G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #283

Writer: Larry Hama
Pencils: S.L. Gallant

Summary:

A team of Joes, consisting of Chuckles, Roadblock, Lady Jaye and newbies Black Hat and Multo are in the Asian country of Phan Chang, chasing a lead on Al Kawbra. Things don’t go smoothly, as their cover is blown and they face a full-on conflict with Al Kawbra and his goons.

To further complicate matters, Zandar, Zarana and Sarawak Sally suddenly enter the fray on the Thunder Machine, and steal Al Kawbra’s nuclear warhead. The Joes chase them to Sally’s freighter…but reach a friendly compromise. Neither side wants to see a rogue nuke in the area, so they disarm it and dump it in the Mariana Trench

Notes:

• This takes place in the city of Si Thxng, Phan Tang
• Nice little “side mission”, as this helps to flesh out the “team” concept.
  Good to see SOMEBODY ELSE working to track down Al Kawbra. Too often, this book gets sucked into focusing on one set of characters on a specific mission. As if the rest of the Joes are just goofing around the Pit waiting for the big mission that comes every 100 issues.
• Little goofy that the Dreadnoks grab the nuclear warhead and place it on the top of the Thunder Machine’s twin gatling guns. Everyone else continues to shoot at it, too. Sure, it probably wouldn’t detonate without the kryton being triggered, but it violates standard action movie protocol. As John Travolta said in “Broken Arrow”: “Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons?!”
• Zandar was someone I suspected might be Al Kawbra. However, this issues kinda’ kills that theory
• Yup, the same Sarawak Sally from Special Missions #4. An issue and character I pooped all over, when I wrote the official review, circa 2007. However, this time out, she doesn’t seem ridiculous.
• I don’t have Special Missions #4 in front of me, and don’t feel like going through the Option38 Vaults to look it up… but was the country “Phan Chang” mentioned in that issue?
• I also like how Zartan and the Dreadnoks are actually a different faction, nowadays. They were always supposed to be, but in the Marvel series they seemed to be integrated within Cobra way too much.
• As Chuckles helpfully narrates, Multo is “ex-Phillippines Special Forces and his codename means ‘Ghost’ in tagalog”.
• Black Hat appears to be Indian. However, I don’t think it’d be fair to assume she’s “from” India. She could very well be a naturalized American, of Indian descent.
• The Joes, Sally’s crew, and the Dreadnoks all celebrate with some “party time” by drinking cocktails on the freighter. It’s only one panel, but it looks like Zarana is sweet on Roadblock?The cover has nothing to do with the interior, as it’s intended to be a pin-up of the team’s female members. Yet where’s Bombstrike? Or even Jane if you wanna’ be picky.

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Chuckles, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, Zandar, Zarana

Characters (comic-only): Multo, Black Hat, Sarawak Sally, Al Kawbra

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Dreadnok Thunder Machine

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): Sarawak Star (freighter)

Firsties: Black Hat, Multo

Rating: 4 Flag Points