G.I. Joe #144 (January 1994) – “Snake Eyes: The Tale Untold” – Larry Hama/William Rosado/Chip Wallace
This one starts right after the end of issue 142, with the Joes getting ready to leave Millville after pushing Cobra out. Hawk shows up and tells them Scarlett needs to go to the Pentagon for a debriefing and that Snake Eyes, Stalker, and Rock n’Roll are coming with them as security. On the chopper, everyone starts thinking about an old mission, specifically the one where Snake Eyes face got fucked up and he lost his voice saving Scarlett, a mission that’s been alluded to but never shown in detail. We go into flashback mode and see some original Joes going out on a hostage rescue mission in the Middle East. But due to a stupid accident with
the two choppers, Snake Eyes gets a face full of flames while saving Scarlett and Hawk figures they’ll have to abort the mission, until Snake Eyes (who can’t even talk anymore) convinces him to let them go ahead. They meet Stalker in the city and he brings them to their target. He and Snake Eyes try to sneak in, but the guards don’t speak the local language for some reason, so Snake Eyes is forced to kill them silently. The place turns out to be guarded by Cobras and Stalker and Snake Eyes are discovered, so a firefight ensues. Stalker gets a shoulder wound, leaving Snake Eyes to take out the rest of the Cobras himself. The two Cobra 
guards strip down and pretend to be tied up with the real hostage, so when Snake Eyes gets there all three claim to be the genuine article. But the real hostage turns out to be George Strawhacker, who was engaged to Snake Eyes’s sister before she died, so he blows away the Cobras and rescues George. In the present, the reminiscences end as they approach their mission target. This was a pretty good issue, although it’s technically just retreading familiar ground. Having Strawhacker be the hostage seems like a bit of a stretch since we already saw him get rescued by Snake Eyes in Borovia not that long ago, but it’s interesting that after both rescues, Strawhacker still doesn’t know it was his fiancée’s brother who saved his ass both times. The flashback scenes were cool too, since we got to see some old favourites like Grunt and Doc.
G.I. Joe #145 (February 1994) – “Threads and Resolutions” – Larry Hama/Phil Gosier/Chip Wallace
This one starts in Borovia (which now has a complicated new name that I refuse to use), where Copbra has backed the Upper Borovian elite and helped them wipe out the Lower Borovian resistance. The new president is Metz (who we remember as the guy who shot George Strawhacker back in issue 106), but it’s pretty obvious Cobra Commander is the power behind the façade. Metz is even ready to spare Magda and the White Clown because they saved him from the mob, but Cobra Commander blows them away. In
Washington, Spirit and Mutt are cleared of any wrongdoing in Millville, since the place turned out to be a Cobra front (and we get a cameo from ex-Joe Grunt, who got his engineering degree but is having trouble finding work). Meanwhile, Stalker and Rock n’Roll are visiting the graves of dead Joes at Arlington. In Trans-Carpathia, Destro, Baroness, and Zartan are keeping an eye on the Borovian situation, but they’re interrupted by an unexpected visit from Billy. In Borovia, Cobra Commander is still pissed off that Destro took back the castle from him, so Dr. Mindbender suggests he activate some implants that were put 
into Destro and Zartan so he can take control of them. Mindbender slipped the implants in when Zartan and Destro were unconscious (for surgery and a tooth extraction respectively) and tells Cobra Commander the trigger to activate them is the sight of his unmasked face. In Utah, a team of Joes calling themselves Star Brigade (Duke, Roadblock, Sci-Fi, Payload, and Spaceshot) go into space on the Defiant shuttle for a top secret mission. In New Jersey, Zarana shows up to let the Dreadnoks know she’s broken ties with Cobra Commander and is taking her brother’s place as their leader, so it’s time to get out and ride the roads again. We also see Snake Eyes and Scarlett taking some time off in the High Sierras and the Joe Ninja Force running off a local gang in Spanish
Harlem and opening a dojo that anyone can attend for free. In Trans-Carpathia, Cobra Commander drops by the castle for a visit and reveals his face, which means Destro and Zartan will soon be under his control. This was a pretty good issue, although it’s mostly set-up for later stories. I don’t rally care about the space stuff, since it seems too SF for the Joes, and the implants are obviously a retcon to make things more interesting. Billy mentioned studying some new esoteric ninja techniques, so maybe he’ll use the Arashikage mindset to get Destro and Zartan back to normal.