G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #226

(Cobra Nation: Part One)
Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: SL Gallant

Summary:

Cobra Commander and Dr. Mindbender are working a lobster roll food truck in Springfield, when they notice a young girl named Dawn Moreno schooling the high school lacrosse team. The Commander quickly takes a shine to her and appears to being mentoring her.

With the help of Crystal Ball’s widescale hypnotization, Zartan’s crew sneaks into Springfield and takes it over. They enter Cobra Commander’s throne room, where Destro and the Baroness also appear. The basis is that they all want to work with Cobra, again, since it’ll be profitable. Cobra Commander begrudingly agrees… again.

The Joes wrap up suveillance of the old Cobra office park, when they encounter the mysterious “Trieste Arashikage”. He has been sent by Demon Granny to finish Snake-Eyes’ (II) training.

Notes:

• This is second or third time in the past year that Destro has threatened Cobra Commander and gotten back in to Cobra (seemingly). I think they’ve got something more vengeful planned, this time, though. I’ve always found the in-fighting of Cobra to be one of the more entertaining aspects of the title.
   
• Destro has new robotic hands, courtesy of Revanche and MARS. Basically, he has super-human strength in them, or sorta’ like Dr. No. You can also indulge yourself and say this is a callback to the original 1983 cartoon, when Destro cracked a stone wall with a punch… but that’s a big stretch.
   
• A billboard advertises a Springfield TV channel: “WCBR-TV5”. Aside from the call letters, this is interesting, because the presence of a “W” indicates that “Springfield” is located east of the Mississippi River.
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• The Springfield entry sign indicates it is a sister town of…Springfield. Also, the mayor is cited as “Andrew James”. I’m guessing that’s a reference to a super-fan or something.
   
• No mention of the Springfield High School’s mascot this month, but assuming they’re still the “Viper”, we’ve got THIS T-SHIRT for ya’!Created in the bowels of the Option38 Command Center for the Destructive Arts.
   
• Tomax and Xamot are leading the “Crimson Guard Immortals”, making their first appearance. I hope they stick to this look, as we could assume that the Immortals are T & X’s personal crew, while the traditional siegies are core Cobra.
   
• Cesspool adds a mild sedative to the Springfield water supply, to make the citizens more acceptable to Crystal Ball’s hypnosis. So Cesspool actually does something, for once.
   
• Zarana is driving a 70’s van with “Varanna” painted on the side. The “V” is stylized so it could be either a “Z” or “V”.
   
• The first two pages with Cobra Commander and Dr. Mindbender in the food truck are hilarious. One of the funnier sequences of the entire run, IMO.
   
• We get a computerized diagram of Snake-Eyes’ updated gear. Most significantly, he’s traded the usual uzi for a “CTAR-21”.
   
• Duke mentions that his wife, Claire, has gotten a job as doctor in Ogden, UT. “So we can have weekend together like normal people”. Good use of natural dialogue to fill in the details.
   
• In what’s become a usual occurence, I picked up the last available copy of this issue from my local store. That means that either these books are selling well or; more likely; the dweebs who run the shop only order what they like. Which would explain the countless “Walking Dead” comics that fill their shelves.
   
• Interesting letter, where a fan picks up on the fact that Joe Colton was referred to as “Sr.” a few issues ago (which I completely missed). Hama gives a quick backstory about “Joe Colton, Jr.” who is currently a professor of Oriental philosophy at an Ivy League college in the northeast. “Major Colton” has a military background and consults with the DoD. He’s also taken a few top-secret leaves of absence from his traching gig. Hama teases that he may pop up in the future.
   
• Not much action, but the dialogue, plot progression and information presented make this an entertaining issue.
   

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Duke, Roadblock, Scarlett, Stalker, Jinx, Mainframe, Snake-Eyes, Psyche-Out (cameo), Cobra Commander, Dr. Mindbender, Destro, Baroness, Zartan, Zarana, Cesspool, Tomax, Xamot, Crystal Ball, Big Boa, Road Pig, Buzzer (cameo)

Characters (“comic-only”): “Trieste Arashikage”

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Cobra Ferret

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): Cobra Lobster Roll Food Truck!

Firsties:
Characters: Dawn Moreno (also, the CG Immortals, but I don’t score Cobra troops, since they’re not individual characters)

Vehicles and stuff: Cobra Lobster Roll Food Truck!