G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero Pt. 4

I wasn't sure exactly how much G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero you guys could take—like, is a post a week too much?—so I took a few weeks off from my posting my way through the series. Also, so far these have all ended up taking much longer to put together than I had originally expected, in large part because there's just so much to say about each issue.

Before we attack the next six issues of the series, remember that I'm currently reading it via Image Comics' gigantic 1,200+ page, three-inch-thick G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero Compendium One, though I'm pulling the covers from the Grand Comics Database, which is why they all still say "Marvel Comics Group" across the top and Spidey's head appears in a little box in the lower left corner so often. 

Oh, and as always, all each of the issues below are written by the great Larry Hama, unless otherwise noted.

G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #19 (1984)
Art by Mike Vosburg and Jon D'Agostino

•There's a lot going on in the opening splash of issue #19 (which is above, at the top of the post). A bunch of shirtless Joes are assembling a "pre-fab fortress" in the lower levels of their base The Pit for reasons they haven't yet been told. Gung-Ho seems to recognize The Baroness from across the room, despite the fact that she is completely wrapped in bandages, mummy-style, with only her hair visible (Maybe Gung-Ho just recognized her hair...? Of course, at this point, there are only three female characters in the series, so I guess that might actually be enough to distinguish her from Scarlett and Cover Girl). And Snow Job, complaining to Doc that Gung-Ho seems to turn his Cajun accent "on and off like a faucet", is answered by Doc in what I guess what would have been called "jive talk" in 1984, which he turns mid-sentence into all big-word doctor's talk.

•Cobra's ongoing plague toxin plot gets even more complicated. The infected Scar-Face shares the plan with the Joes, and gives them the antidote for it that he had secretly stolen ("At least with you I've got a chance...right?"), and Hawk realizes Cobra's plan wasn't necessarily to kill them all with the disease, but to force them to initiate a quarantine procedure, which would give away the location of their secret headquarters, which Cobra would then attack in force. Got all that? 

Okay. So, Hawk has a counterplan. The Joes will kinda sorta give away the location of their base...at least the surface level. By raising the pre-fab fortress up to the surface and letting Cobra attack that, the bad guys will think they've found their base, while remaining completely unaware that the real base is below ground. 

Is it a good plan? I don't know, but it's pretty clever on Hama's part. That's because, although the comic has long since established that G.I. Joe's base was a vast underground complex, in 1983 Hasbro released the G.I. Joe Headquarters Command Center playset, which gave the toy Joes a base...but would seem to contradict the comic continuity. So here Hama finds a way to include that base—it's the pre-fab one the Joes were assembling below ground, which is then raised to the surface in time for Cobra to find it—without scrapping the already established one from the comics. 

•Cobra Commander and Destro take the bait and prepare a full-scale attack. First though, they have to gather Dr. Venom, who is in one of his private bases...and receiving unwelcome visitors Snake Eyes and Kwinn, who have been hunting for him since they parted ways in Miami. Lucky for Dr. Venom that a bunch of Cobra soldiers arrive to collect him at that point.

•Hoping to hold them off, Snake Eyes climbs into "some sort of Cobra battle armor." You may recognize this as Coba's SNAKE (System Neutralizer Armed Kloaking Equipment) battle armor, and sure, that's not how you spell "cloaking", but if they spelled it right the acronym wouldn't quite look right, now would it?

Also released in 1983—as you'll notice, with this issue Hama seems to be trying to squeeze in everything from the toy line he hasn't yet worked into the narrative previously—it was a white plastic toy that could be snapped around an action figure. They appeared in the original cartoon miniseries, but I believe that was their sole appearance on the TV show.

Unfortunately for Snake-Eyes and Kwinn, one aspect of the armor that Venom didn't immediately volunteer was its "complete subjugation of the will of the user to the control module," meaning that, as long as Snake Eyes is in it, Venom "can control his every move." 

Cobra sticks the unconscious Kwinn into another suit, and they plan to use the attack on Joe HQ as a field test for the SNAKEs. 

•During the preparations for the upcoming battle, a pair of Joes raise ethical concerns that are both shot down. 

In the first instance, Short-Fuse and Tripwire are setting up mines near the ambulances that are parked around the base, there to suggest to Cobra that the Joes have indeed initiated their quarantine protocol (and thus to lure Cobra into an attack). These will essentially act as booby traps when Cobra arrives. Short-Fuse says he doesn't like it, and that "setting up claymore mines in ambulances must be against the Geneva Convention!" Tripwire corrects him, noting that they're setting up the mines underneath the ambulances as opposed to in them, and then goes on, "Besides, did you know that most weapons used by American police departments are illegal under the rules of the Geneva Convention?"

I sure didn't! Hama wrote that line some 42 years ago now; I wonder if that's still the case? Given how much more militarized most major police departments have gotten in the 21st century, I imagine it is.

In the second, Doc tells General Flagg that The Baroness is in "critical condition" and never should have been brought to The Pit in the first place, let alone during an expected fire fight. Flagg simply responds that he's aware of the risk and ethical considerations, and that he'll take full responsibility. 

•And then it's time for battle! Cobra's got HISS tanks, FANG copters and the two SNAKE suits targeting the new Joe base. The good guys respond by rolling out their three PAC RATs (Programmed Assault Computer/Rapid All Terrain), automated weapons systems that were, of course, part of the toy line (I remember having one of them, but now I can't recall if it was the flame thrower or the machine gun one; they weren't terribly exciting toys, to be honest, and I think I would have traded mine for pretty much any action figure from the line). 

And with those appearing, I think that is the entirety of the G.I. Joe line through 1983, action figures, vehicles and bases, officially introduced into the comic book. 

•During the battle, Venom taunts Snake Eyes that even if he manages to break free of the SNAKE's mind-control function, he won't be able to target Venom, as the SNAKEs can't fire on anything painted "Cobra blue", like the HISS tanks (The toys of which were black but yeah, I guess that tank up there looks blue). So, Snake Eyes fires on the white SNAKE suit occupied by Kwinn, freeing the mercenary, who picks up one of the PAC/RATs and carries it like a machine gun!

Kwinn and Venom have one last face off, and Kwinn decides to walk away, sparing Venom. In turn, the Cobra doctor shoots Kwinn in the back, killing him. But Kwinn was holding an armed grenade, which bounces back to Venom's feet before going off. In killing Kwinn, then, Venom also killed himself.

•Meanwhile, Major Bludd manages to escape the stockade, shotting General Flagg to death, and making off with the bandaged and unconscious Baroness, whose body he straps to a FANG copter like so much cargo.

•Hawk's plan seems to work, as Cobra destroys the faux, pre-fab Joe base and then retreats. But, as we've just seen, there were big losses for the team, as revealed in this rather moving last few panels. 

G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #20 (1984)

Written by Steven Grant

Art by Geof Isherwood and Jon D'Agostino

•Okay, Clutch seemingly falling high out of the sky toward certain doom on the cover looks like a very difficult situation for a soldier to find himself in, and a hard one for a comic book writer to plausibly save them from, right? Well, would you believe Clutch finds himself in those exact circumstances not once, but twice during this issue...? (Of course, the cover artist, some guy named John Byrne, doesn't draw one particular detail that kind of changes the direness of Clutch's situation).

•You'll note that this issue isn't written by Hama, but by Steven Grant. And that the pencil artist isn't Vosburg, who has drawn the last batch of issues. This, and the nature of the story, makes me suspect that this fill-in might have been an inventory story ready for whenever Hama and company needed a break. Given that the last eight issues or so were essentially one big story arc, this certainly seems like a good time for a break. 

•In this issue, Clutch is leaving for a vacation to visit home. After three pages of him and his fellow Joes (Flash, Scarlett, Wild Bill and Gung-Ho) racing through a training exercise, he hops into the driver's seat of the VAMP and then speeds to the bus station. ("Razz Scarlett a little for me, okay?" he says over his shoulder to Stalker as he leaves; I guess we're meant to think of his bickering with Scarlett as teasing rather than actual harassment). 

•He's walking into town when he meets his old friend Billy Kline, who is driving a fancy sports car he says he built at his new job. Kline takes him to that job site, a factory with a sign out front reading Watash Automotive, and Kline says they can work like they used to, "me building cars, you testing and racing them."

The set-up proves too good to be true. Watash Automotive is a front for Cobra, who has been holding Kline's family hostage, and forcing him to build a new compact jetpack for them. To test it, they tie up Clutch, strap one around his waist and then fire him into the night sky, turning the jet pack off (And thus leaving  him falling back towards Earth, as on the cover).

Luckily, Kline slipped him a knife, which is all Clutch needs to break free of his ropes and hotwire the jetpack, saving himself. 

•At one point, Clutch makes this face:

G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #21 (1984)
Art by Larry Hama and Steve Leialoha

•At last, we come to issue #21, the infamous "silent" issue, which is perhaps the best-known issue of the entire series, and rightly so. The issue contains no dialogue, no sound effects and the only words other than the story title ("Silent Interlude") and the credits on the opening splash page are those that Destro reads on a computer screen in a few panels. 

It's a bravura example of comics storytelling, one that proves how powerful sequential imagery is and one, I think, that is all the more remarkable in that it appeared in a Marvel comic in 1984, a comic that was most definitely meant to be read by children.

•You'll also note that I credited Larry Hama with art above. The book credits him with "Story and Breakdowns", while Leialoha is credited with "Finishes". Thought best known as a writer, Hama is also an excellent artist. (In terms of reading this series, I'm only on issue #31, but I know Hama handles breakdowns on at least one future issue as well.)

These specific credits make me wonder a bit about the behind-the-scenes of the book. Did Hama and his collaborators make G.I. Joe using the "Marvel method"...? Wherein the writer provides the artist with a plot, and the artist than breaks the action down into specific panels? I mean, that seems like a good bet, given that this is a Marvel book. 

And, if that was the case, then I wonder if that explains why Hama decided to handle breakdowns on this issue, as perhaps it would have been just too difficult to do a wordless story Marvel method? Like, maybe it was just easier to communicate the action via breakdown, as opposed to writing it out, which I guess would have entailed a panel-by-panel full script...? 

•Here is what occurs in the issue. 

What looks like a jet-powered hang-glider streaks towards a mountain castle festooned with cobra sculptures and satellite dishes. It is piloted by a ninja dressed in all-white, and he has a captive, which is dramatically revealed to be a wounded Scarlett (She has a bandage on her cheek). The ninja presents her to the hooded Cobra Commander, and she is thrown into a dungeon. Snake Eyes parachutes onto the castle. Destro, who is contemplating chess pieces that resemble G.I. Joe and Cobra characters, gets an intruder alert on his computer, although the computer calculates the odds of "successful airborne insertion" at .000018, so he returns to his toys. While Snake Eyes fights his way in, against Cobra soldiers, the ninja in white and some other ninja clad in red, Scarlett uses a hairpin to pick the locks of her bonds and starts to fight her way out. The pair end up rescuing one another at the climax, and escaping on that jet-powered hang-glider. The last two panels reveal that Snake Eyes and the white ninja have identical tattoos on their forearms.

•The glider is the Cobra CLAW (Covert Light Aerial Weapon), a pretty cool vehicle that is prominently featured in the first few minutes of 1987's G.I. Joe: The Movie, which is among my favorite three minutes of cinema, and which I rewatch on YouTube every few months or so (In fact, I just paused to do so while writing this sentence; here, you can watch it too...!)

The ninja in white is, of course, Storm Shadow, a character that was so well-liked that he would later switch sides and become a member of the Joe team. Although I suppose it's possible that Hama always intended for him to switch sides as, in a future issue, Storm Shadow will reveal that he has a good reason for throwing in with Cobra, and he didn't join the ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world just because he was, you know, evil. 

Both the CLAW and Storm Shadow are from the 1984 toy line. 

•Speaking of the toy line, note how the Baroness figure from Destro's chess set is dressed. She's wearing the costume that her action figure—which was also released in 1984, despite the character being in the comics since the beginning—wears, but she hasn't yet worn it in the comic. So Destro's chess piece of The Baroness is actually the first appearance of that particular costume, which the real Baroness wouldn't don for a couple of issues yet. 

Also, if you're wondering, I double-checked. Spaceballs came out in 1987, so this scene predates that of Dark Helmet playing with toy versions of the movie's characters by a few years. 

•I just thought this bit was cool, with the ninjas hanging upside down from the ceiling like bats.

•I also love this scene, in which Snake Eyes decides not to waste any time fighting a ninja hand-to-hand (The next panel, which is on the next page, is filled with an explosion, with the ninja's sai flying out of its center). It reminded me of the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indiana Jones is confronted by the swordsman and pulls out his gun to shoot him dead. (Raiders, by the way, came out in 1981, so I suppose it's possible that scene inspired this one).

G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #22 (1984)

Art by Mike Vosburg and Jon D'Agostino

•So, the previous issue is probably technically the best issue in the run so far, but this issue is perhaps my favorite so far. That's due to a couple of different reasons, but chief among them is that it is broken up into all these little vignettes of a couple of different Joes talking to one another. I think this might be the first real "hang out" issue of the series which, understandably given the subject matter, is generally more oriented around action scenes. 

•This issue's cover, by the way, is by Klaus Janson, and here it really looks like Destro is playing with toys, rather than chess pieces of his foes. I think it's the addition of an airplane that does it. It's sort of an odd choice for a cover image too. Destro's only in five panels of the issue, and given that the issue contains the funeral for General Flagg, it's not hard to think of other, perhaps more impactful covers Marvel could have went with here (Although perhaps they thought a somber image of a flag-draped coffin wouldn't move as many units of a comic meant to sell army guys to little kids; as you can see though, there is a flag-draped coffin on the cover, among the other little figurines Destro is pushing off his chess board.)

•After Cobra destroyed the fake, decoy headquarters a few issues ago, the Joes are working on repairing the Pit. Clutch and Scarlett's weird, bickering relationship continues, and is ignored by Hawk, who is busy with the plans for the base.

•Gung-Ho is strong.

•Wow, shut up, Grunt. I mean, I know it must be awkward to drive around with a guy who can't talk, and maybe one finds oneself trying to overcompensate, doing enough talking for two, but that is a lot of words in so few panels...!

•At one point, we get to look over Hawk's shoulder and see the plans he's looking at, which fill a full page of the comic. I used to love stuff like this in comics and, had I been reading G.I. Joe regularly back then, I am sure I would have pored over this page with great interest, during the long month's wait before the next issue.

•The Joes learn that they will be traveling to Arlington Cemetery for General Flagg's funeral...and Cobra Commander has learned the same thing. He's planned to have Cobra's new prototype tank-smasher plane The Rattler attack them while they are all gathered in one place.

This cool-looking blue plane was part of the 1984 toy line and came packaged with Cobra pilot Wild Weasel, although he's not flying it on this particular mission, for reasons that will become clear in a few moments. I guess that's supposed to be the plane in Destro's hands on the cover, although it's miscolored green.

•Meanwhile, there's a "Meanwhile, in Switzerland..." caption, and we spend a page checking in with Major Bludd and The Baroness. She is still bandaged head to toe, with only her hair visible, and is seated in an old-timey looking wheelchair that Bludd, dressed in civilian clothes, pushes her in. They meet a doctor at The Bern Institute for Reconstructive Surgery. Bludd introduces her as Baroness DeCobray, and while she's obviously still in a bad way, she's at least awake and is capable of speech, albeit halting speech.

•Before the funeral for Flagg, Snake Eyes lays Kwinn to rest. Wild Bill flies him to Montauk point, where Snake Eyes puts Kwinn's body in a canoe, along with his weasel skull necklace, his signature weapon, and the weapon of his defeated enemy, so that "so his soul will serve him forever in the next world." Snake Eyes pushes the canoe out to sea, while it's Wild Bill who does all the talking, letting readers know just what's going on.

•The scene shifts again to Arlington, for eight silent panels spread across three pages. The Joes, all in their dress uniforms, march alongside and behind Flagg's coffin, which is being pulled on a cart by a horse to his gravesite (The image isn't good enough to share, but if you're curious, Snake Eyes wears his mask and goggles as part of his dress uniform, and yes, it looks a bit weird. 

•It's not until the bottom tier of panels on the third page of this sequence that we seek an airplane appear over the horizon, growing a little larger in each succeeding panel until Cover Girl notices it (Clutch, noticing her notice it, is in the middle of scolding her to be quiet; Hmm, perhaps he doesn't just not get along with Scarlett? Perhaps Clutch is a sexist jerk...?)

When they realize what's going on, the Joes also realize that they've had it, as they are trapped in the open with no cover. Stalker pulls the flag from Flagg's coffin, saying aloud, "He's not shooting holes in my flag...", but most of the Joes stare stonily at the incoming plane, apparently aware that this is the end.

Or would be, were it not for two brand-new Joes, who make the best entrance of any characters in the series so far:

•They are, of course, Roadblock and Duke, both of whom were new characters in the 1984 line (Although Duke, a First Sergeant, was available in 1983 as a special mail-away figure). I assume that it was Heavy Machine Gunner Roadblock, toting what we're soon told is a .50 caliber Browning, that actually shot the Rattler out of the sky, although I guess it's cute that Duke shot his little pistol up at it too, perhaps just to be supportive.

I was genuinely surprised that it took over 20 issues to introduce Duke into the comic. My primary experience with G.I. Joe back then was the cartoon, and in the original miniseries, which then became a week-long, five-episode span of the regular cartoon series, Duke was both the leader of the Joes and seemingly the main character, playing the "dad" role in the early G.I. Joe franchise that Optimus Prime played in the Transformers franchise. 

I had known that the earliest issues of the comic featured a leader with a blonde buzzcut, and I had always just always assumed that guy was Duke, but, as I started reading the series via this compendium, I soon realized that that guy was actually Hawk. (In the issues going forward, there will be a few where it can be hard to tell Hawk and Duke apart; when Hawk was later introduced into the cartoon series, during its second season, he always wore a helmet, and that, combined with his quite different uniform that never changed, made him easy to tell apart from Duke).

•Rock 'n Roll, the original G.I. Joe machine gunner, rushes up to Roadblock and immediately starts fanboying: "Most guys can't even lift a fully loaded .50 let alone knock down an attack plane with one... You must be the proverbial baddest dude on the block!" 

Roadblock responds: 

Bad? Me? I'd rather make crepes and bake souffles than fight any day!

You want hard? You want concentrated meanness tied up with concertina wire and hash marks? That's your man standing over there with the smoking 1911 in his hand...

...But you better wipe that smile off your face 'fore you look at him, or he'll wipe it off for you!

He is, of course, talking about Duke who, given this introduction, doesn't seem to be as nice a guy as I remember from the cartoons. 

Duke then introduces himself as "the new top-sergeant around here", and promises that things are going to be different from now on. He makes it sound like a threat. 

•Finally, the scene shifts one last time in this extremely full issue. This time it is to City Island, New York, and a freshly dug grave in a cemetery beyond a sign reading Potter's Field.

As the workmen chat about the nature of their job and how they are always burying "paupers and winos" and John Does, one of them seems to notice something, and remarks to the others, "That's a first for Potter's Field since I've been here! ...Burying a doctor in a place like this!"

The last panel shows us a line of simple wooden boxes, the last of which is marked "Dr. Venom." 

It's a nicely done scene, providing a sharp contrast between what becomes of the Cobra villain and the honors received by Kwinn and General Flagg, despite the fact that all three died in the same battle.

Crime doesn't pay, kids. Nor does mad science or bioterrorism.

G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #23 (1984)

Art by Mike Vosburg, Jon D'Agostino and John Tartaglione

•In Europe, Snow Job is posted in The Alps, where he's on a mountain ledge high above The Bern Institute of Reconstructive Surgery's convalescent chalet. It looks like Hama found another setting in which Snow Job could prove useful (Although he was in the previous issue, trying to chat up Cover Girl and convince her he believed in women's lib; his red beard was miscolored white though, so he looked more like Rock 'n Roll).  

His binoculars are trained on The Baroness, who is still covered in bandages, although he refers to her as "completely reconstructed," so these are apparently post-op bandages. 

•Meanwhile, Roadblock and Duke are undercover at a cafe across the street from Major Bludd's Bern hotel, and Clutch and Cover Girl are in a nearby car, waiting to trail Bludd when he leaves. 

Snow Job complains about the different levels of cushiness the various surveillance posts has and makes a passing reference to his C-ration, and Roadblock, the team gourmand, comments to Duke, "What's he complaining about? The food at this place is mediocre at best and absolutely inedible to anyone with a cultured palate..."

On the very next page, he will scold the waiter: "This pate de maison is a disgrace to the cheese it shares board with. If you throw it far enough north, they'll call it liverwurst." He keeps this up throughout the issue, until he finally ends up at a good restaurant in Italy.

I've always thought Roadblock was a pretty cool guy, but jeez, he seems like he would be a real nightmare to have as a customer at a restaurant...

•Clutch makes a pass at Cover Girl, using a line not that dissimilar to the one he tried on Scarlett way back in G.I. Joe #6. It doesn't work any better here, although I guess it remains to be seen if this will be the start of ongoing enmity between the pair. 

Now I'm curious to see if he hits on Lady Jaye when she eventually joins the team...

•Using The Baroness as a bargaining chip, Major Bludd attempts to blackmail Cobra Commander, demanding that he meet him in Europe with a suitcase full of money, or he will reveal to Destro that the Commander had plotted to kill him. The Commander tells him off over the phone: "Not only are you out of your mind, but your poetry stinks as well!"

"I always knew you were a philistine!" Bludd responds. "You'll pay dearly for that last remark!"

•Guys, I am here for Cobra Commander talking shit on poets. 

•It is soon revealed that The Baroness has made a complete recovery. In fact, I wondered if she wasn't meant to be more beautiful after the surgery...? After all, Major Bludd seems genuinely shocked by her appearance here...or is he, perhaps, shocked that she looks completely normal now, after being so badly burned that she had spent several previous issues wrapped up like a mummy? (Going back to compare her appearance here to in previous issues really won't settle the matter, as she has been drawn by different artists, and always presented as conventionally attractive).

The comment on "black leather" in the middle panel is interesting, in that she seems to be wearing blue and, while it's hard to tell texture from a panel of comics art, her outfit doesn't look that tight and, well, leather-y as the one she will don in future issues (the one her chess piece was wearing in that panel in #21, and that her action figure would wear).

•The second half of the book is quite action-packed, including a gunfight, a couple of brawls, a Mexican standoff and a somewhat silly car chase. 

Essentially, Cobra Commander and Storm Shadow meet with Major Bludd and The Baroness in an Italian mountain town, but the Commander seems set on having Storm Shadow cut Bludd down rather than pay him. The Joes, who have been trailing Bludd, arrive, and so The Baroness and Cobra Commander flee together with the money  in a limo ("You realize of course, my dear, that this has all been a tragic, tragic misunderstanding...", he tells her). Clutch and Cover Girl follow in a sports car (they will change vehicles during the proceedings, though). Storm Shadow and Major Bludd follow on a parade float. And, finally, Snow Job arrives in the VAMP, picking up Duke and Roadblock.

In the end, it is as the cover and the story title "Cobra Commander Captured At Last!": Cobra Commander is captured. The other three name Cobra agents escape.

G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #24 (1984)

Art by Russ Heath

•Of course, maybe he wouldn't stay captured for long. At least, not if Mike Zeck's cover is to be believed. And the title of this issue's story? "The Commander Escapes!"

The issue opens high on a snowy mountain in the Rockies, which the captive Commander, Duke and some other Joes have parachuted onto. The Commander is arguing with Duke that this is a silly place to hold him, given that it' s unfortified, but Ace and Wild Bill drop a couple of huge crates, and these turn out to be another pre-fab fortress, like the one erected in #19 (and like the one Hasbro was selling). 

Major Bludd dramatically presents The Baroness to the shocked Destro (remember, he thought she was dead ever since her tank exploded), and she stops him from trying to kill Bludd, as it was Bludd who rescued her from the Joes...and had her rebuilt in Bern. All seems forgiven between these three, who are eager to take over Cobra now that the Commander has been captured.

Artist Russ Heath (Russ Heath!) draws The Baroness in her new black costume, which here looks uncomfortably tight, and, at least in the first panel, seems to maybe have a corset-like component to it...?

•Heath gives The Baroness a lot more va-va-voom than any of the previous artists did and note her super-sexy posing throughout this brief scene. Is it the new costume? Is she feeling herself after her miraculous recovery? (And I, now an adult man reading this comic book meant for little boys in the 1980s for the first time, wondered if the surgeon didn't just put her face and skin back together, but did some other...um, enhancements while she was under the knife.)

Here the Cobra leaders plot and, in the last two panels, we are introduced to two new characters from the 1984 toy line, Wild Weasel and Firefly. The former, in the flight uniform, was previously mentioned; he's a Cobra pilot, and his action figure came packaged with the Rattler (I like the little wings on his Coba symbol, a detail I've noticed on other Cobra pilots previously). The latter is Firefly, whose action figure card describes him as a "Cobra saboteur." I always liked this figure's look, which is obviously ninja adjacent. 

From what I've seen of him in the title so far, he seems to be a mercenary hired by Cobra, rather than a loyal member of the organization (Um, not that the other name characters in the organization are too terribly loyal), as he doesn't know where Cobra's secret Springfield base is. 

Anyway, there job is to track down Storm Shadow. Bludd says he has placed a homing device on the ninja during their encounter in Europe.

•This issue answers something I've been wondering about for a long time now: How, exactly, does Cobra Commander drink with his battle helmet on...?

Apparently involves a straw and a little concealed opening in his mirrored face plate. 

He also shares that his helmet is lined with plastic explosives to keep anyone from forcibly removing it from him...and keeps to himself that he has a radio in it as well.

The Joes don't seem to have searched him that thoroughly, and, to be honest, it's not clear what they're doing with him. Like, has he been charged with a crime yet? Has he seen a lawyer? Are they not going to interrogate him at all? 

They seem to just be holding him. Indeed, they play poker for chocolate bars and rations while the Commander chills in the background...until Storm Shadow's voice in his helmet instructs him to try and get outside. The Commander announces to his captors that "It's very stuffy in here..." One wouldn't think a guy who always wears a helmet and facemask would be affected by stuffiness, but Duke and the others seem too intent on their poker game to question such things. 

•Storm Shadow arrives out of nowhere in the CLAW, having flown it below radar, and scoops up the Commander. Roadblock clips the vehicle's fuel line with a burst of machine gun fire. This means it only has enough fuel to carry one of the Cobras to safety, and, of course, that means The Commander flies off with it. 

•Duke gives chase, in another new vehicle, the Sky Hawk one-man VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing). This looks a little like a helicopter with no propellers, or maybe a jet engine powered spaceship.

Watching the cartoons in the 1980s, I never questioned this vehicle, but now I wonder...is such a thing possible...? Would it not need any propellers like a helicopter or wings like a plane to stay in flight...? (A brief Google for "one-man VTOL" and "single-seat VTOL" reveals what look like flying cockpits crossed with drones...and the Sky Hawk toy comes up repeatedly. So maybe the toy was a more advanced version extrapolated from then theoretical vehicles...?)

•There's a bit of action, as the comic shows off the Sky Hawk in a brief fight against a couple of FANG helicopters, but ultimately the Commander escapes, while Gung-Ho and Roadblock manage to capture Storm Shadow.

•During a neat reveal at the end, Cobra Commander strides into the command center where Destro, The Baroness and Major Bludd are eagerly awaiting the results of Wild Weasel and Firefly's mission. It turns out that Storm Shadow had discovered the tracking device Bludd had planted on him and mailed it to somewhere in Florida.

That somewhere? Zartan's base. 

And who is Zartan? Well, he only gets a single panel here, but he is another new Cobra agent. His action figure came with the Swamp Skier vehicle. Both were made from "UV reactive plastic" which, in Zartan's case, meant the figure's skin would change from the generic white guy flesh color of the Caucasian figures to a dark blue.

It was an unusual gimmick for a figure from the G.I. Joe line—it seems more like something from Mattel's gimmick-heavy Masters of the Universe line, doesn't it?—and it was apparently meant to tie-in to the fact that Zartan was a master of disguise with, at least in the cartoon, ill-defined chameleon-like powers.

Young Caleb thought Zartan was one of the cooler characters in the cartoon. We will, obviously, get to know him better in the next issues...but those will have to wait until the next post.  

At this precise point in the franchise, by the way, I think one thing is abundantly clear: Though sometimes presented as bumbling, and obviously all immoral in different degrees, the coolest characters in the comics and toys in terms of design belong to Cobra rather than G.I. Joe. 

Bookshelf #31

This week's bookshelf is the final one on the little white unit we've been examining the contents of the last few weeks and, as you can see, it is filled with Marvel digest collections, the vast majority of which are branded Marvel Adventures. As the word "Adventures" has long since come to denote that a particular comic is all-ages or geared toward kids, these are thus mostly kid-friendly comics. 

Most of the book are Spider-Man ones, with seven of them being volumes of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man with volume numbers on the spines, and one without. And no, at this point I have no idea why I seem to have bought them at random, as you can see from the numbering on the spines. These trades all tend to feature a handful of issues of high-quality, evergreen, done-in-one stories apiece, often involving Spider-Man meeting guest-stars.

The creators involved include the likes of writers Peter David, Paul Tobin and Fred Van Lente and artists Pop Mhan, Mike Norton and Ryan Stegman, among others.

These are followed by three more Spider-Man digests: Spider-Man/Human Torch: I'm With Stupid, collecting the 2005 Dan Slott and Ty Templeton miniseries; Spider-Man Family: Untold Team-Ups, collecting issues of the 2007-2008 series pairing Spidey with The Agents of Atlas, Doctor Strange, Thor-as-a-Frog and others; and Spider-Man J: Japanese Knights, collecting a Spider-Man manga by Yamanaka Akira (I guess there was a second collection of this as well, but I missed it). 

Next, we have two volumes of Marvel Adventures Hulk, written by Paul Benjamin and penciled by David Nakamaya and others.

And there's 2006's Marvel Holiday Special, a stocking stuffer-sized collection of Marvel Holiday Special 2004 and Marvel Holiday Special 2005, plus 1972's Marvel Team-Up #1 and 1980's Uncanny X-Men #143. That means a bunch of stories 21st century stories featuring a wide swathe of the Marvel Universe by writers Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Mike Carey, Tom Defalco, Shannon Garrity and Jeff Parker and artists Roger Langridge, Takeshi Miyazawa and others. Plus, work from Roy Thomas, Ross Andru, John Byrne and Chris Claremont on the two issues from "Marvel Holiday Past".

Then there's a digest collection of Sean McKeever, Lou Kang and Logan Lubera's Mega Morphs, a miniseries tie-in to a toy line, the story of which involved various popular Marvel heroes piloting giant robots that resemble them and have powers similar to theirs (No matter how hard it might be to imagine some of those guys piloting giant robots, like Wolverine, Ghost Rider and, especially, The Hulk).

And finally, there's Zombies Assemble Vol. 1, Yusaku Komiyama's manga which pits the movie version of the Avengers against a zombie outbreak. Apparently, there was a second volume of this as well, but I missed it. This one is actually rated "T+" and thus is the only book on this particular shelf that's not all-ages friendly.  I don't remember this one too terribly well at this point, but flipping through it now, it is rather delightful to see manga versions of Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo and the other actors who play the Avengers in the movies. 

Ten scenes of special note from Supergirl Vol. 1: Misadventures in Midvale

The recently released Supergirl Vol. 1: Misadventures in Midvale collects the first six issues of writer/artist Sophie Campbell and colorist Tamra Bonvillain's new Supergirl ongoing series, which is an excellent comics book (I reviewed it at length in this column). 

It's quite good, and if you have any interest at all in superhero comics, regardless of your experience with the character or publisher or the genre, I would recommend checking it out (Mild spoilers to follow, so if you do plan on reading it, maybe do so before you read the rest of this post). 

In this collection, Supergirl Kara Zor-El visits her one-time hometown of Midvale, only to discover a mystery: There's already a Supergirl there, and there's also a Linda Danvers living with her adopted parents. It turns out Lesla-Lar, a super-smart Kandorian with some issues, has escaped the bottle city and set up shop impersonating our hero. 

With help from a new old friend and some super-pets, Kara defeats Lelsa...and then adopts her, taking her under her wing and teaching her to use her yellow sun-granted superpowers for good. In short order, Kara and company meet new versions of old Supergirl comics villains Decay and Nightflame and add a new young woman to their growing girl gang.

Here are the ten scenes that I thought most interesting or intriguing for one reason or another...

1.) What, exactly, is Princess Shark's plan...? In the very first panel of the book, Campbell introduces a new character, Princess Shark. Her name suggests that she may be related to, or at least inspired by, old Superboy villain King Shark (And she is not to be confused with Nidhi Chanani's Shark Princess, the apparent whale shark protagonist of a series of early reader graphic novels).  

As you can see above, letterer Becca Carey gives Princess Shark a bigger, bolder, slightly scratchier font to suggest a deeper, scarier voice than that of other characters, and she rants "Metropolis will soon become Sharkopolis! It is inevitable!" 

Supergirl appears to defeat the menace between panels. "Nah...Princess Shark, you just need to cool off a bit, okay?" she says, before dumping the villain into the sea and flying away as the shark-woman raises a fist and shouts "Curse you, SUPERGIRL!"

I was curious about her plans, exactly, beyond that of turning Metropolis into Sharkopolis. I mean, in that first panel, the street behind her is full of sharks of various species and sizes laying around and more seem to be falling out of the sky, as if there was a very particular type of strange fall, with Princess Shark at its center.

Later in the series, in issue #5, the one devoted to two short stories starring the Super Pets, Princess Shark returns, this time in Midvale, wearing a different costume which I like a bit more than the one above (and drawn by guest-artist Paulina Ganucheau). On that second instance, her aim is to get revenge on Supergirl, and she comes accompanied by a huge flying shark wearing a bandana. Krypto and new super-rabbit Kandy manage to drive her away with their eyebeams.

2.) An unforeseen effect of yellow sun radiation. When Kandorian scientist Lesla-Lar uses her technology to teleport herself (and her pet rabbit Kandy) to Midvale, she is struck by the rays of Earth's yellow sun, and she is imbued with the same array of super-powers that all Kryptonians get from such exposure (Likewise, Kandy immediately starts flying). 

It's been a while since I've seen a new Kryptonian exposed to the yellow sun for the very first time, but here there seems to be a physical component to the change, with the previously slim Lesla-Lar suddenly developing pronounced bicep muscles....and, quite unusually, gaining curves, with her bust increasing by whole cup sizes and her hips and thighs expanding into generous curves, making her suddenly...Pneumatic? Zaftig? Rubenesuqe? Dare I, a middle-aged man, say "thicc"...?

Seeing what her new curves have done to her outfit, Lesla declares herself beautiful, "even more beautiful than Supergirl." 

I don't know. I thought Lesla was beautiful before the sun gave her curves too, but then, I do like girls with glasses...

3.) Does Lesla-Lar summon Titano from a Poke Ball...? Okay, so I've never actually watched any Pokemon comics or read and Pokemon manga, as the franchise didn't make it to the U.S. until I after I had aged out of the intended demographic (And it's always seemed more kid-focused than all-ages to me). So, I don't know exactly how these things work, but it was my understanding that Ash or Mindy or whoever would throw a Poke Ball*, and that from out of it would emerge whichever particular monster they needed at that particular time, right?

That's exactly what happens here.

I would ask how exactly Lesla-Lar had acquired Titano the super-ape in the first place, and this might have even have been something that would have bugged a younger, less-experienced teenage Caleb, but, having looked into what passes for Titano "continuity" in the past, I know that, post-Crisis at least, there isn't really any throughline to Titano appearances. He generally just shows up, sometimes only in cameos, whenever a generic menace is needed to occupy Superman briefly. I am guessing whenever an artist feels likes drawing a giant ape is the main determinant in whether or not Titano appears in a particular Superman comic. 

After Supergirl defeats the super-ape by blindfolding him with her cape and then spinning him so fast that she screws him into the ground, Titano is next seen tiny sized, in a little terrarium in Lena Luthor's lab. He will appear off and on in the following issues, renamed "Tinytano" and becoming a member of the Super Pets, even getting outfitted with his own cape (Purple, like that usually worn by Kandy, rather than red, like those of Krypto and Streaky).

4.) This is what Campbell's Lena Luthor looks like. As I mentioned the other day in my review of the trade paperback, I don't recall seeing Lena Luthor (Lex's daughter, not his sister) since she was a little kid, circa "Our Worlds At War" or so, nor do I recall her having any association with Supergirl, and thus I imagine her presence in the book as a friend and ally to the title character was inspired by her role on the TV show (I know "Supercorp" was a popular-ish ship pairing the show's version of Supergirl and Lena Luthor). 

I thought I might have detected a touch of such of potential romantic tension in an exchange or three here, but that could totally be my reading something into it. (As for Supergirl's orientation, the only character she seems attracted to in these issues—and by "attracted to" I mean a red heart appears in a thought cloud above her head when she looks at them—appears to be male; more on him in a bit).

Anyway, I like the design. The Brainiac sigil on her forehead, which goes unremarked upon herein, seems to indicate that her association with the character is still canon, and I like how Campbell gives her various "bad girl" signifiers, like dyed hair, a partially shaved head, black clothes and kick-ass boots, even though, so far at least, she seems to be on the side of the angels.

5.) I love the look on Krypto's face when he goes bad. After Titano the super-ape fails to stop Supergirl, Lesla-Lar's next attempt to defeat Supergirl is to blast her with a "cerebral alignment transmogrifier" powered by black kryptonite, which she says will cause Supergirl to become "not only chaotic and antisocial but moronically stupid as well."

As you can see, this also transforms Supergirl into Satan Girl, with a new costume and white-on-black dialogue balloons to go with her new, temporary identity (And if you find yourself thinking, "Wait, that's not how I remember black kryptonite working before," well, keep in mind that Supergirl wasn't exposed directly to black k, but hit with a weapon powered by it).

Krypto is also caught in the blast, and while he doesn't get a new name—Krypto the Satanic-dog, maybe?—he does get a new costume, and appears to also be suddenly chaotic, antisocial and moronically stupid. I mean, you can see it in his expression in the panel above, right?

That's how good an artist Campbell is! Just the look on a dog's face reveals that he's been changed into an evil, stupid version of himself!

During Satan Girl's brief, four-page rampage, Krypto joins her in causing mischief, stealing the pants from a citizen in one panel, and lifting his leg to melt the hood of a truck with his super-pee in another.

6.) Supergirl gets a magical girl transformation sequence. During her first encounter with the imposter Supergirl Lesla-Lar, Kara's costume is exposed to some kind of chemical creation that changes her red and yellow S-shield to a purple and green P-shield (apparently for "Phonygirl", which is what the people of Midvale refer to her as, thinking Lesla-Lar is the genuine Supergirl).

Later, she changes into her "Daring New Adventures" costume, the one with the blouse and little red shorts, while Lena tries to "fix" the damage that Lesla did to her current costume. And then, after she changes into Satan Girl and then back into herself, her Daring New costume is all torn up.

That's when Lena flips an S-shield at Supergirl's chest ("SWIP"), and it attaches itself to her, emanating her costume like so many ribbons, and giving Supergirl her very own transformation sequence!

In the next issue, #4, Supergirl will pull the S-shield from, um, somewhere and apply it to her chest herself, allowing her to instantly suit up for action. 

7.) This is what the girls wear to the goth club. At the end of the first story arc, which fills the first three issues of the series, one-time Supergirl impersonator Lesla-Lar has been remanded into Supergirl's custody. She is apparently living with Lena and Kara in Lena's secret lair on the outskirts of town and learning how to be a superhero under Supergirl's tutelage. She's got a new purple and yellow costume, and is going by the name "Luminary."

To celebrate her first day on the job, Lena suggests they all go to The Masquerade, Midvale's goth club, which has apparently been around since the aughts. We get a few panels of Lena helping with make-up before the reveal of what they're wearing (above). 

I suppose there must be a goth clothing shop in Midvale too, because it sure doesn't look like Lena and Lesla are the same size and can share dresses, does it...?

8.) Another L.L. Once inside, readers are introduced to a new character, Luna Lustrum. That's her on the far right of the top panel and speaking in the center of the second panel. As you can see, Campbell has given her a quite striking design, with big eyes, a sloping forehead, a rather unique downward sloping nose and curly hair. (Is it just me, or does her design suggest comics artist Jill Thompson at all...?)

I absolutely love the character's look. If she were a real person, I would totally have a crush on her. Heck, even though she's not a real person, I still kinda sorta have a crush on her. 

She doesn't reveal her name until the end of the fourth issue, at which point Lena says, "Another L-name? I guess that makes you part of the gang." 

Luna reappears in the sixth issue dressed as a witch—it's set during Halloween—and her hair is quite different in that issue than it is here, but I'm pretty sure she's wearing a wig as part of the costume.

Luna seems to have some degree of psychic powers, which come in handy in issue #6, and would seem to make her somewhat valuable to Supergirl's growing crime-fighting team. 

9.) Is this Supergirl's type...? As soon as the girls enter the club, Lesla notices a guy with his hands on Luna getting pretty pushy. When Lena grabs his wrist—"She told you to leave her alone and you did not!" she says, angrily—Supergirl attempts to step in, but is distracted.

"Who..." she says in one panel, and then a turn of the page reveals the above image, as Supergirl finishes her thought, "...is that?" I cut it off in my scan here, but just to the right of that panel of Supergirl in profile is a little thought cloud containing a single red, heart. It's the first of two times she will look at this dude and think simply "♡".

Now, I haven't read many Supergirl-centric stories over the years, and those I have read usually involved the post-Crisis "Matrix" version of the character, so I have no idea what this Supergirl's type is, but I was kinda surprised that it might be this guy. I mean, it's not like there are many—any?—guys with that particular look in the DCU as far as I've seen up until this point. 

He definitely has a nice body though, and lovely long hair. As for the rest of his look? I don't know. I do love that Campbell drew black sparkles emanating from him though. 

Supergirl/Lena shippers might take some heart in Supergirl's apparent attraction to this guy, though. His hair looks an awful lot like Lena's, but longer, doesn't it...?

Kara does go to up to talk to him, introducing herself, but their meeting is interrupted by the pushy guy who was trying to get Luna to have a drink with him transforming into Decay, an old Supergirl villain who you can see Campbell's redesign of on the cover of issue #4.  

I assume we'll see this goth hunk guy again...perhaps wearing a shirt in his next appearance. 

10.) Wait, when did Krypto get shot with arrows, and who is the monster who did this to him?! And I mean the monster who wrote a story in which Krypto is shot with arrows and is bleeding profusely from the wounds, not whatever villain might have done it in-story.

So, in issue #6, Supergirl deals with a new version of another old villain, Nightflame. Campbell splits drawing duties with artist Rosi Kampe here, with Campbell drawing the scenes set in the "real world" of Midvale, while Kampe draws the scenes set inside Supergirl's own mind. (The above page, where Supergirl starts to turn the tables on her foe, is Campbell's though.)

That is the domain of Nightflame, who attacks Supergirl by subjecting her to her own memories of various trials and traumas she has been through. I only recognized a couple of them—dying during Crisis On Infinite Earths, for example, or wearing tight slacks and a shawl connected to a bra for a top on Apokolips for another—and a lot I couldn't even guess at**. Like the image in the third tier down of the page above, in which we see Supergirl curled up next to a bloody Krypto.

While it's not necessary to "get" all these references while reading the issue—the point is simply that Supergirl is being forced to confront her own bad memories—I was curious about what this one referred to. And curious enough that I couldn't wait until I could find time to write this post and have one of you guys reply.

So, I asked Bluesky and was told that the image referred to the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow miniseries written by Tom King and drawn by the great Bilquis Evely, which is apparently the inspiration for the not-very-good-looking upcoming live action Supergirl film (I watched the trailer, and it looked a bit like a Guardians of the Galaxy film, only without the Guardians in it...? The sole point of interest I saw was that it featured a live-action Lobo, which I am at least curious about, if not necessarily interested in). 

Soooo the writer who killed off Alfred Pennyworth also grievously injured Krypto the super-dog...? I mean, I guess that tracks...

It also makes me even less interested in the upcoming movie, though, which sure seemed to tease that Krypto was in serious danger...



*Not for the first time, I found myself wishing there existed some kind of geek media style guide for comics blogging when it came time to use the word "Poke Ball". I mean, is it a proper noun, and thus needs capitalized? Is it one word or two? Do both words get capitalized? Should it have that little accent mark over the e that I don't know how to make? I spent a surprising amount of time researching this online, as well as consulting two co-workers—one who grew up watching the cartoon, another whose son went through a Pokemon phase—and even consulted a guidebook from the children's department in my library. They had it as two words, both capitalized, and with the accent over the "e" but, like I said, I don't know how to make that. 

**The review at Collected Editions runs them all down though, if you're curious.