GI JOE #68
Uhhhhh.......nnnoooooooooooooooo.............................
You are not dropping off heavy vehicles like that. Their axles aren't going to survive. The US military deployed supplies to the besieged base at Khe Sanh via C-130 cargo drops; but, they did it by deploying parachutes which pulled out pallets and cargo sleds of supplies (ammunition, food, fuel, etc...) in low altitude passes over the base. The soldiers and Marines then had to grab the stuff, break it down and get it under cover.
Makes for a nice visual, though.
Creative Team: Larry Hama-writer, Ron Wagner & Randy Emberlin-art, Joe Rosen-letters, Bob Sharen-colors (well, white, for a lot of this), Bob Harras-editor, Tom DeFalco0making snow angels
Synopsis: The JOE team receives a warm reception at Frusenland International Airport...or, as it is officially known, Sven Ingelborger Herde-Verde Mork-Mork-Mork International Airport.......
The Baroness is trying to stop them from interfering with the signing of the defense contracts and orders a squad of HISS tanks to open fire on the JOEs C-130 (did anyone ever show Larry Hama a picture of a C-141?).
C-130 rolling down the strip,
Yo JOE Dadddy gonna take a little trip;
Load up, buckle up, open up the door,
Drop right out and shout....YO JOE some more!
Wild Bill brings the C-130 in for a hot landing and Hawk orders deployment of vehicles to provide security for the aircraft. The new Persuader, driven by Back-Stop (with Cover Girl as gunner), is out first and Cover Girl targets the incoming threat. The AWE Striker and Snow-Cat follow and deploy in a V-formation, ahead of the C-130, as Cobra tries to cut it off. Baroness orders all tanks to maintain formation and target the vehicles.
Back-Stop tells Cover Girl to target the caterpillar track on the Hiss on the left of the Baroness' command tank. She scores a direct hit and causes a collision between it and the next tank,. The Cobra formation breaks to avoid a pile up and creates a gap, which the JOEs pour through, to give the C-130 room to get airborne again.....
At the capital of Frisen Gladje....er Frusenhagen, Dr Mindbender is feeding a load of doo-doo to Prime Minister Volff, when the Baroness radios in, alerting them to the situation and calling for air support. Volff is aghast that they fired on the American tech team, there to "provide security" for their Arctic experimental testing. Mindbender reminds him that Cobra troops are "acting on his behalf" and that he is in it up to his neck. Volff starts to see through the fog.
"Cobra Commander" (Fred VII) is taking a tour of a Terror Drome, as a techno-viper (can't talk to these guys...they are all hopped up on E) explains the paranoia inducer transmitters and the need for the earphone filters and explains that it is derived from the Russian experiment that KWINN sold to them. Fred almost gives away that he doesn't know who Kwinn was, when the alert comes in. He immediately orders Cobra Mamba gunships to be deployed and takes command in the lead aircraft, However, someone is observing them taking off.....
These guys appear to be from the JOE team, named Blaster and Blocker (sounds like a bad late 80s Road Warrior rip-off , which is a redundant description...) and they jump in a vehicle, to return to their base. There, they find teammates Dodger and Avalanche (John Tenta?)....
...in the middle of a brawl, over chow. Blaster seems to be the only one who isn't having a hissy fit and he realizes why the Cobra troops were all wearing earphones and runs into a barracks and grabs a boom box, to interfere with the Cobra paranoia transmissions (preferably with either some Beastie Boys or Twisted Sister).
Meanwhile, the JOE team is starting to be affected by the transmissions and communications and coordination are breaking down. They end up off course, headed out on the ice shelf, over the bay. Cobra looks to cut them off, but aren't in range yet. Cobra Commander tries to vector them in, but his Mamba is hit by a rocket, launched by Frostbite, from the Snow-Cat. His Mamba makes a hard landing, but CC is okay and joins the Baroness to lead the assault. She orders the Maggot mobile artillery to form up and fire a barrage at the JOEs, who are at the edge of their range (really? Artillery guns, like those, can fire projectiles over distances of miles, not yards...sounds like Hama isn't up on his artillery). The barrage falls short and the ice is breaking up and they can't pursue in the armor. She orders the lighter Wolves forward, to press the attack, until further air support arrives.
Baroness leads the Wolf squad, when an ice-viper (Icessss, Icessss Baby!) spots a vehicle track that indicates a single-track vehicle, headed in the direction of Frusenhagen. He asks if they should pursue but Baroness doesn't want to split their firepower and their radar isn't picking up anything. They move on and jump a gap in the ice, while the remaining Mamba makes a strafing run, walking it's 20mm ammo towards the AWE Striker. Hawk and Iceberg bail out and hitch a ride on the Snow-Cat. Frostbite grabs a LAW rocket launcher, on the way out. The Persuader targets and destroys a Wolf and another holds its fire until it reaches the Snow Cat's rear, where its armor is thinner. Frostbite gives them a surprise......
Baroness orders the Wolves to hold back to avoid further losses and fire a salvo of ski missiles. They position then to hit the JOE team broadside, when they are intercepted, at the last second, by the team from the testing station....
Battle Force 2000 have knocked out the Terror Dromes and they form up on the JOEs, to create a defensive position. They report about the transmissions and Hawk asks if anyone has relayed the info to Duke, in the LCV (Low-Crawl Vehicle). He receives an "affirmative" and then they prepare for incoming fire from the approaching squadron of Mambas and Fang gunships.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Volf arrives in the center of Frusenhagen and finds the crowd subdued, released from the effect of the Terror Drome transmissions. They all want to go home. Duke arrives on the LCW (sort of a cross between a motorcycle and an snow mobile, ridden in the prone position). He tells the Prime Minister about the Terror Dromes and a secret offer from the US Government.
The Baroness is moving in for the kill when Dr Mindbender sends the recall signal, saying the jig is up and they have been given 24 hours to leave the country or face full scale war with Frusenland forces and the US military. Cobra withdraws and Hawk breathes a sigh of relief.
Thoughts: Balls-to-the-walls action in this one, with some rapid fire exposition to tie up the plot threads and build to the climax. Nicely paced and it also serves to introduce a bunch of toys, including the Persuader mobile laser armored vehicle, the Snow-Cat (from the 1985 release), as well as the LCV Recon Sled, from the 1986 release. Cobra's Mamba gunships, Maggot mobile artillery and WOLF (Winter Operational Light Fighting Vehicle), as well as the Ice-Viper figure that came with the WOLF, and Battle Force 2000. That team consisted of Blaster, Breaker, Dodger, Avalanche, Knockdown and Maverick (LT Pete Mitchell?)
Their vehicles are: the Dominator, Eliminator, Marauder, Sky Sweeper, Vector and Vindicator.
This is around the peak of sales and production of the GI JOE toy line, as 1987 and 1988 were their top years, as things built up, with the toy releases, comics and then the animated series, up to this stage, where they are throwing vehicles, playsets and figures at kids in a blizzard of plastic. Battle Force 2000 was being introduced for the Christmas 1987 season and this issue was released on October 20, 1987, just in time to feed into the marketing for Christmas (which didn't start in July, in 1987). Of course, we don't get much character development, since there is too much action going on, other than Blaster runs around with a Walkman, listening to rock 'n' roll music and bad-mouthing his country.
See kids, before we had Beats and ear-buds, we had headphones and Walkmans (should be Walkmen, but whatta ya gonna do?) and listened to music made on real instruments and not computer keypads (though synthesizers and electronic drums were leading in that direction). Forget this Taylor Swift nonsense; in my day, the girls wore bustiers and thrift store clothing, like Madonna....or denim mini-skirts and fringed boots, with their hair moussed out to the skies, and we liked it! The Guys were all in bomber jackets and Raybans, singing that some female had lost that lovin' feelin'....off-key...in a very un-Righteous fashion. And that was just the NROTC Midshipman! Civilian pukes were listening to Whitesnake, while mopey art students played Suzanne Vega and cried about Luka (okay, we all felt bad for Luka). The UK was busy never giving up Rick Astley.
Ahem........sorry...had a flashback there.
Not much more to say, except this was a bang up, exciting finale to the Terror Drome storyline, which also served as a Christmas Catalog for the kiddies out there and did both in harmony, which kind of shows that Larry Hama was a bit under-rated, as a writer. No, these things aren't especially deep and he wasn't going to challenge Alan Moore for any Kirby Awards; however, he was able to give some decent characterization (for a handful of characters) juggle a massive supporting cast, serve their corporate partners in their marketing agenda and feed some exciting scenes to his artists. It wasn't Walt Simonson or George Perez in the visual department; but, it was pretty lively and handle the storytelling well. For a licensed title, which were usually the dumping grounds for low echelon and rookie creative talent, it is really solid. To top it off, the plots were better than 80% of the action movies in theaters or similar shows on tv. You got a lot of bang for your cover buck.
Next issue: The return of Destro (with some new duds) and a surprising bit of socio-political commentary from Larry Hama, for a Marvel title, in the Reagan Years. Smedley Butler would be proud!
