recognize him), but we’ll have to wait a couple issues to find out who. This was an interesting issue, with the three stories paying out in parallel. If you take one story at a time, it’s a pretty fast read, since each page only devotes one panel to each storyline (except for a couple sets of splash pages). I still think the Eco-Warrior stuff and the ninjas are a bit too cartoony, maybe a better fit for the TV show than the comic. The urban drug story was done better, although I still think headman is a really goofy villain.
G.I. Joe #125 (June 1992) – “Diptych” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Randy Emberlin
As you can tell from the title, this issue continues the parallel storylines from above, but with only two instead of three (making us wait to see the big ninja reveal next issue). In Broca Beach, Mutt and Shockwave are outnumbered and soon get surrounded by the dope dealers, one of whom shoots Shockwave in the back. Mutt calls for back-up so Bullet-Proof and Cutter head out to help, assuring Fred Jr. that they’ll take care of the people who killed his parents and hooked him on dope. Unfortunately, they leave the Cobra rifle behind and Fred Jr. claims it, looking like he’s ready to waste some dealers himself. Bullet-Proof and Cutter run into the two Cobras operating the funhouse, who offer to help against the drug dealers. The Cobras get shot but the Joes take the druggies prisoner, but Headman gets away by escaping through a
trap door. (By the way, Shockwave is fine since he was wearing a bulletproof vest.) At the end, we see Fred Jr. approaching a sophisticated-looking dealer with the Cobra rifle, but instead of shooting him, Freddie asks how much dope the rifle is worth. On the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, Flint orders Ozone to retreat and bring back the “secret weapon”. Cesspool takes Flint and Clean Sweep to one of the toxic waste tanks, threatening to douse them in sludge if they don’t talk. He obligingly gives them his own story, how he was a ruthless CEO, ripping people off and looting his own company. He was scarred when he tried to dump some toxic waste before the Feds showed up and it probably made 
him crazy (although he wasn’t exactly a model of stability before the accident). When the Joe Tomahawk shows up, Cesspool figures he’s safe since the Joes can’t start shooting for fear of spilling toxic crap all over the Gulf. But the chopper contains something much worse than mere ordnance … a lawyer! A government lawyer to be precise, who informs Cesspool all his assets have been frozen and he’s about to be buried in a mountain of bureaucratic bullshit. This was a decent issue, with the drug problem refusing to be neatly tied up (just like in real life), and Cesspool beaten by bureaucracy and by seizing the only thing he really cares about, his money.