G.I. Joe #66 (December 1987) – “The Tenth Letter” – Larry Hama/Ron Wagner/Randy Emberlin
This one starts with Billy and Storm Shadow practicing esoteric martial arts in San Francisco. They’re interrupted by Jinx, who lets them know where Stalker, Snow Job, and Quick Kick are being held in Borovia, and also shows them a newspaper photo of a circus with Scarlett in the background. In Borovia, the circus has been touring Borovia for weeks and have arrived in Pvnsk, but Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Blind Master still don’t know where the GULAG is. They’re closer than they think, as two GULAG officers (Mosiev and Olga) are watching the performers rehearse. Mosiev has seen
the circus before but recalls a bareback rider, interrupting the performance to ask why she’s not there. The head of the circus (the White Clown) is obviously bothered by the mere mention of the woman, but Mosiev keeps pushing. He tells Olga how the bareback rider, a Borovian beauty named Magda who spoke out against the government, disappeared into the GULAGs. Mosiev notes that the circus regularly tours only the hinterlands of Borovia where the GULAGs are, as if the White Clown were searching for Magda. White Clown’s reaction confirms the theory. Orlovsky the human cannonball begs Mosiev to tell the White Clown what happened to Magda but Mosiev refuses because he figures the White Clown’s great sorrow is what makes him a great clown. 
Storm Shadow, Jinx, and Billy show up to let the others know they have the location of the GULAG. Later, Orlovsky overhears them making plans and tells White Clown he can narc on them to Mosiev in exchange for info on what happened to Magda. White Clown seems to be considering it. That night, a prisoner escapes and Mosiev (who fancies himself quite the marksman) goes out after him, leaving Olga to “discipline” the other prisoners. The ninjas take out some guards and invade the GULAG looking for the Joes. Olga decides Boris the rat knew about the escape attempt and orders him beaten to death. The ninjas kill the guards who killed Boris and give their weapons to the prisoners. The Americans plan on heading for the border in a truck, but the Borovians choose to stay and fight for their country in the underground … although they do take a few minutes to go kill Olga before leaving. Mosiev
returns from his “hunt” to find the guards and Olga dead and the prisoners gone, so he heads for the nearest border crossing by the river. The Joes find the border crossing to be well-defended, but White Clown and Orlovsky are there to give them a hand by shooting them into the river with the circus cannon. Mosiev arrives and tries to shoot Stalker but ends up getting a bullet in the head from his intended target. The Joes make it across the river and out of Borovia, leaving White Clown to reflect that Magda would’ve been proud of his decision to help the Joes escape. This is a really good issue that finally wraps 
up the GULAG storyline. The White Clown’s search for Magda and his ultimate decision to do the right thing are very touching (and we learn Magda’s fate even if the Clown doesn’t … Mosiev shot her after she had crossed the river, almost sparking an international incident). It was cool to see the ninjas all working together and Stalker winning the sniper duel with the arrogant Mosiev was great. Olga’s fate was poetic since she enjoyed inflicting cruelty … in fact, it kinda seems like she was turned on by it.
G.I. Joe Special Missions #8 (December 1987) – “Ambush” – Larry Hama/Herb Trimpe
This one starts in Southeast Asia with a stealth plane full of Joes (Flint, Beach Head, Wetsuit, Leatherneck, Footloose, Lowlight, and Tunnel Rat) going in for a covert mission. Their CIA liaison (Anderson) explains that a computer expert (Theron Portland) was working in Thailand when he suddenly crossed the border with a very important microchip. Anderson wants Portland and the chip back but if that’s impossible, he wants Portland dead. The Joes parachute into the jungle and make their way towards a site where they expect Portland’s escorting convoy to move through. They run into a village full of skeletons and
discover a strange circuit in the radios Anderson provided. Lowlight figures the whole mission is a set-up and Flint agrees, but says they have no choice but to go ahead. They reach the ambush site and set up, waiting in the hot sun for the convoy. A peasant kid appears on the trail with a water buffalo and the convoy shows up right behind him … except it’s not a simple escort, it’s an entire armoured column. The leader of the column realizes the spot is perfect for an ambush and assumes the kid with the water buffalo is part of it. Flint isn’t sure whether to spring the ambush since they’re heavily outgunned, but the decision is soon taken out of his hands. 
When they send the squelch signal to let Anderson know they’ve made contact, the radios start screeching (because of that extra circuit in them), alerting the convoy to their presence. They open up on the convoy and Lowlight tries to take Portland out but he runs off into the jungle. Lowlight goes after him, stopping only to kill the soldier who was about to waste the peasant kid. The other Joes head for the extraction point where Wild Bill and Lift Ticket show up in the Tomahawk. Lowlight makes it on board just in time and Wild Bill reveals that he and Lift Ticket beat the truth out of Anderson. The mission was meant to fail, since the CIA knew Portland planned to defect. They sabotaged the microchip with a computer virus, knowing he’d take it to the Russians, but needed the ambush to provide credibility. Anderson
also figured Lowlight wouldn’t actually kill Portland (and Lowlight admits he didn’t), so he figures the mission is a success after all … until Lowlight reveals that he knocked Portland out and took back the stolen microchips, including the sabotaged one. This is a cool story, showing the Joes doing covert work overseas and not shying away from the fact that sometimes their missions could turn out to be glorified assassinations. The CIA treachery is almost a cliché, but Larry Hama served in Vietnam and probably has first-hand knowledge of the dirty tricks the Company is famous for.