G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #186

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Ron Wagner
Lt

Summary:

Ghostrider drops off Lt. Falcon’s rescue team of Leatherneck, Zap and Spirit Iron-Knife in Benzheen. They’re joined, on the ground, by Ripcord; who had HALO dropped in earlier and lit up an old pre-fab landing strip.

Col. Faroud leads Darklon out into the desert and the prison compound where Airtight, Dusty and the former Emir of Benzheen are being held. To Darklon’s surprise, Faroud wants to do a field test of the krytron, by triggering an actual nuclear device! As a bonus, all the prisoners and other flunkies will be blown away.

Destro and the Baroness suspect the detonation, and meet with the Minister of Defense of Trucial Abysmia to broker a possible nuclear krytron deal of their own. Saying that the pending test is based off of designs stolen from them.

The crew at the Pit puts everything together and calls-off Falcon’s rescue mission. However, Falcon doesn’t want to leave Airtight and Dusty to die, so he intentionally knocks out their communication equipment, citing “commo failure”. Falcon’s team then assaults the prison complex, on foot, just as Zartan’s crew arrives to storm the front gate. Colonel Faroud orders all prisoners to be executed…starting with Airtight and Dusty.

Finally, Clutch and Rock n’ Roll go into a debriefing on their Rancho Corba mission. The two play down any Cobra involvement in Corba Acres, but the other Joes quickly notice that soemthing’s not right with them.

Notes:

• Falcon blowing out the commo device and leading an attack is a great moment. Brings back the old comraderie theme and how the Joes always strive to “leave no man behind”. Falcon knows that a nuke may be coming and it could be a suicide mission, but he still wants to save his teammates.
   
• Tunnel Rat is still captive with Zartan’s crew. Curiously, Pale Peony whispers to Tunnel Rat that she’s on his side.
   
• Dr. Mindbender mentions that he let the 3 kids go after brainwashing them, saying they’ll be sleeper agents. “Who knows, one might even go into politics”.
   
• Completely Worthless Trivia: Ghostrider’s call-sign is “Wild Goose” and Ripcord’s is “Angel hat”. Both are plays on their respective codenames.
   
• Destro’s deal in Trucial Abysmia is somewhat of a backtrack; as I speculated last issue. But the difference is that this still appears to be an unxpected course of action for him. He seems to be making lemons out of lemonade, after the deal went sour, last issue.
   
• One minor composition gripe about the cover. Even though it’s a perspective shot, Falcon’s left arm seems to end at the same exact point Spirit’s right begins (see picture above). As a result, the prespective is distorted a little and it appears for an instant that a tiny Falcon is to Spirit’s right. Just a strange composition error and something that an editor should have picked up.
   
• Yes, second straight “4 Flag Points” rating, as I’m enjoying this arc.

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Duke, Scarlett, Mainframe, Stalker, Clutch, Rock and Roll, Dusty, Tunnel Rat, Airtight, Ghostrider, Zap, Leatherneck, Ripcord, Cobra Commander, Dr. Mindbender, Destro, Baroness, Zartan, Zarana, Road Pig, Darklon

Characters (“comic-only”):Pale Peony, Col. Faroud, Trucial Abysmia Minster of Defense

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Phantom X-19B, Mean Dog (cameo), AWE Striker (cameo)

Vehicles and stuff (not toys):none to speak of

Firsties:
Characters: Trucial Abysmia Minster of Defense

Vehicles and stuff: none

Rating: 4 Flag Points