GI JOE #43Nice cover by Zeck, but he needs to tuck the butt into his shoulder, for better control.
Creative Team: Larry Hama-writer, Rod Whigham and Andy Mushynsky-art, Joe Rosen-letters, George Roussos-colors, Denny O'Neil-editor
Synopsis: Fred II (obligatory "boogaloo" joke), aka Wade Collins, still has the drop on Stalker and Snake Eyes, at the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. We go into a flashback, as he remembers the last mission of their LRRP team, when he was left for dead.
They ran smack into a large force of PAVN soldiers (or NVA Regulars, as Hama calls them) and all hell broke loose. Only Stalker, Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow made it out alive. Wade wasn't dead, though, and the PAVN dragged him to a bunker complex (uh-huh) and used their precious few medical supplies to fix him up, to be a POW, for two years. He was released, after the Paris Peace Accords and came home to the US, where he was spat upon, by cat yronwode.....
His wife served him with divorce papers and no one would hire him, not because of the post-war recession and the massive unemployment that resulted (and the influx of Baby Boomers, into the job market); but, because he was a Vietnam vet. He spots a Cobra recruiting poster, and like fascists everywhere, who look for others to blame for their problems, he joined up to become a thug for a charismatic leader, who didn't get enough love and attention, as a youth, and failed at everything, as an adult. He rose in the ranks of the SS...er, Crimson Guard and was given a make-over and assigned to replace the Dead Fred, at the Ft Wadsworth stakeout.
Meanwhile, Buzzer has hopped a freight train and gets off as it passes through Springfield, where he meets up with Firefly and new toy...trooper, Scrap-Iron. Candy is stranded, after the stolen pickup truck's fan belt breaks (she could temporarily fix that, if she is wearing nylons), but gets a lift from the drunken travelling salesman, who dropped the Soft Master off in Springfield.
(Nothing gratuitous in that panel....)
Speaking of the Soft Master, he forces the "sheriff" to access the Cobra computer network and run the Hard Master's name through it (after warning him that if he keeps reaching for his hold-out weapon, in an ankle holster, he will be in a world of hurt) and learns who killed him....and then the other fake cops turn up and the Soft Master has to hit the bricks.
Little Billy hitches a ride from some nuns and gets out after too many choruses of "Dominique".....
He gets picked up by Candi and the drunk.
The Soft Master steals a police car and Buzzer, Firefly and Scrap-Iron give chase and it turns into a Hall Needham movie, as they all head towards a speeding train....
The Soft Master loops around to help Billy, Candi and the drunk, when Scrap-Iron fires a rocket at them. Soft Master hurls his body into it's path to save the others. Scrap-Iron fires a second missile and we cut away.
Stalker and Snake Eyes bring Wade home, where he begs forgiveness of the "wife" and they all head off into hiding from Cobra, for the rest of their lives, as a happy family.
Thoughts: Soft Master is conveniently killed to drag out the mystery of who killed the Hard Master. Or, at least, appears to be killed. Kind of hard to survive a rocket to the gut; but, it is comics. The nuns are there to show how serene Billy is now (as he heads off to confront his father....which would be a serene act, no doubt). He also has a vision of death when the drunk tries to argue that he is sober enough to drive.
Buzzer, Firefly and Scrap-Iron are riding the 4 wheel ATV motorcycle that Tomax and Xamont were using, previously, so more toy commercials, along with the debut of Scrap-Iron.
Wade's story lets Hama indulge in some Vietnam guilt and resentment; but, studies of the period have yet to provide concrete evidence of protestors actually spitting on returning Vietnam vets and most accounts of such things tend to be metaphorical of the feeling of being spat upon, rather than anyone actually hocking a luggie at them. That's not to say there might not have been an individual incident or incidents of such a thing; but, it was not a mass protest action. It's one of those metaphors that have taken on a life that it becomes reality to those who didn't live through the period.
Vietnam veterans did suffer high rates of unemployment; but, more of that was due to lack of job skills, as most were infantryman and there weren't many jobs that required setting up interlocking fields of fire. Also, the post-war recession was a massive economic downturn, coupled with the Oil Crisis and several other factors, which collided with mass layoffs and a tripling of unemployment rates, compared to 1969. One of the factors contributing to the unemployment rate was the high number of young job seekers, as more and more Baby Boomers entered the job market, while manufacturing was seeing a downturn, due to increased international competition. The steel industry suffered badly during this period and that affected other industries, as well. Vietnam vets with honorable discharges were more likely to encounter problems because they had little work history and lacked technical skills that could be applied in the workplace, rather than a military environment. Most draftees were young enough that they were either just out of high school or lacked college education that would have gotten them a deferment. Where Vietnam vets faced real discrimination (aside from racial discrimination, as African-Americans made up a large percentage of draftees sent to Vietnam) was if they had Other Than Honorable discharges. These were known as "bad papers," and reflected discharges for reasons other than criminal acts, but with disciplinary records during service. These could be as petty as failing an inspection, though more often involved being tossed int he stockade, for some infraction, without facing an actual court martial. Quite often, such things had racial connotations, as minority soldiers were more likely to be brought up on charges for offenses than white soldiers and just as often to face stiffer punishments. Prior to the 1980s, employers could ask for a copy of a military discharge, for hiring and would reject those who did not have an Honorable Discharge. Lobbying efforts ultimately led to a change in Federal labor laws which prohibited asking veterans for their type of discharge and limited to asking if they were currently serving in the Armed Forces. Discharge types were restricted to Federal jobs, which required security clearances and could be used as a factor in denying clearance.
The more ridiculous idea is that the NVA/PAVN, in a hostile area, are going to take the time to carry off a wounded American soldier, take him to their limited medical facilities, and then patch him up to be a POW for two years, unless there was a propaganda use for them. A LRRP team in an area that was supposed to be friendly doesn't fit that criteria; in North Vietnam, yes, to demonstrate an incursion from the South. A pilot who is shot down is a bigger target. A LRRP team in Laos or Cambodia makes more sense, as they were supposedly off-limits territories (even though the CIA conducted operations in both, with recon teams, like under the Shining Brass project). There is just no good reason given for the NVA to save Wade, instead of using him for bayonet practice, or just boobytrapping his body and leaving him for dead.
Cobra's recruitment is straight out of the Nazi playbook. Germany suffered the effects of a post-WW1 economic downturn, even before the Great Depression, due to war reparations, devalued currency and several other factors. Many veterans soldiers felt like they had been abandoned, in the wake of the mutinies and calls for the Kaiser to abdicate, which led to Germany signing an armistice with the Allies and the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The political turmoil in the wake of the Kaiser abdicating and the establishment of the Weimar government led to various political factions forming bands of streetfighters, to both protect their members and attack their opponents. One of these groups was the National Socialist German Workers Party and its members included many former soldiers, like Adolf Hitler, Herman Goering, and Ernst Rohm, the head of the SA (
Sturmabteillung, the paramilitary wig of the Party). You also had various
freikorps, private army formations which operated throughout Germany and border regions, in violation of the Treay of Versailles. These groups became the nucleus of the Nazi Party and its mechanisms of terror.
You see the same thing in Cobra. Cobra Commander is a failed businessman, who was double-crossed by the government and the FTC, for pyramid schemes and such. He recruits other failures and angry misfits into a nucleus of thugs, aound which he builds an organization. The group has a paramilitary wing, which develops into a terror group and the Commander has his own bodyguards, the Crimson Guard, which finds a perfect recruit in Wade Collins. Now, Cobra has seized a new island to establish itself on the world stage as a legitimate government and not a terrorist group (potato, po-tah-to).
Of course, this same pattern fits into the White Supremacist groups and similar militia movements, too. Santayana knew what he was on about.
Stalker and Snake Eyes are able to get Wade to see reason and help him escape Cobra, along with his surrogate family, who show that they do have a love for him. It isn't the best foundation for a future in the world, but, you never know.
The ending comes off a bit too "movie of the week," and I half expected to see the Hallmark Channel logo pop up.
Mixed into all of that was more car chase movie scenes (hence the Hal Needham reference...look him up, youngsters). I get the feeling that Larry Hama was living on a diet of such films, given how often those kinds of stunts were used in his scripts. I'm waiting for Cobra and GI JOE to engage in a cross-country car race...with HISS tanks and MOBATs, and a crazy guy on the RAM motorcycle.....
What, you thought I meant Cannonball Run? For one thing, that came out 5 years later than Gumball Rally; and, second, Gumball is a better acted and written film. Granted, it wasn't the first film about the Cannonball race, as the movie Cannonball, with David Carradine was released the month before Gumball Rally. However, Gumball had wider distribution, in mainstream theaters, while Cannonball was more on the Drive-in circuit, though it made money. Besides, Raul Julia beats Bill McKinney any day!