G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #200

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: S.L. Gallant

Summary:

As Cobra exits the Pit, en masse, the Sierra Gordo GI Joe team lands at Pehr-Lovett’s private airfield. They’re suprised to see Joe Colton and Jane, who tell them that they’re familiar with the secret levels BENEATH the Pit. Joe and Jane lead the Joes through a secret tunnel that connects from beneath the airfield to the bowels of the Pit.

The Joes regain their vehicles and begin pursuing Cobra’s retreat. Cobra had sabotaged the Joes’ vehicles, but Psyche-Out and Snake-Eyes were privy to the idea and managed to stick charges on some HISS tanks. Hindered by the wounded Vipers, Cobra Commander dons his battle armor and takes a small armor detachment to meet the pursuing Joes, head-on, while the other Cobra forces escape. Cobra Commander’s tanks are blown away by the Joes and things culminate with Duke and Cobra fist-fighting on top of a HISS (or, “duking it out”. Hey-oh)! Cobra Commander is accidentally shot by a HISS driver, allowing Duke to get the upper hand. Clutch arrives to check on their new captive, but Duke pushes him away. Cobra Commander detonates! But it’s shown that it was actually a Blue Ninja Cyborg in the battle armor. The real Cobra Commander got away and is already scheming, proclaiming: “there will be blood”!

Joe and Jane brief the team on the secret areas below the Pit. The Joes are given access to the airfield and some retractable pillbox turrets, but a certain section is extremely classified. Only a few Joes are allowed to view it, so Joe and Jane take Hawk, Duke, Scarlett and Stalker to the area. They’re familiar with the corridor Lt. Falcon and the others used, but not what was behind a giant blast door. The blast door is opened… and we see the Joes’ astonished faces. To Be Continued!

Notes:

• Great, simple cliffhanger. Like I said before, it could be an Al Capone’s Vault type of thing. Or it could be a completely new plot wrinkle. The sky’s the limit.
   
• Joe and Jane call in some reinforcements, in the form of GI Joe vehicle drivers who had been “on assignments at other bases”. This consists of Cover Girl, Steeler, Rumbler, Armadillo, Long Range, Grand Slam and Steam Roller. This sorta’ validates the “No-Prize Explanation” from a few issues back about: “where are the other Joes”? All those Joes you could name who were NOT in this story arc– they were “on assignment”, elsewhere.
   
• Only real error I spotted this month was flip-flopped word balloons for Long Range and Zap, who were driving the Mauler. Clearly a letter’s error, but you can “No-Prize” things by saying: “it was so noisy during the tank battle that we really couldn’t tell who was saying what”.
   
• FWIW, Dial-Tone is shown opearting the turret of the AWE Striker. Like the VAMP’s old turret, the need for a “gunner” for this vehicle comes and goes at the artist’s whim.
   
• Jane shows off a new hologram map of the Pit. Kind of a throwback to old issues. One part of the map that made me giggle was a tunnel marked as “Ninja Exit”.
   
• Pehr and Lovett’s airfield was also built on top of the old secret base. They were told it was simply an old military arifield when they bought the place.
   
• With Long Range and Zap driving the Mauler MBT— I think this is the first time we’ve clearly seen somebody visibly driving a Mauler since Heavy Metal’s death (the original Mauler “driver”).
   
• Funny scene: a Toxo-Viper is shown handling the novocaine Dr. Mindbender gives to wounded Cobra troopers.
   
• Funny scne II: Cobra Commander leads his charge by shouting: “Once more into the breach!” HISS driver: “What breach? And isn’t this our first attack?” CC: “I’m waxing poetic, you lumbricoid brimborion!”
• This issue had no less than EIGHT different covers to choose from. Most comic shops had 2, the “regular” cover and a Herb Trimpe cover of Cobra Commander… waving politely. That’s the one I picked up.
   
• A special IMAGE-ish cover for “Yesteryear Comics” featured the Baroness…not wearing pants. Umm, okay.
   
• A special “subscription cover” exists, featuring Optimus Prime helping the Joes. Hmm… if THAT ties into the “secret behind the blast door”…. I wouldn’t be thrilled about it, but I’d go along for the ride. The original Transformers/GI Joe crossovers were wretched, so I’d be willing to let them call a “do-over” and try it again. My Transformers hate is pretty evident, but at this point nothing really bothers me.
   
• Back-up features include an interview with S.L Gallant and the production staff, then some un-colored/un-lettered “raw” pages. I usually despise these types of self-serving interviews, yet I enjoyed it this time around.
   
• Exciting back-up feature is the RETURN of “Postbox: The Pit”. Honestly, I may have to start emailing IDW, now. I had two or three “letters” printed in the Devil’s Due series, circa 2003.
   
• I had a hard time scoring all the character cameos and appearances, this issue. To help me out, I added a special “Character cameos”, which I may dust off for future issues with big casts. Some of these are impossible to score, due to the fact that little-to-no detail is given. I’ve included a few educated guesses in “cameos”. One cameo silhouette showed a muscular guy in a Smokey the Bear hat with reflective shades. A clever way of slipping in Sgt. Slaughter, albeit unofficially. 99% sure that’s who it was supposed to be.
   
• Another silhouette appears to be of Tollbooth, with his sledgehammer.
   
• As it stands, this is a fine issue as it felt like the celebration it was supposed to be.
   
• I’ve noticed that I tend to give high ratings to issues that features lots of TANKS and VEHICLES. Hey, somebody loved his GI Joe vehicles as a kid.
   
• Not that it means two-squirts-o-pee-pee to you, but this issue came out one day before my birthday, this year. Since GI Joe and my birthdays have a long history, I geeked out by riding my bike to the comic book shop and buying myself an early birthday present.

Appearances:

Characters (figures):Hawk, Duke, Lt. Falcon, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, Psyche-Out, Mainframe, Wild Bill, Dial-Tone, Tunnel Rat, Lightfoot, Tripwire, Ace, Spirit Iron-Knife, Grand Slam, Zap, Long Range, Clutch, Cover Girl, Steeler, Stalker, Wildcard, Cross-Country, Armadillo

Character cameos (figures): Downtow, Flint, Dogfight, Alpine, Torpedo, Shipwreck, Rumbler, Sgt. Slaughter, Tollbooth, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, Rock & Roll, Lift-Ticket, Spirit Iron-Knife, Leatherneck

Characters (“comic-only”):Pehr, Lovett, Joe Colton, Jane, Timber III

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Mean Dog, APC, Mauler MBT, Rolling Thunder, AWE Striker, Wolverine, MOBAT, Cobra Maggot, Cobra Trouble Bubble, Cobra HISS, Cobra HISS II, Cobra HISS V, Cobra Ferret

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): M977 truck, standard Humvee (they didn’t call it “The Hammer”, thus the inclusion here).

Firsties:
Characters: none

Vehicles and stuff: none

Rating: 5 Flag Points