G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #241
Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: S.L. Gallant
Summary
Cobra Commander orders another round of BATs and Blue Ninjas to attack the Springfield Rec Center. This time, Snake-Eyes/Dawn attacks and takes them all out, by himself…err, herself.
Zarana and the Dreadnoks arrive in the Thunder Machine and want a crack at things. Once they’re in, they meet up with Zartan and help everybody (Dawn, the Collins family, Demon Granny and Storm Shadow) escape. Zartan uses his trickery to appear like Dr. Mindbender, while Dawn, Snake-Eyes II and Storm Shadow use Viper outfits to disguise themselves. The others all appear to be “prisoners”. Cobra Commander thinks he’s won and lets “Dr. Mindbender” take the prisoners to the police station. A dead Viper was switched into Snake-Eyes II’s uniform. They toss the body at Cobra Commander, who thinks he’s finally killed Snake-Eyes.
While all this was going on, Dr. Venom, in the body of Mindbender enters the locker room and gives himself a makeover. He ditches the monocle, cape and mustache. He runs into Wendy Ling-Torres’ “Fred” aide and steals his wig. Venom then meets up with Cobra Commander, who’s not only astonished that Venom is back, but that someone fooled him.
Over in Darklonia, Sneak Peek is taken to a veterinarian, but still succumbs to his wounds and dies with Katya at his side. His last request was to be buried in Darklonia.
Notes:
- Fred is found hiding in a locker and on the inside of the locker’s door are two cheesecake pin-ups of the Baroness and Zarana.
- As Dr. Venom checks out his new body, he asks: “why is this body I’m occupying dressed like a clown? Half naked…and wearing a cape? And a monocle?”
- I guess this is the “Mindbender makeover” Hama mentioned about two years ago.
- Cobra Commander boasts: “you don’t look like Dr. Venom! you look like a shaved Dr. Mindender with a bad rug!”
- To prove that he’s Dr. Venom, he tells Cobra Commander: “I was the one who provided technical implentation for all your grandiose schemes when you were a tawdry used-car salesman and puramid scheme huckster”.
- Seems a little odd that the usually moronic Dreadnoks are in on Zartan’s ruse and are able to keep their traps shut about it.
- In the letters page, Hama has yet another forgetful spell. A reader asks why Dr. Biggles-Jones is now a full-fledged bad guy, when she was an undercover agent when she last appeared in 1994. Hama replies: “the stories not written by me are not part of my continuity, and have not actually read any of them. In my universe, Dr. Biggles-Jones is not an undercover agent”.
- Umm… you WROTE the issues where she was mentioned as an undercover agent.
- In the same answer, he also mentions that the Devil’s Due (de)Classified and Storm Shadow series are a part of his continuity. So the Declassified story about “Shooter” and the follow-up in issue 228 are now officially linked.
- I think we can score Sneak-Peek as “dead”, now. Although, we didn’t see the body, so it’s entirely possible the Darklonian resistance has an old Brainwave Scanner, somewhere, and can put Sneak-Peek’s personality into a new body. Then some BS backstory about he was subjected to a Brainwave Scanner during his undercover assignment. Sheesh….
Appearances
Characters (figures): Storm Shadow, Flint, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, Sneak Peek (croaks), Spirit Iron-Knife, Zartan, Zarana, Torch, Ripper, Buzzer, Cobra Commander, Dr. Mindbender, Destro, Baroness
Characters (“comic-only”): Throwdown (Snake-Eyes II), Dawn Moreno, Demon Granny, Wade Collins, Heather Collins, “Mrs. Collins”, Dr. Venom, Grosz, Katya
Vehicles and stuff (toys): Dreadnok Thunder Machine, Cobra HISS (cameo)
Vehicles and stuff (not toys): None
Firsties:
Characters:none
Vehicles and stuff: none
Rating: 3 Flag Points
