G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #26

“Snake-Eyes: The Origin- Part 1″”

Writer: Larry Hama
Breakdowns: Larry Hama (!)
Finishes: Steve Leialoha

Summary

Junkyard isn’t shot, as Destro saves him. Destro quotes Kwinn my mentioning: “a man who whips a dog will pull his own sled one day”. Zartan, Destro, the Baroness and Cobra Commander all follow Junkyard into the swamp. Mutt, Tripwire and Torpedo think Junkyard’s leading the bad guys to them, but Junkyard leads the Cobras into quicksand. Wild Weasel and Firefly escape from their bonds and run deeper into the swamp.

Back at the Pit, Hawks, Stalker and Scarlett try to decipher the I-ching symbol that they saw on Storm Shadow and Snake-Eyes. Stalker flashes back 10 years to Southeast Asia, when he, Snake-Eyes and “Tommy” were all LRRPs together. Snake-Eyes and Tommy were tight, like brothers. During a chopper pick-up that went bad, Snake-Eyes was shot down. Tommy raced through the bullets and carried Snake-Eyes back to the chopper. Tommy used his wristbands to bandage Snake-Eyes, which is when Stalker noticed the I-Ching tattoo on Tommy’s forearm. Back in the present, Stalker finds out that Tommy’s unpronounceable last name (Arashikage) translates into “Storm Shadow”.

Hawk takes over the flashback, recounting the time he picked up Snake-Eyes at the airport, when he arrived home from Vietnam. Hawk was there to deliver sad news: Snake-Eyes’s entire family –his twin sister and both parents– had all been killed in a car wreck, caused by a returning vet on a drug binge.

Meanwhile, up in Spanish Harlem, Snake-Eyes enters “Comidas Chinas”, a Cuban/Chinese restaurant being run by his old friend, the Soft Master. After Soft Master calmly thwarts a hold-up, they flashback to Snake-Eyes three years in Japan. Taking Tommy’s offer, Snake-Eyes joined the “Family Business” and entered ninja training, under the tutelage of the Hard Master and the Soft Master. Tommy was the Young Master, but the elder members began to consider Snake-Eyes as the heir. Tommy had a nasty streak in him, especially with his bow expertise. Using the “ear that sees”, Tommy shot through a target and the wall behind it, hitting a squirrel outside the complex.

Later, the Hard Master and Snake-Eyes were engaged in a one-on-one training session. As the Hard Master was mimicking Snake-Eyes’s fighting style, an arrow flew through the walls, killing the Hard Master. The arrow had the Young Master’s distinctive markings on it. But with his dying breath, the Hard Master insisted that the Young Master wasn’t to blame. The Young Master was seen running out of the complex and never returned to the “family business”. Back in the present, Snake-Eyes and the Soft master surmise that Snake-Eyes, not the Hard Master, was the real target that night.

Notes:

• It could be said that Snake-Eyes’s origin was what separated G.I. Joe from being “just a toy comic” into being a “real comic”. His story is just as colorful and tragic as any Marvel hero of the day.
• One of the saddest panels I’ve ever read is of Snake-Eyes standing at the airport, wondering why nobody’s there to pick him up.
• Aside from the Snake-Eyes/Storm Shadow connection, this also sets up two HUGE events that would serve as subplots for the rest of the book’s life: who killed the Hard Master? Plus the crash that killed Snake-Eyes’s family. The entire series doesn’t
  work without this issue.

• Snake-Eyes and his sister are supposed to be twins, but she appears to be about 14 in the crash flashback.
• No names are given for Snake-Eyes or his family.
• In Vietnam, while not disfigured or mute, Snake-Eyes always wears a panama hat. So we never see his eyes. Nice touch.
• Another cool touch is how we never see thought balloons or see things from Snake-Eyes’s point of view. All Flashbacks are narrated by the Soft Master, Hawk and Stalker. Throughout the whole thing, he never speaks.
• In a sense, the Soft Master takes over from Kwinn as the “voice of Snake-Eyes”. He expains to the readers what Snake-Eyes must be thinking, just as Kwinn did.
• We see another big trait of Snake-Eyes: in a duel with the Young Master, he lets him win so he wont lose favor with his family. Snake-Eyes knows he’s better than you, but he’ll let you think you are, as to not damage your pride.
• Hama visited alot of these ninja elements and concepts in his early “Iron Fist” work for Marvel, back in the 70’s. If you read some of the old Iron Fist stories from “Marvel Premiere”, you’ll see some similarities. In some ways, Iron Fist was an early version of Snake-Eyes.
• When the Soft Master embarrasses his would-be robber, he recites some of Hama’s philosophy on gun control: ban the “deadly” weapons and people will simply make deadlier weapons.
• Kinda’ stupid how Cobra Commander decides to run off into the swamp while wearing his HOOD, not his combat helmet.
• Mutt was wearing a helmet last issue, but now he appears to be wearing a cap– sort’a’ like Gung Ho’s hat. Next issue, he’ll be wearing a different helmet. All this despite the fact that the swamp story takes place over the course of roughly one hour and there’s no way Mutt could’ve changed head gear.
• This was the first issue of GI Joe that featured NO vehicles (tanks, canons, etc). No way they’re selling toys this month.
• Since I had found a comic shop close to home, I remember sitting in fourth grade class one Friday and thinking “tonight, I get to go the mall and get Snake-Eyes’s origin!! YES!!” I was so pumped up to get this book.
• Trivia time: In the “Bullpen Bulletins”, Marvel EIC Jim Shooter announces that Ka-Zar, Moon Knight and Micronauts have ended their “Direct-only” experiments and will be re-launched as regular newsstand titles. While Moon Knight and Micronauts did appear, Ka-Zar never did (Unless you count his 1996 series).

Appearances:

Characters (with figures): Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow (as Tommy the Young Master), Stalker, Scarlett, Hawk, Tripwire, Torpedo, Mutt & Junkyard, Destro, Zartan, Baroness, Cobra Commander

Characters (no action figures, or “comic-only” characters): The Hard Master, the Soft Master

Vehicles and stuff (toys): none
Vehicles and stuff (not toys): none to speak of (Huey choppers and the Snake-Eyes Family Wreckage)

Firsties:
Characters:The Hard Master, the Soft Master
Vehicles: none

Rating: 5 Flag Points