G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #164

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: S.L. Gallant

Summary:

The virtual Dr. Venom simply flips an “OFF” switch and ends Snake-Eyes’ threat to the Brainwave Scanner. Later, Billy takes Snake-Eyes to midtown Manhattan, to attack Storm Shadow in his old water tower lair. During the fight, Snake-Eyes is apparently cured of the Brainwave Scanner’s programming, thanks to the series’ OTHER deux ex Machina– the Arashikage Mindset. This time, Storm Shadow flips the switch “ON” and Snake-Eyes is seemingly back to normal.

At the Pit in Utah, Cobra is easily fooled AGAIN by the surface placement of the whole thing. They appear to have asbolutely NO memory of their last two forays to the place. Dr. Mindbender sends a battalion of BATs to destroy decoy quonset huts. Ace appears in his Skystriker and blows away all the BATs.

Destro and the frickin’ Dreadnoks figure it out, thanks to a hidden transceiver on the Baroness’ outfit. Destro uses his little Despoiler (basically a floating armored wheelchair) to blast his way into the Pit and rescue the Baroness. Yes, that’s correct: one guy in a flying chair can easily break into what’s supposed to be a high-security command base filled with roughly 100 elite military personnel (equipped with all their gadgets and armaments), then make off with a prisoner.

Spirit Iron-Knife and SNEAK PEAK manage to hold Zartan and the Dreadnoks captive for a bit. Yes, Sneak Peek… the guy who died in a fairly well-written story in issue 113 is back and none the worse for wear!

Notes:

• Hmm…I never thought I’d say this, but these are beginning to make the Devil’s Due series look like classics, in comparison.
   
• It’s also frustrating how Cobra’s plan to attack the Pit was to simply deploy a truckload of BATs. They have an entire army of tanks n’ shit, but would rather send ONE truck of robots with an unreliable record. Since the attack was led by the goofy Dr. Mindbender, I hope this was intentional; like they want to show how inept Mindbender is. With Dr. Venom floating around, I hope that’s the case. But I suspect I’m wrong.
   
• Duke orders Hardtop and Cross-Country (both not seen) to relocate the surface huts.
   
• Buzzer seems to have taken to wearing a red baseball hat.
   
• Baroness’ transceiver was a bar in the Cobra sigil on her outfit. She discreetly planted it on the back of Mainframe’s helmet when she was moved from her cell.
   
• Cobra Commander is wheeled around Broca Beach in a pedi-cab. Kinda’ funny how a Tele-viper is forced to keep up with him while holding a video phone feed from Dr. Mindbender.
   
• First time we’ve seen Ace and the Skystriker since the relaunch. I’m assuming it’s the Skystriker; since it has two dual engines in the rear.
   
• I could see some confusion about Destro’s Despoiler appearing. “Wasn’t it a MARS/Iron Grenadiers vehicle?” True, but let’s not forget that MARS and Cobra merged for a few months, circa issue 90. Explanation: Destro’s Despoiler was left at Broca Beach or another Cobra hideout, back in the day.
   
• Storm Shadow’s water tower appears to be within a block or two of the Chrysler Building…and in subsequent panels it appears to be within a block or two of the Empire State Building. I was disappointed at first, but it IS entirely possible to have it within viewing distance of BOTH of those buildings. Somewhere along 5th or Madison Ave would qualify. Yeah, I just wanted to show off my weak and rudimentary “knowledge” of Manhattan.
   
• Regarding Sneak Peek: in the Devil’s Due continuity, they had a “new” Sneak Peek or “Sneak Peek II”– different uniform and a different real name. I suspect this started out as an error, but they quickly re-shuffled to make it two separate guys.
   
• When Devil’s Due released a big ol’ role call for one of their “World War III” issues, they listed two Sneak-Peeks, distinguished by each one’s last name. I also remember a quick scene where Scarlett asked about “Sneak Peek”, thinking he was dead. Someone (I think it was Joe Colton) simply said this “new” Sneak Peek was a different guy.
  &nbsp
• That’s all fine and dandy, but it still offers NO explanation why the original Sneak Peek is still alive in this issue. I imagine they’ll use the same explanation Devil’s Due did.

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, Duke, Stalker, Mainframe, Psyche-Out, Spirit Iron Knife, Roadblock, Ace, Sneak Peek, Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness, Dr. Mindbender, Zartan, Torch, Ripper, Buzzer, Thrasher

Characters (“comic-only”): Billy, Dr. Venom (virtual)

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Skystriker, Destro’s Despoiler

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): Cobra transport helicopter

Firsties:
Characters: none

Vehicles and stuff: none

Rating: 2 Flag Points