G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero #258
Summary:
The Venom-Bot continues its rampage in Springfield. Baroness calls in an airstrike, but it’s unsuccessful. Ambush and Sightline use HEAT Viper rockets to take out the Venom-Bot’s knees, while Bombstrike drops explosives into its head. The Venom-Bot begins fading away… and in doing so flashbacks to Dr. Venom’s life, as we suddenly have “The Origin of Dr. Venom”As a young boy in Bern, Switzerland, Claude Matthias Vinim’s s dad forced him to drown a puppy in a sack of bricks, off the Kirchenfeld Bridge (“Kirchenfeldbrucke”), since he was “too young and too irresponsible to have a pet”. 10 years later, Claude’s dad doesn’t want him to go to school in America, rather he’ll go to medical school at the Bern Institute of Reconstructive Surgery. Dad also burned all of Claude’s drawings and forced him to sell his guitar. Claude then returns the drowning favor, by pushing his dad off the bridge and into the river!
Later, as a student at the Rhode Island Institute of Technology, Vinim is facing expulsion and extradition, as a witness has implicated him in his dad’s murder. Plus, there’s that “ridiculous” senior thesis he’s been writing about brain waves. No having any of it, Claude then burns the school down.
Claude then heads to Springfield, where he demonstrates to Cobra Commander how he’s replaced the brain patterns of a mouse with those of a rabid wolf. CC’s into it…and offers him a job. When asked his name, Claude replies: “Venom. Doctor Venom”.
Final flashbacks include Venom’s first death from issue 19. Once dead, we see that the puppy, dad, the dean and Kwinn are all back to attack him.
With that seemingly the end of the Venom-Bot, a GI Joe Tomahawk suddenly arrives to extract the Joes. Baroness is ticked at Cobra Commander and tells him: “next time, buy from MARS”!
- Wow. Never expected this turn into the “Origin of Dr. Venom”. Very excited that happened.
- Sightline’s leg is shot by the Venom-Bot, so he’s stretchered out at the end.
- Vinim’s dad mentions: “Dr. Huntkinder is an old colleague..”
- I’m guessing Vinim’s school days were set in Rhode Island, as a little nod to Hasbro’s headquarters being located in Pawtucket, RI.
- There’s one slight contradiction with Venom’s “brain wave” studies. Originally, back in issues 10-58, the Brainwave Scanner just read minds. It wasn’t until circa issue 99,that Dr. Mindbender upgraded it by making it a brain-washing or personality altering tool. You can “NOH Award” this by saying that Venom originally had it working on mice…and he never got to finish testing it on humans, before his death. Mindbender then found his notes (as mentioned in the original Marvel run) and finished Venom’s work.
- Found it a little surprising that Venom’s second “death” from issue 165 hasn’t been mentioned or referenced in this “Cobra’s Venom” arc.
- My eyes swelled up at the puppy drowning scene. Venom’s whole upbringing makes you consider the old nature vs. nurture psychology debate. Was he naturally an a-hole, or did his dad turn him into one?
- After being given such prominence and importance the last two issues, the Storm Shadow robot completely disappears and isn’t seen at all, this issue. Weird.
- We see Rattler pilot, but it’s apparently NOT Wild Weasel. Just a random pilot with the same helmet. He gets blown away by the Venom-Bot, for what that’s worth.
- I think I’ve figured it out: Ron Joseph’s art reminds me of Alan Davis. Especially his faces. Pages 6-7 looks especially Davis-ish. This isn’t a bad thing, though. I liked Davis’s stuff and I’m digging Joseph’s stuff.
Appearances:
Characters (figures): Bombstrike, Sightline, Ambush, Duke, Roadblock, Lifeline, Big Ben, Cobra Commander, Baroness, Dr. Mindbender
Characters (“comic-only”): Dr. Venom, Milo, Kwinn (Ghost), Dean Jaeager (RIIT), Venom’s Dad, Milou the Puppy
Vehicles and stuff (toys): Cobra Rattler, Cobra Night Raven, Tomahawk
Vehicles and stuff (not toys): Venom-Bot
Firsties:
Characters: Venom’s Dad, Dean Jaeger, Milou the Puppy
Vehicles and stuff: none
Rating: 4 Flag Points
