Clutch wasn't flying the plane; it was a Cobra trooper, in disguise.  After Scarlett smashes him in the face, they have to pull the plane out of a dive and Clutch jumps into the pilot's seat to help Scarlett pull up on the yoke.  Later, when they dump the Cobra pilot out of it, Scarlett pilots the Cobra helicopter.  She is an E-5 and a qualified pilot would be a warrant officer or higher, in the US Army.

We'll just call it specialized training or a lot of time on Microsoft Flight Simulator!

GI JOE #10





Mike Vosburg drawing pretty accurate AK-47s, though the colorists has made the wooden parts look like metal.

Roll Call: Larry Hama-writer, Mike Vosburg & Chic Stone-art, Joe Rosen-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Denny O'Neill Public Affairs Officer, Jim Shooter-Secretary of Defense

Mission Report: Scarlett, Snake Eyes and Zap are on the roof of a building, with a Cobra cell secreted inside. They have neutralized obvious booby traps and await the "go" signal. Hawk, Clutch, Short Fuse, Zap and Roc N Roll are in a clandestine van, parked at the street, waiting for their cue to hit the front of the building. Breaker, Staler and Grunt (Just call him Red Shirt....same difference) are in the sewer tunnel below, ready to come in through the maintenance access.

The Baroness monitors all this activity and receives a report, though she scolds a Cobra trooper for not following protocols....



Man, she's a strict disciplinarian........

....Tuesday through Thursday and alternating weekends.



She activates a trap and the roof JOEs are suddenly in deep kimchee....



When Scarlett misses a radio check, Hawk orders the ground team to assault the building and they come charging in like the Sayert Matkal at a departure lounge (See: Operation Thunderbolt, aka Operation Yonni, aka The Entebbe Raid). While they are busy blowing holes in walls and pounding up steps, the Baroness launches the upper section!!!



The ground team is left to watch, helplessly, as the Cobra craft flies away. The JOEs remark that the roof team is on their own, rather than call for air support and tracking of the Cobra aircraft, or anything constructive.

The team is gassed and wake up to a cell, with hallucinations of monsters and things, and a strange kid, staring at them. Snake Eyes is missing, as he is elsewhere getting the Han Solo (and Hans Zarkov) treatment....



Dr Venom, the Cobra headshrinker and torturer is subjecting Snake Eyes to visual stimuli and recording his brain responses. Then, they will reprogram him, reunite him with his mother and set him up to assassinate a presidential candidate, so that his stepfather can take over and win the election on sympathy votes, thereby allowing the dirtie Commie sneaks to control the White House and then the world!!!!!

Oh, wait, that was The Manchurian Candidate.

Actually, he intends to program Snake Eyes to reveal the exact location of GI JOE HQ.

Cobra Commander goes to relax in his bunker, until they have something useful, like any good fascist nutjob.

Scarlet and Zap continue to suffer hallucinations, as food arrives in their cell. The weird kid grabs the cup of water and holds it up to the exposed light, above the cell. The heat of the light neutralizes the hallucinogenic agents in the water, because that is how that stuff works, though I suspect not, given that an incandescent bulb probably isn't putting out that much heat, unless it is a big sucker.

Back in the torture lab, Dr Venom observes Snake Eyes' memories, as he tries to find the requests for the location of The Pit. He recalls images from his pas, like his high school prom and a helicopter crash, during a mission in the Middle East. He also sees visions of being on the last chopper out of Saigon and losing family in a car wreck. Dr Venom continues to pressure him and he visualizes Clutch, in the motor pool; but not the location of the base.

Meanwhile, Scarlett and Zap come down from their acid trip and the kid asks them to help him escape and tells them that the guards are lax, because everyone is strung out. They agree. He starts babbling about a meeting of the Underground and Cobra sends in guards to pull him out an interrogate him about the location of the resistance movement, in the town of Springfield, which Cobra controls. Scarlett and Zap are unconscious, on the floor and the guards move to take the kid and they snap into action....



They take the guards' uniforms and walk the kid past the supervisor, who reminds them to change into civies, before going aboveground. They will have to cross town to get to Dr Venom's lab, to free Snake Eyes.

The kid details how Cobra took over the town, disguised as Amway salespeople.....



Let that be a lesson to you, kids; "multi-level marketing" is a scam and the people behind the pyramid schemes are evil!

Cobra turned the town into a secret armed base, indoctrinated the population and made dissenters disappear. Opposing them was deemed "un-American." They started small, taking over civic organizations, bringing others in, then expanding to higher levels over government, filling the people full of lunatic fantasies and diatribe, making fanatics of them, as anyone who questions things is taken away and never seen again. Eventually, they spread to regions, then provinces, then the entire homeland, until they have installed an iron-fisted dictatorship, which they prop up by focusing on an outside enemy, seeking to expand their control over other countries, until they consume the world in war.

But, that couldn't happen in a democracy, right?

Even the kids are indoctrinated, spying on their parents, the most fanatical of the fanatics. Dr Venom's lab is beneath a video arcade, filled with Cobra Youth and the kid has to go in with Scarlett and Zap, or they will be suspicious. However, the little Nazi rats spot them and turn the arcade weapons on them, which are real!



Down below, Snake Eyes is near the breaking point, or death, when the alarm goes off. Dr Venom goes upstairs to see what is going on. Snake Eyes sees a vision of his ninja master (Ashida Kim) teaching him the secret of near death state. Dr Venom sees that the Junior ROTC (Ratzi Officer Twerps for Cobra) rugrats have the situation under control, as they fire lasers at the JOEs. he goes back to his work and finds that Snake Eyes has flatlined. They unhook him and he goes all Sho Kosugi on them....



...grabs his mask, a weapon, and heads upstairs to spank some Hilter Youth....



Snake eyes shoots up the circuit breakers, killing power to the weapons. They escape in the AMC Gremlin they hotwired. The kid directs them to the airport, where they overpower the guards refueling the craft that brought them there and escape in it, leaving the kid to go back and help his parents and the resistance. they promise to return with Easy Company and the rest of 506 PIR and 101st Airborne Division. Either that or the Junior Campers.

They realize they have no idea where they are and need to figure tht out to navigate to New York and The Pit. The Cobra pilot sneaks a pistol out of his helmet and Snake Eyes shoots him dead, but also hits the compass and other navigational indicators. They are stuck flying the current course and following the storm front to a major city. They finally spot one and bail out, landing on top of The Hulk....



...who is making an appearance, at the opening of the Bayonne Mall. It's an actor in a costume and everyone thinks it is part of the show. The Marvel rep helps them book bus tickets back to Staten Island. At no point does anyone just place a telephone call to scramble a JOE reaction force.

Analysis: The beginning of this is a bit TOO "Marvel," as it hits all the old superhero plot cliches, with supervillain traps hidden inside nondescript places. Then, it turns into an examination of how fascism rises and takes hold over a community. The bit about "soap salesman" is a bit of a jab at Amway, who used laundry detergent and other chemical products, which are sold legitimately, to hid their pyramid scheme, which is all about drawing others into the scheme, to invest their money, with those at the top making all of the profit from the suckers who invest, because it is far harder to actually make money selling the products, as your cut is too small.



Remember the words of David Horowitz: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!"

What we do get, here, is a look at how Cobra gains its soldiers. It infiltrates an area, then "indoctrinates" the populace, especially the young and impressionable, and turns the area into a secret Cobra base, with everything hidden behind a normal facade of a community. Everything is geared towards their war machine and designs for conquest. This is not far off from the historical rise of the Fascists, in Italy and the National Socialists, in Germany. In both cases, you had a country in financial turmoil and social disruption. Enter ultra-Right Wing groups talking about restoring order and a return to the fabled greatness of the past. They fixate on some "enemy" who is responsible for the turmoil, whether it is the Treaty of Versaille, the international banking community, Jews (as controllers of the international banking conspiracy), non-white races, immigrants, intellectuals, liberals or just plain anyone who questions their aims and attempts to control people and stifle dissent. They intimidate the media into compliance. they often start with municipal governments or even something as small as controlling the local school board, to control the educational system of the next generation. They expand to the next level and the next, building a seat of power. The Nazis built up in Bavaria, especially targeting veterans and the middle classes, then gaining the support of industrialists who saw them as a way to make money again, building weapons and infrastructure for their desired war machine. The military leadership distrusted them; but, saw them as a path to restore their power in German government. Soon, they were battling in the streets with political opponents and using mobs of thugs to intimidate and harass those they labeled as enemies: Communists, liberals, Jews..... They deliberately created chaos to show the Weimar government as weak, to strengthen their support among the populace, as they promised to restore order and the greatness of their culture, free of outside contamination and influence.

The whole thing hinges on feeding off petty grievances and feelings of inadequacy and builds into hatred and destruction.

Thus, Cobra is laid out as a fascist organization, seeking to control the world. However, no fascist group stands unopposed and we see that there is a resistance movement. Even when the Nazis consolidated total power, there was still a resistance movement in Germany. Various groups sought to spread the truth to the populace, whether it was the Nazis actual designs, how their enemies were treated, or how the war was actually going. There is a resistance in Springfield (probably led by Ned Flanders).

It is a little hard to buy that this place is so isolated that it has escaped notice of outside law enforcement or government, or that the team couldn't retrace their course to at least create a search area, to go back after Cobra. However, Larry Hama may be saving that for a future sequel or even a story arc maguffin to drive the JOEs in their battle with Cobra.

This was a popular story, as it both opened up the lid on how Cobra works and it revealed snippets of Snake Eyes' past. At some point, while on a military mission, he was injured and disfigured in a helicopter crash. His family was killed in a car accident. At some point, he trained in ninjitsu, even though most of that is total BS and his military training would cover any practical application of ninja techniques. Ninjas were all the rage, in the 80s, thanks to movies starring Sho Kosugi (Enter the Ninja, Return of the Ninja, Ninja III: The Domination), the Master tv series (starring Lee Van Cleef, with Sho Kosugi in a regular guest role, as his ninja rival), the ninja novels of Eric Van Lustbader...all of which led to Frank Miller inserting them into Daredevil and he and Chris Claremont tying them in with Wolverine. There were ninja technique books, authored by "Ashida Kim," who was actually a white guy, named Radford William Davis. Frank Dux, the "inspiration" for the complete Bullshido film Bloodsport, is another ninja fraud, in a long line of martial arts scam artists, including Count Dante and George Dillman, one of many "chi" fraudsters, who claim to send opponents flying through the power of their "chi," which only seems to work on their own students, in demonstrations.



Real ninja were spies and pretty much just that. They infiltrated enemy areas and spied on activities, disguising themselves as simple peasants or what have you, recording enemy movements and strength, weaknesses in defenses and other basic intelligence gathering activities. Generally speaking, assassins came from the samurai classes. There is no real ninja fighting art, as most techniques taught in martial arts are just redressed jiu-jitsu and karate. The so-called stealth techniques are little more than your standard use of concealment to observe and elude your enemy, the use of disguises, misdirection and other basic arts of concealment and deception. The military already covers this kind of thing in training. There is nothing that Snake Eyes would learn from a ninja master that he couldn't learn from a military instructor. In regards to hadn-to-hand combat, the most effective techniques were taught by Lt Col William Fairbairn, a Royal marine officer and former police officer, in Shang Hai, under British rule. Fairbairn dealt extensively with streetfighting in Shang Hai, a notoriously violent city. he developed a fighting system based on practical experience in hundreds of street fights, with opponents armed with knives, clubs and other weapons. He called his system Defendu and it was taught to British Commandos, the SOE and the OSS. he literally wrote the manual on hand-to-hand combat and his techniques are still taught today.



Not sure why it is dubbed in German; but, that is Fairbairn.

That training, over the years, has been supplemented with techniques from other martial arts, particularly judo/jiu-jitsu, karate, tae kwon do, hwarang do, kempo, hapkido, Gracie Jiujitsu, and tang soo do. Much of that was brought into training on foreign bases, during the post-War occupation and during the Korean War and subsequent peacetime duty in Korea, Japan, and other locales. Okinawa remains a military locale, with Okinawan styles taught to troops there, just as other styles are taught at other bases, in Japan. Noted martial artists of the baby Boomer generation more often than not got their initial training in the military, while stationed overseas, like Chuck Norris, who served in the USAF Air Police and studied tang soo do, while stationed at Osan Air Base, in Korea. Others learned martial arts within their own cultures and introduced them to the military, during their service. The military has always placed great emphasis on Western martial arts, including boxing and wrestling, as well as stickfighting, as part of rifle drill. Most soldiers learn to box and/or wrestle and competition within the services is equivalent, if not superior to Golden Gloves and other amateur groups and many Armed services champions have gone on to professional careers. Pugil stick training is used to teach soldiers to use their rifles for defense and attack, in hand-to-hand situations, including the use of the bayonet with the rifle. Those techniques derived from the use of polearms, in the Middle Ages, as well as fighting with quarterstaves and similar stick fighting (Canne de combat and Canne de baton, in France, Escrima, in the philippines, bojitsu in Japan, and similar arts). Russian soldiers trained in sambo, which is a mixture of Greco-Roman wrestling and judo techniques, while Israeli soldiers learn Krav Maga, which is pretty much derived from the Fairbairn Defendu system.

In the course of the story, the kid says he learned that certain drugs lose effectiveness when exposed to heat, in a Scientific American article, which I assume is Larry Hama's source for the plot element. I suspect he greatly simplified things; but, then, I don't have a background in chemistry or pharmacology. It just seems that you would need to heat to boiling, as you do to purify most water from ordinary toxins, and I don't think your average light bulb is putting out that much heat, even if Cobra is using high wattage bulbs, in their cells. Also, why would they have a naked bulb, which could be broken and turned into a weapon, instead of a covered and locked fixture? Even Cobra isn't THAT stupid.

The bit about the junior officers is the really scary and most realistic aspect. Children have proven to be the most dangerous of fanatics, in groups like that. The Hitler Youth soaked up Nazi indoctrination and fought like crazed lions and demented rats. Some of the fiercer fighting in German, during WW2, came from Hitler Youth, rather than Wehrmacht soldiers or even the Waffen SS. These kids believed what they had been conditioned with, since birth and were given nasty weapons, like the panzerfaust and taught to fight like guerrillas. During the wars in the Congo, the Simbas indoctrinated youth and fed them a steady diet of a narcotic root, which made them believe they were impervious to bullets. They would charge against an enemy, regardless of the gunfire aimed at them. They were also notorious for some of the most vicious violence against innocent bystanders and for being fanatical enforcers of the group doctrines. We have seen other child soldiers in various African wars, including in groups in South Africa, during the anti-apartheid battles (not so much the protestors; but fighters within the more militant groups, including segments of the ANC). Much effort has been spent by the UN and other aid organizations in rehabilitating child soldiers, from places like Sierra Leone. Children were often major elements of resistance organizations in Europe, as they were seen as more innocent, by the occupiers and they aided groups in France, The Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Greece, and Norway, observing troop movements, carrying out cleaning and other menial tasks in military billets and then reporting what they had seen and heard.

The weakest part of the story comes in the JOE team not calling out an alert and trying to track the Cobra craft, to its destination, not to mention gathering intel from the assault site. However, this is mostly because Hama is more focused on the Springfield part of the plot, as we learn what it is like to live under an occupation, by fascists, and the plot of attempting to brainwash Snake Eyes into giving up the location of the Pit. This would have been more effective across multiple issues, as you could expand the plots more and go into greater depth; but, this comic is still focused on selling toys and that mostly means single issue stories, or the odd 2-parter, like the Afghanistan mission. I'm sure we will see longer storylines as we go. Don't forget, we still have a subplot of Hawk alerting Cobra about the mission to Afghanistan and Hawk led the ground assault here. That may factor more into future stories.

10 issues into this series and it is clear who is part of the main cast, in Hama's theater company: Hawk, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Stalker, Clutch, and Breaker. They have been used the most in the missions so far, with others being brought in and out, as needed. I get the distinct impression that Zap and Flash are pretty much interchangeable and guys like Short Fuse and Grunt are there to fill up the team. Rock N Roll has been used sparingly....mainly when they need the motorcycle, for the plot. Same for Steeler. Grand Slam has only had a couple of minor appearances. There was a listing for Shooter, on the mission screen, in issue #1, but that appears to have been an in-joke, relating to EIC Jim Shooter, as there was no such figure in the initial toyline. The next wave of toy releases will bring Duke, Airborne (a paratrooper), Doc (medic), Gung Ho (our first jarhead), Snow Job (Arctic soldier), Torpedo (frogman), Tripwire (EOD, though depicted with a mine detector), Cover Girl (infiltration or intelligence), Ace (pilot) and Wild Bill (helicopter pilot). Cobra gains Major Bludd and Destro, as well as a Viper pilot. Grand Slam and Grunt get new versions. Still no Baroness figure, though, which I find a bit odd, since we have two female JOEs. Maybe Hasbro wasn't ready for a female villain figure. Next issue will see some of those characters join the team, as the JOEs must protect the Alaska Pipeline

As I said, this is where the comic truly gets going. Springfield, Dr. Venom, the origin of Snake Eyes, even Billy all become important parts of the comic in succeeding years. The idea of a typical American town actually being a front for a terrorist organization (and most of the citizens are A-OK with it) is pretty terrifying (though I wonder what would happen if someone, not knowing the truth about the town, decided to move here).

GI JOE #11



"I told you danged kids to keep the snowmobiles off my property!"

Roll Call: Larry Hama-writer, Mike Vosburg & Jon D-Agostino-art, Rick Parker-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Denny O'Neil-editor, Jim Shooter-testifying before a Senate subcommittee

Mission Report: We join our battle, already in progress.....



The JOE team is engaged in a firefight, with Cobra troops, somewhere in Alaska, along the Alaskan Oil Pipeline. Cobra HISS tanks litter the area, complete wrecks; but, the JOEs have taken a licking and the MOBAT has been knocked out of action and they have wounded. The inbound helo, piloted by the team's new chopper pilot, Wild Bill, carries replacements soldiers and a medic, as they offload the FNGs (F@#$ing New Guys) and medevac Short-Fuse, Grand Slam and Steeler. The FNGs include Snow Job (No one is going to call him that in this man's army.....the job part will be used, but "snow" won't!), an Arctic specialist, Doc, the medic (What, you expected them to call him Sawbones? or Trapper?), and Gung-Ho (three guesses....answers on a postcard). Snowjob carries the XMLR-3A laser rifle and Gung-Ho is armed with the XM-76 Grenade Launcher and is about to face disciplinary action for being out of uniform and his mustache doesn't conform to Marine Corps grooming standards. Looks like he is going to be in front of the CO, at "Office Hours."



Doc checks on the others and nearly gets shot by Snake Eyes, when he touches his mask. They chow on some C-Rations, which must really suck, because the Army had MREs, at this point.

Cobra mistakes the "slick" (evac helo, no armaments except door guns) for a gunship and withdraw. Snow Job brought along a Battle Bear snowmobile, and he and Rock N Roll mount up, while the rest climb into a HISS tank, whose main gun was put out of action, but the engine and tracks are intact. Cobra has been heading south, along the pipeline and they intend to pursue. hawk fills everyone in. They intercepted the column and engaged, scoring some major hits, before a HISS tank got the MOBAT, Cobra left behind a fire team, while the two remaining tanks withdrew. Hawk wants those tanks.

Cobra Commander is briefed on the firefight and decides to send in a specialist to take charge of his operation.....



Wonder who that could be?

Four hours later, the JOEs spot the Cobra tanks, stopped at a pumping station. they observe them offload some cannisters, then one of the tanks departs, with most of their infantry. Hawk wants to see what they are up to. Rock N Roll suggests splitting up to pursue the main force, with a small detachment to handle the pumping station. Gung-Ho advises to attack here, first, then pursue and Hawk agrees. Rock N Roll is taking an immediate disliking to Gung-Ho, despite Snow Job telling him that Gung-Ho has a fashion model sister, back in Louisiana (Gung-Ho is Cajun, I garontee!)

The Cobra field leader reports in that all is going according to plan.

The JOEs hit the pumping station and take down the Cobra techs, but hit some of the cannisters, releasing a bio-toxin. The only antidote is with the mysterious field commander. they have 6 hours to live. Well, 5, because the C-rations already took an hour off, with the ham & beans.

The Cobra infantry returns, in force, and takes out the JOE's captured HISS with an RPG. They then take out the tank they left behind and lay it in on the JOE team. Hawk dispatches Snow Job, Doc and Snake Eyes to go after the Cobra field leader, in the Battle Bear. Hawk radios the LZ and gives orders for Wild Bill to ferry an assault team to the next pumping station, to try to stop the toxin, before it can get further along. Wild Bill takes Airborne and Zap along with him.

Snow Job and his team break out, while Cobra reloads their RPG. The JOEs provide covering fire. Snow Job launches the Battle Bear and Snake Eyes snatches the RPG, right out of the gunner's hands!



Breaker radios General Flagg to request reinforcements for Hawk's team and a quarantine for the other stations, but their forces are spread too thin. They dispatch a team to aid Hawk and the general says he will see what he can do about a quarantine. Cobra Commander listens in, thanks to stolen scrambler technology.

Cobra hits an industrial sight, along the way.....



Things just went FUBAR! Cobra has stolen plutonium (Ay-yiyiyiyi!). Snow Job's team pursues. They are attacked by Cobra troops in hang gliders and Wild Bill drops off Airborne, in his own battle kite, to dog fight....



Snake Eyes takes out the remaining two Cobra troopers with one RPG shot (kind of overkill, really, as small arms fire would take care of a hang glider).

The cavalry arrives at the pumping station (Air Cav, that is) and Cobra targets them with a surface-to-air missile. Gung-Ho storms their position to take them out, before they can hit the inbound helo. The gyrene hits the snakes with everything.

Wild Bill and his team arrive at the second pumping station. The local oil techs tell them they can't just stop the flow, or the pipes will freeze. They divert auxiliary oil into it, and send a probe to check for leaks.

The reinforcements help Hawk's team rout the Cobra infantry, and they are in NBC gear (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical....though Hama uses an older term, CBR, for Chemical, Biological and Radioactive). Rock N Roll congratulates Gung-Ho on taking out the missile team and suggests taking out his sister. Gung-Ho threatens to stick his grenade launch in Rock N Roll's "record hole" and set off an HE round, since his sister is 9 years-old!

Snow Job and Doc spot caterpillar tracks that lead to a machine shed and figure out that the oil company techs are Cobra and the other HISS is inside. They alert Zap, who goes inside the pumping station to back up Wild Bill, while Snake Eyes goes for the tank. Cobra pulls out a revolver on Wild Bill, but he is faster with his Colt Single Action Army Model, aka The Peacemaker, and guns them down. They are too late, as the probe, with the plutonium is too far gone and the Cobra field leader has his gun on them....



Doc surprise the commander with a snowball and they fight. the Commander escapes, but Snake Eyes has set demolition charges on the HISS tank and destroyed it. The Field commander fires a mini-missile at the Battle Bear, but it is a dud. He hops into a snowcat and escapes. Doc got the antidote off of him and uses it to convince the Cobra troops to swap it for the plutonium.

With the pipeline and plutonium secured, the JOEs return to their base camp and Doc dresses their wounds and they grab some hot chow. Doc administers the antidote and we learn that what he gave Cobra was a tetanus booster. Rock N Roll learns that Gung-Ho's sister is a model, a child model and Snow Job is so-called, not because of his Arctic expertise, because of his con jobs. They all have a big laugh.

Analysis: High energy action issue, with some pretty high stakes. We join the fight in progress and never really stop to catch our breath. Meanwhile, Larry Hama introduces characters from the second wave of toys, which included Airborne, Snow Job, Gun-Ho, Doc, Torpedo, Tripwire, Ace (who flies the Skystriker fighter jet, which is actually an F-14 Tomcat, a Navy aircraft, not USAF), Wild Bill (with the Dragonfly helicopter gunship, which was actually the very sweet Cobra gunship......



...the JOEs can't have a gunship named for the enemy, so Dragonfly it is!)

Cover Girl (with the Wolverine armored missile carrier) and Duke (via mail order), as well as new editions of Grand Slam (with laser and jetpack) and Grunt (with the Flacon glider and tan utilities). On the Cobra side, we got a mass release Cobra Commander (originally a mail-in premium figure), Destro, Major Bludd, a HISS driver and a Glider Pilot.

Doc and Snow Job get the most development, with Gung Ho and Wild Bill getting just enough for a loose sketch (Gung-Ho is Cajun, while Wild Bill wears US Cavalry gear and carries a six-shooter). Wild Bill's design is obviously a nod to Robert Duvall's Colonel Kilgore, in Apocalypse Now....



His hat is a little more Corporal Agarn, than Col Kilgore, though.





The actual figure was pretty dead on Col Kilgore. The bio card said he was a LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol), during Vietnam, then re-upped to go to flight school and became a warrant officer, flying helicopters (Army helo pilots are warrant officers or above). That single action Colt is likely to get him killed, as you have to cock it each time, before you fire. Better to have a double-action revolver, if not an M1911 auto.

Gung-Ho demonstrates a lot of ignorance and I wouldn't wave that figure around a real Marine. Gung-Ho was usually a derisive term, meaning a reckless, glory-seeking Marine, rather than a tough, capable fighter. The term originated with Lt Col Evans Carlson and the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, aka "Carlson's Raiders." Carlson had served in China, as a military observer and travelled with Mao's Communist forces and was greatly impressed by their esprit de corps, their fighting ability, the egalitarian attitude to leadership, and their ability to move fast and light and march great distances. the term Gung-Ho was a modification of the Chinese term, gonghe, meaning "to work together." Carlson built the Raiders around this idea and they trained like Mao's troops, living on a diet rice, bacon and raisins, with long marches and heavy physical training. Rank was set aside and they had sessions where everyone came together to air grievances or ideas about improving the group. This idea didn't sit well with the army or Marines, especially as it was derived from the Communists; but, Carlson was a friend of James Roosevelt, son of Franklin D Roosevelt, the President of the United States. As such, he did a bit of an end run around the Marines and got his Raider force established. their baptism of fire was the Makin Island Raid, where they inserted, via rubber life rafts, on a Japanese held island (there was a seaplane detachment there), from a submarine, and launched an attack on the small Japanese garrison. The raid was mostly a success, though they had serious problems with getting back to the submarine. the operation had little strategic value; but, like the Doolittle Raid, was mainly undertaken to boost morale. teh raiders came into their own on Guadalcanal, where they went on long patrols, hitting the Japanese in the jungles. Hollywood quickly latched onto them and produced the film, Gung-Ho!, in 1943, starring Randolph Scott....



...with Robert Mitchum in an early, small role. In the Marine Corps, Gung-Ho remained a derisive term for those who lust for glory, rather than employing good sense, as that was a heavy criticism of Carlson and his men. However, the Marine's adopted many of Carlson's fighting techniques, including his use of "fire teams."

Gung-Ho is stuck with the toy design, which is a violation of Marine Corps Uniform Regulations. First off, he had OD Green pants, instead of Woodland camo, but wears only a flak jacket and no utility blouse. That is a major no-no. His mustache doesn't conform to grooming standards, as it cannot extend past a vertical line at the edge of each side of the mouth and may not touch the lip. Rock N Roll has a beard, which wasn't allowed in any of the services, as it interfered with proper wearing of gas masks and breathing equipment. However, special warfare units, like delta and DEVGRU, often operated under "modified grooming standards," to allow them to go undercover, as civilians, when on a mission.

Office Hours is the term used by the Marine Corps for "non-judicial punishment," under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The article sets forth provisions for the commanding officer to assign punishments for infractions, in order to maintain discipline, within certain restrictions. In the US Navy, we called it "Captain's Mast," in the Army it was just an Article 15. It allows for punishment for lesser infractions, without a court martial. They can include busting someone one grade in rank, taking a portion of their pay for a limited period, restricting them to the ship or barracks, and assigning additional duties. It is basically a wake-up call that the military is serious and is like Detention, on steroids, but with financial penalties and greater restrictions of freedom. Most servicemembers either wake up and get with the program, or soon find themselves facing court martial or expulsion from the military, via administrative discharge. As a division officer, I had to be in attendance if anyone from the Supply Department was brought up on charges, to add and input, as regards their normal duties or extenuating circumstances. I once had to attend a Captain's Mast where 3 out of 4 Supply divisions were represented (a storekeeper who shot off his mouth, a mess specialist who did the same, and a disbursing clerk who was arrested by civilian police, at a traffic stop, for possession of cocaine). It was a fun night. The XO was giving me @#$% about Supply (he had a mad on for us, for whatever reason), ignoring that the Deck Division was a regular customer and most of my people there were sailors from other divisions, who were temporarily assigned to work on the mess decks, for 90 days (called "mess cranking"). I got a little back as one of the mess cooks (the temp guys) was a problem child from Deck, who got drunk and kicked in the door to the XO's stateroom, threatening his life, while also claiming Mafia connections who would get him, if the sailor didn't. The XO read out the sailor's insults to him, which were all true and I had to cough to cover nearly cracking up. Our XO was a pretty poor excuse for a human being, let alone a naval officer. I was no Admiral Nimitz, in those days (I was 21 and fresh out of NROTC); but, I treated people fairly and with respect. He played power games with people, for his own amusement.

Hama gives Doc dialogue illustrating that the Geneva convention bars medics from being armed, which is technically true; but, that hasn't stopped them from being armed, in some circumstances. Since the Japanese refused to abide by the Convention, despite being a signatory to it, medic were killed just as frequently as grunts and Marines. Some went armed, especially in places like Okinawa, where the Japanese fought hard. The action figure is featured with what looks like a mortar, which would be a bit too much, but the card says it is a signal flare. Um....we has hand-held flares and things like vary pistols......you didn't need a mortar to launch one.

Hama shows a bit of his being stuck in Vietnam, with the use of the term CBR, instead of NBC, for the protective gear, and the JOEs are using Hueys, instead of Blackhawks, though Blackhawks were not as widely distributed, in 1983. Kind of suspect, though, for the JOE team to go into combat, with unarmed helicopters and no gunships or fighter cover. They didn't even do that in Nam. You usually sent in gunships first, to help secure the LZ (landing zone) and then bring in the slicks, to insert fresh troops and medevac or withdraw troops. The Army developed the Air Cavalry model, in Vietnam, where troops would be inserted, in force, via helicopter, then resupplied and reinforced by air, before withdrawing, much like the cavalry in the Old West. Their symbol is a set of crossed sabres, the image of the US cavalry. It was for that reason that some pilots and officers took to wearing US Cavalry hats, as seen in Apocalypse Now. The film We Were Soldiers demonstrated the first engagement of the Air Cav, in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Hama served in the US Army, as an engineer, with the 18th Engineer Brigade, as a weapons and explosive ordinance expert, as well as a tunnel rat, from 1969-1971. As such, his Army experience was about 10 years out of date, such as the Chaplain School being at Fort Wadsworth, when it had moved, earlier. Things don't change that much, though, and Army life is still much as it was in the 1940s, apart from the weapons and technology. The food still sucks, the beds are lumpy, the uniforms don't fit and the enlisted guys hate the officers, with some exceptions.

Hama's ignorance is on display with the C-Rations, which were the old field rations. By this point, you had MREs: Meal Ready to Eat, which is the world's biggest case of false advertising. We ate a few meals of those, while on Marine Week, on my second Midshipmen training Cruise and they taste like @#$% and will often cause you to either need to take one, quite often, or will lock you up, so you can't. They came in a plastic pouch, which had smaller pouches inside, with an entre (chicken ala king, hamburger in tomato sauce, pork patties, etc), a desert (usually a cookie bar), crackers and peanut butter or jam, chewing gum, beverage powder, and toilet paper, which was the equivalent of a kleenex; so, good luck getting clean with that, especially if you had the peanut butter! Some guys brought hot sauce in their field packs to flavor the stuff and choke it down. It was bad enough that they tasted like sewage; but, they were also cold. If you were lucky, you might get hot chow from a field kitchen. the hamburger in tomato sauce was about as good as it got (basically sloppy joes, without the bun or the spices). It was designed to feed you lots of protein and carbohydrates to keep you going, not meet Cordon Blu standards. by contrast, C-rations came in tins, which could be heated; so, they might suck, but at least you could eat them hot, if you could make a fire. MREs were later replaced by rations which were in chemical packs which would heat them up, when the reaction was started. I heard they were better than MREs; but not by much. We didn't get Hershey Bars, either. I suppose the trade off was that we didn't ingest loads of salt peter, like the WW2 grunts. They had to fight the enemy and that stuff, in hopes of a 3-day pass and a "good number."

So, new characters all around and more exciting stuff!

ps Obviously, the mysterious Cobra field commander is Destro. it was kind of given away by the toy release. We see metal hands, which were a give away, even if we don't see his chrome face. That brings Cobra regulars up to four, with Cobra Commander, the Baroness, Dr Venom and now Destro. Major Bludd will be joining them, soon.

Seriously; Gung-Ho for a Marine? How about Devil Dog? "Gunny?" "Chesty?" "Sledge Hammer?" "Manilla John?" "Lee Marvin?"

GI JOE #12



INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roll Call: Larry Hama-writer, Mike Vosburg & Jon D'Agostino-art, Joe Rosen-letters, Glynnis Wein-colors, Denny O'Neil-editor, Jim Shooter-The horror, the horror.

Mission Report: The JOEs are in the middle of a car chase and firefight in San Francisco, though Clutch is no Steve McQueen....



Lot of citizens in the line of fire, there! After some near misses and crashes and then the Cobra van rear-ends a Ford Pinto and everyone who was alive in the 70s knows what that means....



A Cobra trooper bails out, with an attache case and starts running, with the JOEs close behind. He knocks breaker into some bikers, who get POed and start stomping them, until Scarlett fires a shot at them and they vamoose. Clutch goes after the Cobra goon and gets wounded for his troubles and the man escapes. The JOEs survey the wreckage and find a piece of scorched packing crate, with the Name Naja Trading Company stamped on it and a destination of Rio Lindo, in the fictional country of Sierra Gordo, in Latin America. Addressed to a Senor K Winn.....



They also find some video game computer chips. They were after guidance chips and wonder why they are mixed in with video game chips.

At the Pentagon, Hawk and Gen Flagg discuss the situation and the general remarks that industrial espionage surrounding Silicon Valley is at a peak, as various countries seek our computer chip technology for their own. They send a 4-man team to Sierra Gordo to locate the scarred Cobra courier: Breaker (because he saw his face), Stalker, Snake Eyes and Gung Ho. Hawk notes that Naja Hanna, the name on the van, is Hindi for King Cobra.

South of the border, Breaker and Stalker are in Rio Lindo and come to the Naja Trading Company building and knock and the door is answered by Dr Venom. They act like they are there to do a deal, but Dr Venom knows that the only ones who knew about the shipment were Cobra and GI JOE and they ain't Cobra. he calls for guards and Stalker and Breaker pull out weapons and they end up in a Sierra Gordo Standoff. Cobra calls up a light machine gun, for additional firepower; but, Snake Eyes, who was watching from the treeline, spots Dr Venom and he wants blood for his torture in Springfield. Snake Eyes crashes through the door and shoots the machine gun crew and the JOEs have the drop on them, but someone else evens up the numbers....



Kwinn!

He has been contracted to make sure the courier's consignment gets to its destination. The JOEs are tied up and loaded on a boat, except Snake Eyes, who Dr Venom starts pistol-whipping, for bashing him in Springfield. Kwinn stops him, because of his respect for Snake Eyes and it appears that he is dead. His body is dumped inside the warehouse and they torch the place. Kwinn tells Venom that, after his contract is up, he will deal with the doctor. As they pull away from the dock, the doctor notices something funny about the smoke coming from the warehouse, as it reminds him of burning incense and then he realizes Snake Eyes is still alive. We see Snake Eyes, head and shoulders on fire and he runs to the dock and drops into the river, extinguishing the fire. However, the body doesn't surface.

The boat moves up the river and the JOEs are menaced by rats, as well as snakes. Gung Ho tells Breaker to spit his gum onto the deck, nearby. he does and they rub their bonds into it, attracted the rats, who gnaw on the ropes. meanwhile, Snake Eyes pops out of the river and commandeers another boat and pursues.

Cobra stops at an island in the river, at a blockhouse, surrounded by barbed wire and dogs, with a seaplane nearby....



I thought that place was blown up in the "Q Missile Mystery," on Jonny Quest!

The Baroness is there and she isn't happy that Snake Eyes was left behind without making sure he was dead, though Venom claims the fire got him. They move inside and Snake Eyes pops out of the water, taking out a pair of sentries, and the JOEs get loose and eliminate the rest. Snake Eyes tells them to take the boat away, with the computer chips. Snake Eyes goes to the blockhouse, where DR Venom secures a viral weapon, which when mixed with a catalyst is lethal. Scarface is told to deliver it and Kwinn hears a noise and fires his .30 cal out a port. He goes out to search and Baroness and Scarface bolt for the seaplane and take off. They head on a bombing run and loose one and the JOEs hit the water. Dr Venomgoes to shoot Kwinn in the back and Snake Eyes stops him. The seaplane then bombs the island, because Kwinn is now expendable and Kwinn shoves Snake Eyes into the blockhouse, where Dr Venom lies. The bomb hits and it looks like everyone is killed, as the Joes watch in horror, from the river.

Analysis: Fast moving issues, which starts with a bit of an homage to Bullit, which is played for humor, with the bystanders. Same for the bikers who get in the way, in the foot chase. From there, it turns into a sort of African Queen/Jonny Quest trip to South America and a river journey. Turns out, Cobra has developed a bioweapon, so it is more than just computer chips.

This is part one of a multi-parter, so this isn't done.

The Sierra Gordo stuff is rather cliched and the village of Rio Lindo is rather stereotyped. It looks like the 1940s or 50s and 1980s Latin America was modernizing like the rest of the world. No idea if this is a capital or a village; but, it seems a bit to rural and cliched.

Snake Eyes faking his death is being used too much and is hard enough to swallow once, let alone twice. We do have a definite blood feud between Snake Eyes and Dr Venom, which doesn't look good for the doctor, as he doesn't have a toy, though you can't let him stay alive long, as it lowers Snake Eyes' level of deadly menace.

Nothing especially notable, in this one, military-wise. Gung Ho's utility cap is missing the Marine Corps "Globe & Anchor," which means he is even more out of uniform.

Mike Grell does a much a better job of showing how to rig up booby traps in a jungle environment in Jon Sable, Freelance, although I'm assuming that book was aimed at an older readership than G.I. Joe.

GI JOE #14



Destro finally steps into the light. He's either going to lose that holster and sidearm, or his eg is numb, from lack of circulation.

Roll Call: Larry Hama-writer, Mike Vosburg & Jon D'Agostino-art, Joe Rosen-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Denny O'Neil-editor, Jim Shooter-Tall Drink of Water

Mission Report: Dr venom, Snake Eyes and Kwinn are alive, inside the bunker, and arguing. Dr Venom still has the bio-weapon, which the baroness believed was in Scarface's briefcase....



At the Pit, the JOEs are examining the micro-dot, on the container that Stalker found. They have decoded a map and think they have hit the jackpot. Hawk puts in a call to Gen Flagg.

At Cobra HQ, the Baroness meets, in secret with the mysterious field commander. they seem to have known each other, before Cobra....



She calls him by name, Destro. He is up to something, like possibly orchestrating a takeover of Cobra.

Back at the bunker, Dr Venom is nuts and opens a valve, flooding the room, rather than listen to reason, as Kwinn tries to strike a bargain. The only reason Kwinn hasn't shot him is he is holding the vial of the bio-weapon and if he drops it, it might break and kill them.

Gen Flagg arrives at the Pit and Hawk shows him the map, which shows a section around Springfield, Vermont. At Cobra HQ, Baroness confirms that the JOEs got the microdot, which diverts them away from the real toxin test site, Springfield, VT, and sends them to a location, under Ft Wadsworth.....



Wait, what? That's backwards, isn't it? Did Hama make a mistake?

Apparently not.....



Destro had Scarface switch the microdots.

In the bunker, Dr Venom tells Kwinn he has flooded the chamber to equalize pressure on the door, but, it willl take Kwinn's strength to open and he will have to give up his flashlight and weapons.

At the Pit, the JOEs load into an Armored Personnel carrier (APC). They take the heavy vehicle lift up to the surface and drive onto the pitcher's mound, on the base baseball field. there, Wild Bill meets up with them with a Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter (or whatever the JOEs call their version). of course, all of this occurs in the middle of a game, between the Chaplains Assistants and the Permanent Latrine Orderlies, sio, so much for operational security!

At Cobra HQ, Cobra Commander departs for Springfield, in a rocket plane. Destro thought he was going alone, but finds out that the Baroness is piloting the plane and he gets POed.

The rocket plane passes the JOE helo, en route; but, the Baroness says there is no way they could be identified. In the helo, Wild Bill radios Hawk that the SST went past and was too low for an authorized flight. at the bunker, Kwinn swims under water to open the door. In Springfield, they receive contact from the Baroness and ready the landing pad, hidden inside the furniture factory (the Arbco Furniture Factory.....unscramble the letters)

Back at Cobra HQ, Destro has a bunch of Cobra paratroopers load up into a plane. Scarface questions how he knows Cobra Commander is in danger and Destro tells him to shut up, as he knows Scarface's secrets, too. Scarface acts like Destro has pictures of him in the latest Victoria 's Secret fashions or something.

Kwinn gets the door open, but Venom bashes him with a wrench, on the way out. he and Snake Eyes fight, until they find themselves surrounded by people with rifles...



They turn out to be Cobra troopers, sent to make sure the JOEs got out alive, with their phony clue, but they got chewed up by Stalker's boobytraps and they are a bit miffed.

Wild Bill drops off the APC, outside Springfield and it motors toward the town.

Cobra Commander arrives and he and the Baroness goe into a command room, where a trooper is strapped down to a table. they don protective gear (CC's helmet is sealed against the outside, as is his battlesuit) and they prepare to start the test of the bio-weapon. The JOE's conduct a recon of the town and Stalker alerts Hawk to the furniture factory, pointing out Arbco is an anagram of Cobra. The Cobra paratroopers make their drop, outside the town. the locals think they are city folk, from New York, where everyone is a loony. The JOEs motor for the furniture factory.

The toxin is supposed to turn the trooper into a living viral bomb, spreading the disease, but he keels over dead and CC realizes DR Venom double-crossed him. The JOEs and Destro's airborn troops head for a collision. They get into a firefight and CC and the Baroness get word of the fight and head to their SST. Hawk radios Ace, in the Skystriker (F-14 Tomcat) fighter plane, and tells him to destroy the furniture factory (an F-14 is not an attack aircraft, it is pure fighter plane). he goes on his attack run as the Baroness prepares to launch and Destro battles the JOEs. The rocket plane escapes as the missile hit the factory, destroying it. destro's troops withdraw and the APC survives the blast from the factory. The JOEs withdraw.

Dr Venom and Snake Eyes are marched off, by the Cobra troops and Venom says Kwinn is dead, after he bashed him in the head, though we see bubble rise to the surface of the river (could just be burritos that the Cobra guys had for lunch).

Analysis: Hama keeps cutting back and forth between the JOEs, Cobra Commander & the Baroness, Destro's rescue team, and the Sierra Gordo bunch. Ramping up the tension. Destro is responsible for sending the JOEs to Springfield, to kill Cobra Commander, so he can take over; but, he didn't reckon on the baroness being his pilot. Destro and the Baroness have some kind of past together, possibly romantic. Destro isn't his original name.

Dr Venom double-crossed Cobra Commander and gave them a toxin that kills instantly, instead of turning the carrier into a Typhoid Mary, to infect a large area, within 2 days. he has that weapon, but, he is in the hands of the Cobra troops sent to make sure the JOEs took the bait and they aren't likely to keep him alive. Snake Eyes is also in their hands, but Kwinn is still inside the bunker, probably alive, maybe unconscious.

The APC was another of the new vehicles in the second wave of toys, largely inspired by the Soviet BTR-70 APC, which had 8 wheels, as well as similar designs in other militaries. the US Army was looking to replace the M113 APC with something like that, looking towards greater mobility, in an urban environment. Why they didn't just use the EM-50, I don't know....



The Skystriker is also part of the second wave of toys. It is just a renamed F-14 Tomcat, which arrived in the US Navy, in the early 1970s, during the Vietnam War, though it was not deployed to that area (despite what you might have read in Area 88). It is not a ground attack aircraft. For that era, that would either be an FA-18 Hornet, an A-6 Intruder or an A-7 Corsair (which was being phased out, for the Hornet). Fighters only carry air-to-air missiles and 20 mm cannon, while attack planes also carry bombs and air-to-surface missiles. The F-4 Phantom operated in either capacity, for the Air force, though it's ground attack functions were phased out for the F-15 and the F-111. There is also the A-10 Warthog, which was designed as a tank killer, with 30 mm spent uranium munitions, fired from a gatling gun, which could chew up Soviet tanks, as well as Maverick anti-tank missiles. They did a number on the Iraqis, in Desert Storm. The F-14 was the most recognizable of the modern fighters of the period, though the F-15 got a lot of publicity in the media, The F-16 looks more futuristic (at the time), but wasn't as heavily publicized, outside of air shows. However, only the Navy flies the F-14; so, I don't know what Hasbro was thinking, other than the variable wings made for greater playability.

The Skycrane more or less looked like the Sikorsky model, of the Vietnam era. they could carry heavier loads than most helicopters, though the CH-53E could haul quite a bit. This was one of the reasons why the Air Force rejected the V-22 Osprey, as its load lift capability isn't that great, compared to existing helos; just its airspeed (when they aren't crashing). In the end, only the Marines bought 'em.

One would assume that the JOE team would do a complete sweep of Springfield, after locating a Cobra installation there, especially after Scarlet and the others previous time there. Maybe next issue.

With all of the double crosses, it's getting hard to keep track of who is screwing whom. Maybe they ought to have a program, on the inside cover, to help keep it straight.