G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #146

“Immovable Objects”

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Phil Gosier

Summary:

The Joes’ Star Brigade is in space to meet up with the Oktober Guard for some “Armaggedon” type of action. A former crazed Russian scientist devised a way to use artifical intelligence to crash asteroids into the Earth. The Joes and the Guard team up and land on the asteroid, where they’re met with a slew of violent worker robot drones.

Back on Earth, Cobra Commander heeds Destro’s advice and decides to invade Wolkekuckuckland. They also launch a missile into Darklonia, obliterating Darklon and his castle.

Notes:

• Holy Jerry Buckheimer! A story involving the US and Russia, sent into space via shuttles to destory an asteroid that’s headed for Earth? Cover date on this story was May 1994…. more than four years before the movie “Armageddon” hit the theaters. The rumor is that the actual story that became “Armageddon” had been shopped around for awhile. Hama apparently crossed paths with one of the authors and they both thought it’d be fun idea for the comic; so this story arc resulted.
   
• To be clear, it’s not like Hama was the author of “Armageddon” or received royalties for it. Whoever the author was, he kept shopping the idea around until a studio greenlighted it as a movie.
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• It’s established that Borovia, Darklonia, Wolkekuckuckland and Trans-Carpathia are all within a short distance of each other and that some share borders. We knew about Trans-Carpathia and Borovia from issue 125, but not about Darklonia and Wolkekuckuckland.
   
• Billy and the Baroness are still “good guys” and escape into the castle. They’re eventually cornered…and knocked out by Zartan and Destro, respectively. Shows that Cobra Commander’s implant brainwashing was pretty darn effective and could override personal morals and connections
   
• In space, the Joes meet Col. Krimov, code-named Red Star, who looks exactly like the late Col. Brehkov. This resemblance was never explained.
   
• Krimov mentions that his code-name is outdated and “politically embarrassing”.
   
• Daina has a cheesecake shot as she steps out of her spacesuit.
   
• Destro changes the Silent Castle back to its “Cobra Form”. He also plays with his old chess set.
   
• Destro informs everyone that Wolkekuckuckland is pronounced “Vol-koo-kook-land” and that it means “Cloud-cuckoo land”. Another reference to that old WWII quote. The country’s a perfect target because they have an international baking center.
   
• For all intents and purposes, Darklon is dead. But we never see the body…so some awful fan-fiction can be spun.
   
• The asteroid project was named “Drop Forge”.
   
• The insane Russian scientist behind Drop Forge is never named.
   
• All of the spacebound Joes are in their new “Star Brigade” outfits. Star Brigade was the final hurrah for the toy line. They sent the Joes into space, full-time, and had them fighting aliens and outer-space threats. I honestly don’t know if the line was well accepted or not… but I do know that Star Brigade toys hung around the factory outlets until 1999 or so.
   
• The title on the cover is back to just “GI JOE” at its full size, as they’ve dropped the “starring Snake-Eyes” banner.
   
• A shot of Cobra Commander’s head moves into the corner box, as well. It’s actually a shot taken from the cover of issue 145
   
• Not really a great story…but it has a lot of action and plot advancement. Plus, it’s always a treat to see the Oktober Guard.

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Hawk, Stalker, Duke, Roadblock, Sci-Fi, Spaceshot, Payload, Red Star, Cobra Commander, Destro, Zartan, Slice, Dice, Baroness, Darklon (croaks)

Characters (“comic-only”): Lt. Gorky, Dragonsky, Daina, Billy, “Russian Scientist” (flashback), Gen. Leiderkranz, Wolfgang

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Defiant, Armor Bot, AWE Striker, MBT Mauler, Cobra STUN

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): Oktober Guard Armor Bot, Russian Space Shuttle.

Firsties:
Characters: none

Vehicles and stuff: Armor Bot, Oktober Guard Armor Bot, Russian Space Shuttle

Rating: 3 Flag Points