G.I. Joe #130 (November 1992) – “Point and Counterpoint” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Stephen Baskerville
Continuing from last issue, this one starts with Cobra Commander leading a large force against the Pit, the location of which he’s finally figured out. Thanks to their new stealth tech, the Cobras come in undetected and go after the Quonset where Spirit is on guard duty. Spirit takes a few of them out (thanks to his eagle and a fragmentation grenade) and gets below to let Duke know Cobra’s troop strength. Duke has everyone get ready for a fight where they’ll be mostly on the
defensive. Of course, the Joes have home field advantage and access to all their weaponry, so they aren’t really the underdogs in this fight. On Cobra Island, Firefly has been locked in the old freighter, but his hypnotized Joe ninjas are already looking for him. At the Pit, some Cobras try to laser through the first blast door and get burnt to a crisp thanks to Barbecue and Airtight. Cobra Commander deploys his latest model of BATs (Battle Android Troopers) wearing flame-resistant suits to take the door. On Cobra Island, the Joe ninjas free Firefly and 
Cesspool and Zarana send a bunch of Cobra troops to wipe them all out. But the Cobra ninjas Slice and Dice (also hypnotized by Firefly) reactivate the BATs that Firefly used in his first escape from the freighter and use them to ambush the Cobras. Back at the Pit, the BATs break through the blast door into the interior of the Pit and the Joes get ready for a hell of a fight. This is a pretty good issue, giving us two big fights on two separate fronts, although it seems to be mostly set-up rather than pay-off.
G.I. Joe #131 (December 1992) – “Last Stand” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Stephen Baskerville
This one continues directly from last issue, with the BATS threatening to overrun the Joes’ position underneath the Pit. Some Joes (Outback and Torpedo) are wounded as they hold off the BATs long enough for Trip Wire to lay some explosives and blast the shit out of the androids. The Joes fall back and prepare to take some heavy artillery up the hidden shuttle launch ramp. But Cobra Commander got all the Joes’ strategies from Firefly (who ot them from the hypnotized Storm Shadow), so he’s expecting that. Cobra Commander is also using the BATs to record everything that happens during the firefight, either for information or maybe he plans to use it as
propaganda later. On Cobra Island, Firefly is gloating about the success of his hypnotized ninjas and BAT troopers, figuring he can take over the whole island for himself. But Snake Eyes has already started to defeat the brainwashing by fragmenting his own mind to eradicate all traces of Firefly’s influence. Once that’s done, he uses the Arashikage mind-set to clear Storm Shadow’s brain and they get ready to kick Firefly’s ass. In Utah, Cobra is waiting when the Joe vehicles roll up the launch ramp, but when they’re destroyed the vehicles turn out to be empty. Duke changed back-up plans at the last minute, leading a squad out of hidden ventilation shafts to hit Cobra from behind. Cobra 
Commander manages o get away with help from his air support and he’s not too bothered that the attack didn’t succeed … in fact, he seems quite happy that they managed to get so much video footage. On Cobra Island, Storm Shadow goes after Firefly while Snake Eyes breaks the hypnosis on the other Joe ninjas. Zarana and Cesspool are leading some Cobras against Firefly, so the Joe ninjas figure they might as well take off and let the bad guys pound each other. Cobra Commander’s contingent arrives back at the island to find Firefly in charge and Zarana and Cesspool captured. But it turns out the raid on the Pit wasn’t to wipe out the Joes, it was just to demonstrate the effectiveness of Cobra’s new RADAR suppression systems. Now that he has video evidence of it, Cobra Commander can sell it to anyone who’s
interested and make enough money to get a much better base of operations. So he tells Firefly to keep the island … and Zarana and Cesspool as well. This was a pretty good issue, with Cobra Commander showing (again) that he’s more deadly as a businessman than a field general. I’m not sure what’ll happen to Cesspool and Zarana; I don’t give a shit about Cesspool, but I like Zarana, so I hope she doesn’t get killed. It sounds like the Joes are ready to go after Cobra for attacking them, but if they come to Cobra Island, they’ll be disappointed.