G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #57

“Strange Bedfellows”

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Rod Whigham

Summary

After analyzing the Terror Drome parts, the Joes trace their origins to MARS– Destro’s family business from Scotland. Flint and Lady Jaye are sent to Scotland to acquire the Terror Drome plans from Destro’s ancestral castle. Destro arrives, too, but finds someone has been impersonating him and taken over the castle. Destro agrees to team up with Flint, Lady Jaye and two SAS operatives. If Destro can get his castle back, he’ll give Flint and Lady Jaye the Terror Drome plans. They break into the castle and sort things out, finding out that Major Bludd has been impersonating Destro. Destro lives up to his agreement, hands over the plans, and it’s mission accomplished.

Notes:

• Mainframe makes his first appearance in the splash page, but it’s a non-speaking cameo.
• First mention of Destro’s MARS company; Military Armaments Research Syndicate. Flint knows all about them; they were founded in 1752 as a naval gun foundry by a James McCullen Destro. The modern Destro is the 15th successor to the position. Huh… so if Flint (a Rhodes Scholar) knew all this stuff, why didn’t it dawn on him, before? Also, why haven’t the Joes been suspicious of MARS all these years?
• Hawk receives surveillance photos of Destro in Kennedy Airport and hears a report of the Joes’ Earth Boring Machine being found in a mall. They surmise that both Destro and Cobra Commander are still alive.
• MARS is just one of several agencies that contracted to build Terror Dromes. But each manufacturer was allowed one complete set of master blueprints.
• The SAS guys are nothing too distinctive: Smythe-Barrett, aka “Jingles” and Sgt. Day. They seem like characters from the old British “Battle Action Force” yarns, before that line was switched over to resemble G.I. Joe. I remember hoping that an entire British team might be introduced, like the October Guard, but that never happened.
• Destro’s castle is in Glasgow. Which makes Roddy Piper’s recent 2007 action figure inclusion as a MARS operative all the funnier.
• Destro has his own private (and very Scottish) army in the castle. They all wear stereotypical Scottish garb, with the little hats and kilts. Eventually, you can assume that these guys make up the backbone of the Iron Grenadiers, when that faction arrives in about a year.
• Destro mentions that he’s fed up with Cobra. Even after he returned to Cobra in issue 31, Destro would always talk about his loyalty to the Commander. With CC having an epiphany in issue 55, and with Cobra leaving them for dead, it makes sense that Destro’s severing ties with the group.
• Nice attention to detail, as the little symbol that had always been on Destro’s belt (looks like a bat of sorts), is seen on the doors of Castle Destro.
• Important to note that even though this story involved Lady Jaye, Destro and Scotland, there is NO family connection between the two characters. There was a famous episode of the cartoon series that tied the families of Lady Jaye and Destro together. A lot of casual fans assumed this was true in the comics, and that this particular issue featured a similar story. Nope.
• This was the long-promised “Destro origin” issue. But it’s not an origin at all. Just provides some background on the guy.
• I’m scoring Flash as an official appearance. Although with the way Marvel kept screwing up the “laser trooper” gear, it could be Zap, Grand-Slam or even Short-Fuse.
• The letters page features a buncha’ letters from cartoon fans, but cites the Joes’ leadership. Hawk is the Commanding Officer, Duke is the First Sergeant (top) and Acting Executive Officer (X.O) bounces around between Ace, Cutter and Wild-Bill. This was pretty much the order that Hama stuck to, for the rest of the comic (although I’m a little miffed that Stalker wasn’t mentioned). No Flint, Beach-head or Sgt. Slaughter cited as “leaders”.

Appearances:

Characters (figures):Hawk, Flint, Lady Jaye, Mainframe (cameo), Flash (cameo), Dial-Tone (cameo), Destro, Major Bludd

Characters (“comic-only”): Smythe-Barrett (“Jingles”) and Sgt. Day

Vehicles and stuff (toys): USS Flagg

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): EA-6B Prowler jet, SAS Land Rover, old RAF glider-plane, Castle Destro

Firsties:
Characters: Mainframe, Smythe-Barrett/Jingles, Sgt. Day, Destro’s Sergeant Major

Vehicles: none

Rating: Rating: 3 Flag Points