The Eruditegorilla

G.I. Joe #140 (September 1993) – “Goin’ South” – Larry Hama/Chris Batista/Chip Wallace

This one starts with Megatron taking Cobra Commander and his crew to Canada where the Decepticons’ Ark is hidden. They’re amazed by the Ark’s technology, especially Sidney Biggles-Jones, but Scarlett suggests that once Dr. Mindbender is revived Cobra Comaander won’t need Sidney’s brainpower anymore. Continue reading “G.I. Joe Reviews: G.I. Joe 140, G.I. Joe 141”

G.I. Joe #138 (July 1993) – “Unfoldings” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Stephen Baskerville

This one starts with Scarlett having a nightmare about frying Hawk and Stalker last issue. Of course, she doesn’t know that the whole thing was a ruse to make her undercover infiltration of Cobra look more convincing, so she’s wracked with guilt over killing her friends. Continue reading “G.I. Joe Reviews: G.I. Joe 138, G.I. Joe 139”

G.I. Joe #136 (May 1993) – “Reversals and Betrayals” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Stephen Baskerville

This one continues from last issue, with the Joe ninjas (Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Jinx, Nunchuk, Tjbang, and Dojo) heading for Storm Shadow’s old water tower hideout to confront the Night Creeper ninjas there. Snake Eyes goes ahead and runs into six Night Creepers, but of course he takes them all down by himself. The Joe ninjas head inside the water tower, hoping to get at least one Night Creeper alive for interrogation. They don’t realize that the Night Creeper leader and Cobra Commander are watching via body cams. The Night Creeper leader assures Cobra Commander his field operatives know nothing that could compromise his master plan. His hackers have been monitoring Joe financial activity and found Scarlett has taken a leave of absence in Switzerland and even changed her insurance beneficiary, dropping Snake Eyes after her blow-up last issue. Zarana and Road Pig take a team to Switzerland to offer Scarlett a deal. After the usual misunderstanding fight (this is a Marvel comic, after all), she decides to listen. At Andrews Air Force Base, some more Night Creepers try to hijack a stealth bomber, but a team of Joes (including the Joe ninjas) is waiting for them. The Night Creepers are captured and admit that Cobra Commander is trying to revive Cobra by selling arms to anyone on Earth who’ll meet his price. He refuses to say where Cobra’s new secret headquarters is, though. We soon find out, as Slice and Dice bust into Destro’s castle and take him and Baroness prisoner. Cobra Commander shows up (with Scarlett and the scientist from last issue as prisoners) to claim the castle for himself, using its machinery to reconfigure it to match his own taste. Cobra Commander tosses Destro and Baroness in an oubliette and makes Scarlett and Dr. Biggles-Jones an offer to join Cobra and make an enormous profit, while getting to use their unique skills. They both accept, but Cobra Commander says they’ll have to prove themselves. This is a pretty good issue, with slightly less focus on the ninjas and more on the revitalized Cobra. I don’t believe Scarlett will really join Cobra, no matter how pissed off she is (and her whole disaffection thing could be a ruse anyway), but I’m not sure about Dr. Biggles-Jones; Cobra Commander appealed to her pride and the glass ceiling is pretty thick for women in science (even now), so her acceptance of his offer might be genuine.

G.I. Joe #137 (June 1993) – “The Traitor Strikes” – Larry Hama/Andrew Wildman/Stephen Baskerville

This one continues from the above issue, with Scarlett and Dr. Biggles-Jones (who I’ll be referring to by her first name of Sidney from here on to keep things easier) being formally initiated into the ranks of Cobra. Of course, they still have to prove their loyalty, Sidney by sabotaging a rival to the company she used to work for (which seems to please her) and Scarlett by assassinating Hawk. Meanwhile, Destro and Baroness try to escape the dungeon using a laser in Destro’s mask. They attempt to swim out to the moat but Cobra Commander lowers a gate to trap them and sends a couple of Eels to kill them. The Eels return with Destro’s mask, but when the bodies float to the surface, the Vipers realize it was Destro and Baroness wearing the Eel suits. Destro has secret tunnels and caches that even Cobra Commander doesn’t know about (since Destro’s the one who built the castle) and they crawl through to the throne room to spy on Cobra Commander. At White Sands, a new railgun is being tested with the Joes there as observers and security. Cobra infiltrates the test and Sidney blows up the competing railgun with the one she designed (which is recognized by the scientist heading the new project). The Joes chase Cobra and in the confusion, Scarlett takes a shot at Hawk. She misses, which makes Slice and Dice suspicious, but her shot severs the gas line and blows up the APC, frying Hawk and Stalker (which impresses the hell out of the Cobra ninjas). The Joes pursue and Snake Eyes boards the Paralyzer, but gets distracted when he sees Scarlett is the one who fried Hawk and Stalker. Slice cuts him and he tumbles off, leaving Scarlett to escape with the rest of the Cobras. As I suspected, the whole thing turns out to be a ruse: Scarlett was sent to infiltrate Cobra and Destro tipped them about the assassination. The exploding APC was Hawk’s idea (which is why Scarlett looked so shaken by it) and they didn’t let the ninjas in on the plan, hence Snake Eyes’s shock. We’ll have to wait until next issue to see how things work out.