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Post by foxley on Sept 3, 2024 3:56:39 GMT -5
A little more info regarding berets, in case you're interested. These rules specifically apply to the Australian Army, but I believe they would be similar for the British Army (dress regs tend to similar across the Commonwealth countries).
Berets should be worn withe the band 2 to 3 cm above the eyebrows. The cap badge is positioned above the left eye. The crown in pushed forward and to the right, which is what gives the 'pushed forward' look you describe. This is known as 'bashing and is serious business among those units entitled to wear (which is far more restricted in Australia compared to the UK, due to the slouch hat being an official symbol of the Australian Army), as the exact way you 'bash' your beret is one of few pieces of personalization a soldier can make to their uniform.
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Post by foxley on Sept 3, 2024 4:17:37 GMT -5
GI JOE Special Missions#6 This story is actually a direct follow-up to G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #61, so you're a bit ahead of the game here.
In that story Stalker, Outback, Snow Job, and Quick Kick are given a special secret mission to bust out a journalist taken prisoner in Borovia. They discover that the journalist has already been released after they raid the prison. As they fight their way out, Snow Job and Quick Kick are injured. Stalker then orders Outback to leave them behind, escape and report back what has happened. This is the story of Outback's escape. The 'Joes in captivity' subplot would continue on for several issues in the main title, and included Outback dealing with the guilt of having abandoned his squad mates, even though he had been ordered to do so.
Despite the Ruritanian nature of Borovia (I suspect it borders Syldavia from Tintin, which debuted as Ruritanian monarchy and changed into a communist state after WII), I really enjoy this story. It is an exciting escape and evasion story, reminding in parts of Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, that highlights Outback's initiative and adaptability.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 3, 2024 10:36:33 GMT -5
GI JOE Special Missions#6 This story is actually a direct follow-up to G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #61, so you're a bit ahead of the game here.
In that story Stalker, Outback, Snow Job, and Quick Kick are given a special secret mission to bust out a journalist taken prisoner in Borovia. They discover that the journalist has already been released after they raid the prison. As they fight their way out, Snow Job and Quick Kick are injured. Stalker then orders Outback to leave them behind, escape and report back what has happened. This is the story of Outback's escape. The 'Joes in captivity' subplot would continue on for several issues in the main title, and included Outback dealing with the guilt of having abandoned his squad mates, even though he had been ordered to do so.
Despite the Ruritanian nature of Borovia (I suspect it borders Syldavia from Tintin, which debuted as Ruritanian monarchy and changed into a communist state after WII), I really enjoy this story. It is an exciting escape and evasion story, reminding in parts of Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, that highlights Outback's initiative and adaptability.
I didn't pay attention to the release cycle for Special Missions; assuming it was monthly and rotating between the two series. The issue, at the start, mentions that the spy they were there to rescue had already been tagged for a prisoner exchange, which fits in with the KITDFOS motto of the Son Tay Raiders: Kept In The Dark, Fed Only S@#$., referring to the bad intelligence for the raid that missed that POWs had been moved from the prison, just a week or so before the raid was launched, during the Vietnam War. It was a common statement about groups who worked with the CIA on projects. That would also explain a point I intended to raise, but forgot: Stalker was badly wounded fighting Cobra, when Snake Eyes was captured, yet he is leading a mission. That then gives him a few issues for recovery, though he was pretty badly hit, which would have him out of action for quite a while. Comic time passage, I guess. |
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Post by commond on Sept 4, 2024 5:18:42 GMT -5
I finally made it to issue #200. In true Larry Hama fashion nothing monumental happens.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 4, 2024 21:22:13 GMT -5
I finally made it to issue #200. In true Larry Hama fashion nothing monumental happens. Well, to be fair, his job was not to upset the status quo, but sell comics, which sold toys. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2024 17:24:50 GMT -5
GI JOE #58 New look for Cobra Commander. I don't particularly care for it. The original was more stylish. Creative Team: Usual team, with Jim Shooter breaking a hundred. Synopsis: In our favorite emirate, JOE troopers Dusty and Mainframe aid the rebel group of Prof Gammal in setting up an ambush of a convoy of Col Sharif's army, capturing badly needed food and medical supplies. In exchange for aiding in the planning of the ambush, the professor rewards the JOEs with a motorcycle and sidecar, plus a guide to take them to their mission objective, the professor's 13 year-old son, Rashid. Rashid seems to think only Dusty is a real soldier, since Mainframe is just a "fixer of computers." Teenagers; they know everything! Elsewhere, an ambulance drives into Fred's Auto Repair's garage. Fred says they are closed and the disguised Cobra Commander tells Fred he is well aware of his hours. He identifies himself and identifies Fred as Fred VII, as oppsed to our previous I and II. This is getting to be like Los Villanos. CC proves his bonafides with the secret handshake and passwords (no, really!). Fred salutes and puts himself at CC's service, who then pulls young Billy out of the ambulance. Back in the emirate, Dusty gets wind of something other than Mainframe's indigestion....  Dusty goes to check it out and Rashid tries to follow, before Mainframe stops him. Rashid argues, but Mainframe says Dusty will work better without him in the way. They hear gunfire and then, later, see a lone figure approaching, carrying several weapons. Rashid shines his flashlight on the figure and it is Dusty, carrying the weapons of the bandits. he picked up the tobacco smoke of one of the bandits. *COUGH* bull@#$% *COUGH* Back at Fred's, Fred shows CC around his secret lab (every garage should have one). CC notices a bunch of birds in the lab and Gred says they belong to his accountant, who is in special projects, with Destro. He then shows CC his latest project....  ..new battle armor, for Cobra Commander (Buy it today, kids!) Dusty leads Mainframe and Rashid in an infiltration of an oil storage depot and raps on one of the holding tanks, which gives a hollow sound. Back at Fred's, Fred demonstrates the new armor's capabilities, which includes bullet resistance, power boost to the limbs, infra-red eyepieces, heads up display, etc. They are interrupted by a knock, in the garage. Back in the Middle East, Dusty find the hidden switch that opens the storage tank, to reveal a Cobra Terror Drome. They sneak inside and Mainframe gets to work, but he has dial-up, so this is going to take a while.....  Outisde, the guards find the whole in the perimeter fence. Out in the garage, Billy is awake, in the ambulance, but has no memory of his name or Cobra Commander. Back in the Middle East......I'm gettin whiplash, here.....Rashid asks Dusty about the battles he has been in, but he tells the kid he should watch what Mainframe is doing and urges him to go over. Mainframe has the schematics pulled up and uses the mobile phone to establish a phone modem link with the gymnasium, at Ft Wadsworth and the JOE Team computers and then begins transmitting the data. Rashid isn't impressed and Mainframe tells him to start using that lump of @#$% a few inches above his neck.....  The kid goes postal on him, berating him for mocking fighting men, like Dusty, when the great representative of fighting men gets a rifle butt to the back of the head. Dusty is down, but, this time, it wasn't the work of Kevin Sullivan or The Horsemen! Two soldiers of the Colonel's elite guard have the drop on them and tell them to drop their weapons. mainframe does, then starts pleading for his life, claiming to have been forced by the two "terrorists." The soldiers are disgusted by the display of cowardice and Mainframe crawls to them and offers to lick the leader's boots, then does an ankle toss and dumps the goon on his tuchus. He hits the other with a right cross and finishes the first with a soccer kick to the head. He tells Rashid to help Dusty and that they are getting out of there. However, they have company.....  Mainframe continues the theme of "brains over bullets" and uses the computer mainframe to reprogram the Firebat to launch and circle back to strake the perimeter, killing their attackers. The guards retreat and the JOEs hit the bricks. Later, as they ride out on the motorcycle, Mainframe catches some sleep and Rashid says he misjudged Mainframe. Dusty tells him Mainframe is a combat veteran; but, doesn't need to prove himself to anyone. He just gets the job done and doesn't worry what anyone else thinks. Thoughts: Come on boys; we got toys to sell! This one is to introduce more toys and characters, though Dusty has been waiting for his chance for 2 years, as his figure was part of the 1985 toy release. Cobra Commander's duds are part of the 1987 release and Mainframe was from the 1986 release. Mainframe is Blaine Parker, of Phoenix, AZ and is a veteran of the last year of combat, in Vietnam, where he earned his Combat Infantry Badge, in the Airborne. He went to MIT on the GI Bill and worked in Silicon Valley, until boredom brought him back to the military, via the Marines. Wait, he has his degree, plus combat experience and they didn't try to sign him up for an officer billet? Riiiiighht..... He's an E5 (sergeant), so he is the ranking noncom of the pair. Dusty is Corporal Ronald Tadur, of Las Vegas, NV, a desert warfare specialist. Hama has a bit of a joke by making his secondary specialty be refrigeration and HVAC repair. A desert expert who can also fix cooling devices. he is decked out in an approximation of the Army desert utilities, with extended sun cover, on his helmet. That look would become very familiar, in just a few years. Mainframe's mobile telephone is a mix of a lineman's box and a earlier cellular phone set up, then he patches a modem into it, reminding us how primitive the technology was, in the 80s. My high school got computers my senior year, in late 1983-84. Appe IIC, with 5 inch floppy drive and cassette tape back-up. Dot matrix printer. In Supply Corps School, we learned to navigate part and stock number catalogs, on microfiche, as they were just beginning to deploy supply computers with CD-Rom drives. My storekeeping computers were Vietnam Era Honeywell computers, like you would see in the original Andromeda Strain, or an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, in the 70s. State-of-the-art, then, but old by the time I reported aboard. My Ship's Store recordskeeping computer had a tape back-up drive. Old phone modems were massive, with a socket that you placed the phone receiver into, before they developed more sophisticated ones. Now, you could do more with a smart phone and download the computer records on a USB drive. Supposedly, the JOEs need the Cobra computers to sort out the capabilities of the physical schematics they got from Destro, which makes no sense, as their own computers should be able to analyze them, with some expert guidance. Kind of a slight story, but Hama does use it to point out that the military isn't all about shooting people and brains will get you farther then brawn. As someone who worked in a support capacity, it is nice to see specialists get some recognition. I was a Restricted Line Officer, meaning I could never command a vessel; but, I stood watch and worked on Surface Warfare Qualifications, just like my Unrestricted Line Officer peers. My job was mmore involved and I did more hands on work, while my peers had to rely more on their chiefs, which is why I was sent to school for 6 months, to learn my job, after graduation and commissioning, while they either went straight to Surfacre Warfare Officer's School or their ship. SWO training was only about half of ours, as much of it was practical, at the first assignment. My job was a bit more complex, given the logistics of supplying a naval vessel, at sea. Regardless, we were all part of the same team. Dusty being a desert expert is a bit of an exaggeration, as the US Army hadn't been involved in desert warfare since 1943. It would soon get some. he might be trained in desert warfare, but it wasn't the same level as members of some British Army units, like the SAS, who continued to operate in desert environments, in the 50s, 60s and 70s, or the French Foreign Legion. This is, presumably, the same emirate as seen in issue #1, given the name Col Sharif. The character sounds vaguely like Col Muammar Gaddafi, a colonel who deposed the Libyan monarchy in a coup, in 1969, and reined over the country, until his death, in 2011. Gaddafi and Libya sponsored terrorist groups and engaged in border conflicts with Chad and Egypt, with disastrous consequences (Chad was aided by the French). Libya also provided sheltered training areas for Palestinian and European terrorist factions, including the PFLP, Red Army Faction and the Provisional IRA, with aid from the Soviet Union. He quickly made himself an enemy of the US and its allies, which led to series of military actions in the 80s, and US and NATO support of the uprising, in 2011. The Cobra Commander subplot is mainly there to introduce his new look meh) and bring Billy out of his coma, and show off his eyepatch and missing leg. Fred will help with that. We will learn more about the accountant, with the birds. I think that segment could have been handled better in one complete segment, rather than switching back and forth. Hama relies on that a bit too much and it interrupts the flow of the action, sometimes. Don't know if that is his choice or Shooter's influence, as he was dictating story layouts and structure and Hama was always one of his biggest defenders, after he was fired. Then again, Shooter gave him a chance to write and edit, when other editors were denying him writing work; so, you can understand his POV, in regards to Shooter. Plus, as a combat vet, he probably wasn't intimidated by Shooter's rants, compared to others. I don't really know, one way or the other; just speculating. Shooter wouldn't be an influence for much longer.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2024 17:43:42 GMT -5
ps The joke about Dusty being hit from behind and not by Kevin Sullivan or The Horseman, is a reference to pro wrestler Dusty Rhodes, who spent the better part of a decade being ambushed by either Kevin Sullivan and his Army, in the Florida territory, or by members of the 4 Horseman, in the Crockett promotion (the expansion from their traditional base, in the Carolinas). Dusty was the booker, so you can blame him for the repetitivieness of such attacks. Sold a lot of tickets, though.
Be glad I didn't do Dusty Rhodes jokes through the whole review, other wise, you'd be hearing the JOE character with a slight lisp and funkified delivery, eef you weel......
Would have been a lot cooler if the JOE Dusty was Dusty Rhodes. Imagine the American Dream and Sgt Slaughter against Cobra.......
I guess that makes Tomax and Xamot the Batten Twins....
The Fabulous Ones used to do the "switcheroo," since the vaguely resembled one another (if you were blind, like the referee) and the Killer Bees, with the masks, did it in the WWF; but, the Batten Twins pulled it off, since they were legit identical twins.
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Post by foxley on Sept 6, 2024 8:41:14 GMT -5
I can buy that there could be a specialised operating system/software and it would quicker to download a copy from a functioning TerrDrome than attempting to reverse engineer from the TerrorDrome specs. Certainly better than alien spaceship that run on Microsoft Windows (cough*Indepence Day*cough).
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Post by commond on Sept 6, 2024 8:48:00 GMT -5
I finally made it to issue #200. In true Larry Hama fashion nothing monumental happens. Well, to be fair, his job was not to upset the status quo, but sell comics, which sold toys. I'm not sure he was beholden to any toy company with the IDW run. He did kill off one his darlings early on in the run. |
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Post by foxley on Sept 6, 2024 8:52:53 GMT -5
codystarbuck, I know you've mentioned before about certain JOEs being underranked for what their backgrounds suggest they should be. For some reason tonight it got me wondering if the concept of 'gentleman rankers' does not exist in the US military. For those not familiar with the term, here is a link to Wilipedia article, but it essentially means an enlisted soldier suited through education and social background to be a commissioned officer, or a former officer who rejoins the military as an enlisted soldier. The term was coined by Rudyard Kipling in the poem of the same name.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 6, 2024 10:36:04 GMT -5
codystarbuck , I know you've mentioned before about certain JOEs being underranked for what their backgrounds suggest they should be. For some reason tonight it got me wondering if the concept of 'gentleman rankers' does not exist in the US military. For those not familiar with the term, here is a link to Wilipedia article, but it essentially means an enlisted soldier suited through education and social background to be a commissioned officer, or a former officer who rejoins the military as an enlisted soldier. The term was coined by Rudyard Kipling in the poem of the same name. It exists, but it is pretty rare. My brother had his degree, before enlisting in the Navy's nuclear program. Thing was, he didn't even try to see about an officer's commission, through OCS. he had tried that, with the Air Force; but, they were in a draw down mode, reducing their ranks. Most recruits enlist out of high school or soon after, often due to poor economic prospects in their area. Others do it for the Montgomery GI Bill, to raise money for college. The military would look at college-educated recruits as potential leaders and try to swing them with commissioning opportunities. The Air Force or Navy nuclear were the more likely segments to attract people with college backgrounds, because of the technical side of things. In general, though, there are some who would rather not be in charge and avoid being an officer. My father had a year or two in college, before enlisting in the Air Force; and, according to my uncle, was offered OCS, but turned it down. In retrospect, I probably would have been happier not being an officer, though that is more based on my emotional maturity, at the time. I was not really ready for the pressure of the role. I never sought leadership positions; but, somehow always seemed to end up in them. Probably because my parents placed a lot of responsibility on us and my usual reaction to a problem was to sort it out and do the job, rather than sit around and debate, in a committee. I have specifically avoided being the store manager, in my retail career, so I don't have to deal with as much of the corporate BS. I'm very happy to be in the background, quietly running things and keeping the wheels oiled, while someone else deals with unreasonable goals. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 11, 2024 22:52:28 GMT -5
GI JOE #59  Creative Team: Larry Hama-writer, Ron Wagner & Bob McLeod-art, Joe Rosen-letters, George Roussos-colors, Bob Harras-editor, Jim Shooter-60 and a wake-up Synopsis: Fred 7 has created a new prosthetic limb for Billy and he tries it out. he starts to topple and flips, landing in an iron horse stance.....a martial arts defensive posture. He can't remember where he learned to do that. Meanwhile, Disty and Crank-Case are in the AWE Striker, climbing a hill, to try to surprise Grand Slam, with Thunder and Steeler, who are test firing new artillery. They criticize their lack of security, when Tunnel Rat pops up and returns the favor.....  Crank-Case tells them they are wanted, for a briefing. Cobra Commander meets Fred's accountant, Raptor, who dresses weird, even for Cobra.....  Cobra Commander has had enough of theatrical wackos and says he is going back to basics. The JOEs, meanwhile, have shifted operations to Ft Carson and the guys are grumbling about not being paid in two months, when Tunnel rat says he can cover them, for a game of poker, as he has had his pay advanced, by his bank and is accessing it through an ATM card. More on this at the bottom. Cobra Commander continues to berate Raptor, who is more than a bit nuts, but intends to prove his worth by tracking down the JOEs. C retorts that they are being moved around, with no fixed base, for security. Raptor says they still have to get paid and he hacks into Army pay records, at Ft Leonard Wood. The JOEs, meanwhile, have stopped in the Colorado Rockies, to pick up a new man....Outback, so that he can char them some under-cooked steaks. He was supposed to test survival gear and rations, but said they sucked and he has been living off the land. Cobra Commander and Fred 7 are also in the mountains, following what CC thinks is a wild goose chase. They have data on one Nicky Lee, formerly assigned to Ft Wadsworth motor pool, without a mechanic MOS, and has been transferred there. He drew an emergency voucher, through a local bank and a local gas station has filed fuel vouchers for reimbursement. Raptor travels in his own vehicle, with his birds...and, no, those aren't white seat covers!  Back in Denver, Billy slips out of Fred's garage and locates a dojo, with a blind teacher, which triggers his memory of Storm Shadow and the rest. The road is block and CC and Fred have to turn around and Raptor signals them to follow. He shows them an APC model, which is a lure to teach his falcons to hunt for the JOE convoy. Ooooooookkkaaaaaayyyyyyy.......He sends the birds to search, while Fred unveils a Cobra Flight Pod. CC has donned his armor. Billy sneaks into the dojo, when the students leave, but the teacher hears him and tells him to be at peace. The brds spot the JOEs and swoop down and rip off pieces of their tarpaulin cover. Hawk finds that mighty aggressive and Outback identifies them as hunting falcons, way out of their natural habitat and wearing restraint leashes. They are hunting for something. They return to Raptor and CC goes out in the flight pod, based on the sector from which the birds returned. The JOEs are on alert and spot the flight pod and it is on! Outback jumps into the SLAM (Strategic Long-range Assualt Machine......which should be SLRAM, but there you go...), with it' anti-aircraft guns and unleashes hell. They enter a mountain tunnel and the pod follows, but the SLAM can't depress enough to hit the pod. There isn't enough room to maneuver and they sideswiped the pod, damaging it. Cobra Commander retreats. Billy asks the blind master if he is a ninja, then a girl turns up, swipes a katana at him, which he locks, then grabs he gi and pulls up the sleeve to reveal the hexagram tatoo of Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes' clan. They have been watching Fred and know about Cobra Commander and Billy. CC brings the pod in for a hard landing and fills Fred and Raptor in and they head back to the garage to plot the future of Cobra. Thoughts: One big toy commercial, mixed with more ninja cliches. The action is find, the use of the birds more than a little ridiculous, and the ninja nonsense gets sillier and sillier. I had the flight pod wrong; it's the Pogo Ballistic Battle Ball, an orb-shaped vehicle, with spring-loaded legs. It, along with the SLAM were part of the 1987 release, as was Raptor. Thunder actually dates back to the 1984 release, with the Slugger self-propelled artillery gun, but he was lost in the shuffle. Both Cobra and the JOE team get a bunch of new weapons and vehicles, including a space shuttle....so expect a space mission, in the near future. It probably will look something like this..... Prior to 1990, the financial management of pay and expenses was handled by each service, through their own accounting system. Fir the US Navy, it was the Defense Finance Center in Cleveland, OH. As a disbursing officer, I handled the pay for the crew of my ship, except those receiving direct deposit. That was issued by the Defense Finance Center. My payroll forms were mailed to the DFC, after each payday, to update the servicemember's master pay file, at the DFC. There would always be a gap of about 2 pay periods. When servicemembers elected to start Direct Deposit, the DFC would begin paying them based on what their records indicated, which would be about a onth out of date and would back pay the servicemember. Then, when the payroll forms arrived and were posted to accounts, they would show an over-payment and withhold the next payday to compensate. In advance of payday, I would post figures for the pay period, for those receiving Direct Deposit disbursements, using the last 4 of their SSN. Invarably, I would have to warn a sailor who started up DD that they were overpayed, due to the gap in records and not to spend it all, as it will be taken away in their next check. i advised them to put it in a savings account until that next pay period, then tap it for the expenses they would have covered on payday. Guess what usually happened. I don't know the Army system but assume it would be similar. Hama talks about new magnetic cards, replacing dog tags, which allow them to draw their pay. He is mixed up, here, as far as I know. We still wore the usual metal dog tags, in the field. What I think he is referring to were military ATM cards, which would allow a servicemember to tap all or a portion of their pay, from payday onwards. It helped to act as a bank for the servicemember, if they had not elected Direct Deposit. They didn't have to carry large amounts of cash (depending on their pay rate) and could access it at any military installation. ATM units were installed upon ship and would be coded with the pay amounts for the crew, on payday. I always had Direct Deposit, so I didn't have to deal with depositing cash or checks. Never had an issue and my pay was always there, if I went on temporary duty or changed duty stations. otherwise, you had to either send the sailor's pay records to the temporary command (like a school) or send them a message authorizing the pay of their current balance, through the local disbursing office. That is how I usually did it, for shorter school terms, except they usually had to be contacted to point them to the pay authorization message, when they claimed they had no pay records for the student. Hama tries to make a plot point of the bureaucracy of the military. The military runs on paperwork, even in the combat zone. With the right access to records, you can learn a lot, which is why the capture of records is a major objective in military operations, for intelligence gathering. Supply requisitions can tell you about armaments, number of personnel, locations, and readiness status. Pay records can give you an indication of strength and levels of experience, based on their pay rates. However, fiction always makes hacking into the system far easier than it really is. Not that it isn't impossible, especially as more and more stuff is put on cloud servers. All you have to do is get into the main server and you can do a lot, as when Kronos was hacked, a while back, disrupting timekeeping and pay systems across the country, including several municipalities. The military isn't that stupid, but a government that gets enough important lobbies involved will do dumb things, claiming it is more efficient, while neglecting security. This is the debut of Outback, as I hadn't realized that Special Missions was bi-monthly and reviewed them in tandem. So, I am about 2 issues ahead, on that rotation, so Special Missions is on hold, until I catch up the regular series, with the lead in chapter to the last issue I covered. I wouldn't care, except Hama intertwined the stories, at that point and the regular series sets up the mission to Borovia, then picks up after Outback's escape, in Special Missions. That also explains Stalker being fit to go on the mission. Forgot to mention; the girl ninja is Jinx, part of the 1987 line, which featured a bunch of new figures, including a trio we will meet, next issue. Tunnel Rat, seen early in the issue, is Nicky Lee, an engineer and explosive ordinance disposal expert (which is what Tripwire was supposed to be). He is modelled after Larry Hama, though his backer card says he is of mixed Chinese and Trinidad heritage, as well as Irish, Spanis and Indian (not sure if Hama meant Native American or East Asian). He is shown carrying an M-60 GPMG, which is rather large for a tunnel rat. He would have been more likely to be armed with a sidearm and a CAR-15 or shotgun, for close quarters combat. The action figure even has a scope on the M-60, which would be useless for aiming. An M-60 is a belt-fed weapon and does not have the accuracy for sniping, because the feed mechanism will create too many vibrations. It is a support weapon. A sniper would carry either the M-21 (an M-14 with an attached sniper scope) or a specialized sniper rifle. From the Gulf War onward, this would include .50 cal weapons, such as the Barrett rifle and more specialized .50 cal weapons.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 11, 2024 22:55:06 GMT -5
ps Next issue has a Canadian exchange artist.
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Post by jason on Sept 11, 2024 23:59:53 GMT -5
And here's the commercial for the issue:
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 16, 2024 0:25:46 GMT -5
GI JOE #60Hawk's got himself a 12 ga. shotgun; but, Mike Zeck can't seem to decide if it is a SPAS-12 (based on the folding shoulder stock) or a Remington 870 or Mossberg 590, based on the pump action and the receiver and barrel configuration. The SPAS-12 (seen in Terminator, when Arnie goes into the gun shop) would look suitably high tech, of the GI JOE world.....  Creative Team: Larry Hama-writer, Todd McFarlane & Andy Mushynsky-art, Joe Rosen-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Bob Harras-editor, Jim Shooter-getting real short....short enough to reach up and scratch the belly of a snake! Synopsis: Some military types are tailing Hawk, at Newark airport, but they seem to be using radios like modern teenagers do their cell phones, to talk to one another.....  Okay, this is pre-9/11, soldiers didn't go around brandishing weapons, at civilian airports. The police took a dim view of that and so did the US Constitution. Anyway, that is one fat dog! "Law," who is supposed to be an MP, but is not in any recognizable Army uniform, "asks" the general to step over to the waiting jeep, which he starts to refuse, when the man says it isn't a request and hints the dog will settle things, if he doesn't comply. Just ask "Macho Man" Randy Savage!  Hawk gets in and Law reports that he is clean and Order sniffed no tail. Meanwhile, Zarana and Buzzer ride into the Dreadnok's gas station, to fuel up and find that someone is tapping their tanks. They follow a hose down to a nearby river and find Monkeywrench and Zanzibar, two Dreadnok associates, swiping gasoline that Zanzibar sold to Zartan, in the first place. Zarana and Buzzer ambush them, and start stomping their heads, when Monkeywrench claims to have info that will be of interest to Zartan. Zarana stops punching him in the face long enough to listen. Hawk is brought into an abandon shorefront development, an attempt to create a beach resort area in New Jersey, ignoring the fact that it was a heck of a lot colder in New Jersey than in Florida. Sounds like one of Trump's old ventures, back in the 80s, like his failed casino, in Atlantic City. Nah....not gaudy enough......  Hawk is introduced to the man in charge, a big goof in a Hawaiian shirt and a shoulder holster......uniform of CIA officers the world over. He is called "Chuckles, " the dude in the Green Beret is Lt Falcon, the MP and dog are Law & Order (cute), and some dude in a battlesuit is Fastdraw. Cubby, Roy and Annette were busy, elsewhere. Chuckles claims to be from Military Intelligence (* snort*...no such thing!) and that he was investigating a "higher up," in the government, with ties to extremists in the Pentagon (was one of them Burt Lancaster?) and he smelled a rat. Hawk asks for proof that he is with G2 and Chuckles pulls out a fistful of cards, but says they are all fakes. Hawk is convinced. Chuckles shows him something special, in the Grand Ballroom, of the defunct casino hotel (with posters for Wrestlemania 4, no doubt....except that is next year). He shows him the world's most improbable missile......  Chuckles says they were all pulled off assignments, made to believe they had been assigned to the JOE Team and ordered to guard the missile, as a matter of urgent national security. It was a fake operation, hidden inside a black op. The missile is one that was removed from the books years ago, during an Inspector General audit. In Arlington, VA, a "suit" alerts a general (who doesn't remove his cover, indoors), that they have a problem.....  Chuckles shows targeting data to Hawk, which indicates that the missile is aimed at Cobra Island. Their discussion is interrupted by a rogue tourist, suggesting that these bozos don't have adequate security. The tourist turns out to be Zarana, in disguise. She runs outside and alerts Buzzer to take off for the Cobra Consulate, in New York, and alert them to the missile aimed at Cobra Island. She then tells Monkeywrench that they have to destroy it. A firefight breaks out, them the facade of the casino opens up and the missile moves outside, on its crawler, without direction from inside.  They realize it must be remotely activated (you think?) but Monkeywrench unloads with a ridiculously drawn machine gun or mini-cannon and the phony JOEs return fire. Zanzibar arrives in a water skiff to add his firepower to the Dreadnok side. Hawk directs Fastdraw to ignore them and aim for the missile launcher. However, Chuckles and Lt Falcon are stuck on there, as they have no other cover. Monkeywrench targets it with his fire and Hawk realizes they are trying to destroy it, too. Order attacks Monkeywrench and the rest jump over the side of the crawler and engage the Dreadnoks, at close range. Since this is about selling toys, no one gets killed or wounded, which means these guys have the marksmanship skills of the A-Team. While this goes on, Buzzer tears into New York, riding over cars in the Lincoln Tunnel, tearing across streets and riding into the Cobra Consulate. Meanwhile, the missile prepares to launch, as the gantry supports fall away and Zanzibar's skiff collides with Monkeywrech's trike. They then perform their rendition of the LAPD's percussion medley, on the head and back of Rodney King, with Chuckles as Rodney. And that hasn't even happened yet! The pseudo-JOEs rescue Chuckles. However the missile is in flight. it looks bad, when it is suddenly struck by a missile, fired from a helicopter gunship, with a Cobra insignia. Buzzer is onboard, with Cobra troops. They pull the Dreadnoks out of there, while the Pseudo-JOEs attend to Chuckles. Hawk is impressed (don't know why....) and offers them places on the team (Flash wants a word about seniority). Chuckles says he has to take care of one more thing. At the Pentagon, Chuckles busts into the General's office and tells him and the official, that they will pay and reaches into his coat.....  .....and tenders his resignation. Thoughts: This makes the rest of the series seem like a Robert Kanigher Sgt Rock story! I think Hama had been watching the A-Team, or something. Chuckles, Law & Order, Lt Falcon and Fastdraw are all part of the new toy release, as is Zanzibar. Monkeywrech was part of the 1986 release. Chuckles is said to be Phillip Provost, a former insurance investigator, now attached to the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). He is supposed to be an undercover specialist; but, not in that outfit. The toy also features a Hawaiian shirt, though in a blue primary color, not white. Falcon is Lt Vincent Falcone, US Army Special Forces, previously attached to the 5th Special Forces Group and Team Blue Light. Blue Light was an interim unit formed, from the 5th Special Forces Group, to operate in a counter-terrorist role, until Delta Force was operational, a process expected to take 2 years. There was an adversarial relationship between the 5th SFG and Delta, because Delta had a direct chain of command to the Dept of Defense, rather than through the Special Forces chain-of-command, which ruffled political feathers. Delta went operational in 1978. Law is Cpl Christopher Levigne, an MP and an ex-beat cop. Um.....civilian law enforcement pays better, usually. Whatever. Order is a German Shepard (or Alsatian, for our European friends), which is fairly typical. I don't know what breed McFarlane was drawing. Looked like it was on steroids. Fastdraw is Cpl Eliot Brown, who is a specialist with the FAFNIR (Fire-And-Forget, Non-tube-launched Infantry Rocket) system, an armored suit, with rockets. This is not an actual military weapon and the acronym was to match up with the name Fafnir to match up with the dragon, of Germanic myth. Zanzibar is Morgan Teach (cute...Henry Morgan, crossed with Edward "Blackbeard" Teach), of the Cayman Islands and the figure came with the Air-Skiff vehicle toy. He is a pirate who was inducted into the Dreadnoks so that they had someone who sounded like Robert Newton, to counter Shipwreck. Monkeywrench, Bill Wilkie, is supposed to be Welsh, boyo. He made bombs for terrorists (Welsh separatists, I presume, because the IRA wouldn't have him) and was born on Guy Fawkes Day. Hama's bio says his record collection consists of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," Verdi's "Anvil Chorus", and the Surfaris' "Wipeout." What, not AC/DC's "TNT" or Mud's "Dynamite"...... Okay, maybe not that one. Not sure who Les Gray defeated for that title belt he is wearing. Maybe Johnny Saint. Or Marc "Rollerball" Rocco. The closest toy I can find to what McFarlane draws for the missile is the Defiant Space Vehicle, which cost something like $2 million to tool up, for manufacture, making it the most expensive mass-produced toy. The SRP for the toy was $100, which puts it on par with the USS Flagg, but it was 7 1/2 feet long and 3 ft wide. The Defiant's shelf box was even bigger than the Flagg's, measuring 28 x 46 in. It featured the shuttle vehicle, a booster/space station vehicle and the crawler and launch complex. You can see detailed pictures, here....This is more toy intro and time killing, before we get into a longer storyline, as we are finishing up the 5th year of publication. That is pretty impressive, for a toy tie-in. By contrast, Micronauts ended with 59 issues, though most would say that the first year is really the only essential reading (though the third year had some good material, though it kind of rehashes plot lines from Year 1, at the start, before going off into the quest for the keys). The series isn't done by a long stretch, though. Nothing terrible here, but not exactly a classic, either. McFarlane wasn't really up to this kind of thing. He had been in the business for around 3 years, with Infinity Inc his major claim to fame, at this point. He had done a couple of Hulk stories, an issue of Spitfire and the Troubleshooters (probably the only one to command above cover price) and a Daredevil. We aren't talkingmillion units sales, at this point. Still, his art is lively...it just isn't quite suited to selling toys, with the fine details that Rid Whigham or Herb Trimpe brought to things (or Mike Vosburg). He also seems to think that generals wear their uniform caps all of the time, even at their desk. Only outdoors, Todd. That's why it is called a "cover." The conspiracy within the Pentagon to attack Cobra has shades of the political Thriller Seven Days in May, directed by John Frankenheimer.... It also has shades of the Iran-Contra Scandal, as journalists uncovered a secret operation to sell arms to Iran and then use the cash to fund the arming and training of the Contras, in Nicaragua, who were operating from bases within Honduras, with that government's aid, as well as the CIA and US Army Special Forces. This situation led to border tensions, which led to US combat troops being deployed to Honduras, to create a deterrent against Nicaraguan forces crossing the border to attack the Contras. The scandal was revealed publicly, in November, of 1986. This issue was published in March 1987. Next time, the opening chapter in the story that was reviewed in the last Secret Missions issue, bringing us back up to speed, with the publication schedule of the two series, to be followed by the conclusion to the storyline. It looks like that was the big 5-year Anniversary celebration a tale of the JOE Team being compromised and captured, by Warsaw Pact forces (or allied forces).
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