G.I. Joe Special Missions #23 (July 1989) – “Scoop” – Larry Hama/Herb Trimpe
This one starts on the USS Flagg aircraft carrier, where a team of Joes (Stalker, Tunnel Rat, Leatherneck, Hit & Run, and Muskrat) are getting ready for a mission. At the last minute they find out a new Joe named Scoop is coming with them to document everything with a video camera. They’re not too happy about having a rookie on the mission, especially since they haven’t had a chance to train with him, but they aren’t given a choice. When the chopper arrives, Stalker fills the team in on the mission: El Jefe, the president of Sierra Gordo, has been taken prisoner by Destro’s Iron Grenadiers and stashed out in the jungle because he hasn’t paid Destro for
some weapons shipments. Stalker acknowledges that El Jefe is a scumbag, but he’s the scumbag the Americans have chosen to support so they have to rescue him. On the way to Sierra Gordo, the Joes instruct Scoop in the subtleties of combat missions that he didn’t learn in training, but none of them want to get too friendly with him until they see how he handles himself in the field. They land in the jungle and Scoop gets some more on-the-job training as they make their way to the ambush site. They find a perfect spot for the ambush, but Stalker figures it’s too perfect and the bad guys will be on their guard, so he sets up the ambush in a different spot. Scoop is so tired he falls asleep waiting for the Iron Grenadiers to arrive, but he wakes up pretty fast 
when the action starts. Turns out there are twice as many Grenadiers as they expected and most of them weren’t caught in the ambush, so now it’s a firefight. Scoop is pissed off that he can’t get any clear footage of the enemy, but he soon has bigger problems as the Joes are forced to retreat before superior numbers. They use some hidden claymores to whittle down the odds as they retreat, but Hit & Run and Tunnel Rat both get wounded, leaving Scoop to take over Tunnel Rat’s machine gun. He’s jumped by an Iron Grenadier and has to use his camera to take the guy out. Scoop wakes up in the evac chopper to the congratulations of the other Joes. He’s not sure why they’re so happy
since the target (El Jefe) wasn’t there, his camera got wrecked, and they had to take off without accomplishing anything, but the others point out that any mission where you’re still breathing at the end is a success. This is a pretty good issue that shows a lot of the details of a combat mission that most people wouldn’t think of. We learn proper procedure at the same time Scoop does, and we also learn that sometimes the intel is just plain wrong and the best you can do is get out alive.
G.I. Joe #88 (July 1989) – “Python Patrol” – Larry Hama/Tony Salmons/Randy Emberlin
This one starts at the border between Wolkekuckuckland and Darklonia (two made-up countries in Eastern Europe), where four obnoxious American tourists in a Camaro are told they can’t cross into Darklonia because the army of Wolkekuckuckland is doing maneuvers right by the border. (The four “tourists” look like Flint, Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes, and Scarlett to me.) General Liederkranz of Wolkekuckuckland is in charge of the army maneuvers, but he’s being advised by Hawk and some other Joes, who tell him he shouldn’t be showing off all his new hardware (most of which is Joe surplus) to Darklonia. But
Liederkranz insists on showing off the hardware since Darklonia tried to unload some old Cobra weapons on them earlier. Speaking of which, the ruler of Darklonia ( a masked dude called Darklon, apparently) is in conference with Destro, Cobra Commander, and Dr. Mindbender. Darklon isn’t happy with the surplus Cobra gear he’s been sold, but Destro informs him o his new arrangement with Cobra (as we saw last issue) and Dr. Mindbender says they can upgrade the old Cobra stuff to make it invisible to radar and infra-red. Back in Wolkekuckuckland, Flint is doing a great job pretending 
to be an asshole and asks around for a connection to any weapons being smuggled out of Darklonia. The smugglers are ready to waste the Americans, but the undercover Joes have plenty of firepower of their own. In Wolkekuckuckland, Liederkranz demonstrates the effectiveness of their automated border alarms (which work on radar and infra-red) and the Joes are pissed off when they see Destro flying over Darklonia checking out the Wolkekuckuckland defenses in a surplus Conquest. In Darklonia, Darklon is wondering how the smugglers can get across the border with so much detection gear, but he’s distracted when Mindbender tells him it’s time to start “Pythonizing” the equipment. Flint’s team figures out how the smugglers are crossing the border … they bribe a Wolkekuckuckland soldier to turn off
the warning systems for ten minutes. In a stunning coincidence, Darklon sends a force across the border right at that moment, supposedly protected from detection by Mindbender’s anti-radar paint. When Darklon sees the Camaro full of Joes, he assumes that’s how the smugglers get across the border, figuring the shape of the Camaro somehow renders it invisible to radar and infra-red. The Joes realize Darklon must have his own way of defeating the detection system and turn around to follow him, since they noticed Cobra Commander and Baroness with him. Hawk and Liederkranz discover the 
warning system is turned off and when Roadblock sees the guard has been bribed, they turn it back on. Unfortunately, the Darklonian forces are right outside and attack immediately, starting a fight with the Joes. Darklon wants to grab General Liederkranz to embarras him into buying weapons from Wolkekuckuckland, but the Joes have a reserve force set up and lead Darklon’s troops right into it. Darklon abandons the Cobras and takes off, but runs straight into Flint’s Camaro. Snake Eyes captures Darklon, buy Liederkranz decides to make a deal with Darklon to buy some of his Pythonizing paint. Destro is happy to be making more profit, although the Cobras (and Baroness) are stuck trying to cross the border with the smugglers. This is an
all right issue, but the comic is starting to get into some weird shit, with Darklon (who is a bit of a goofball) and a bunch of made-up countries. At times, it’s hard to tell what’s going on and who’s screwing who over, and Darklon seems like a pretty goofy character. I guess Larry Hama didn’t have a choice, since new characters were dictated by Hasbro, but I wish there weren’t so many of them at once.