G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #83

“Road Pig”

Writer: Larry Hama
Pencilers: Ron Wagner

Summary:

At a bar in New Jersey, Road Pig recognizes his “long lost love”, Zarana, from a newscast (she, along with Zanzibar, had been arrested after issue 81). Road Pig sets out to free her, using his SuperHuman Dreadnok Powers, and successfully breaks her and Zanzibar out of the New Jersey State Police HQ.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mindbender and Zartan have decided to follow-up on the deceased Star-Viper’s reports. They head to Utah, but Captain Minh overhears their radio communication and alerts the Pentagon. With the warning, the Joes move the three surface quonset huts of the Pit about a mile away. Cobra arrives and blows the huts away, thinking they’ve destroyed GI Joe HQ…again. But after the fires die down, they see no evidence of the Pit. The entire mission was a wash. With the Star-Viper dead, nobody really knows where the Pit is.

Over in the Presidio, a headstrong woman walks into Jinx’s Language Center. She demands to know where Billy is…after all, she’s his MOM!

Notes:

• Ties up the Star-Viper/Pit infiltration plot from issue 72.
• Road Pig is actually pretty interesting for a Dreadnok. He’s a split personality, switching between his distinguished, well read “Donald” personality, then the brutal “Road Pig” personality. He’s well aware of it and refers to himself as “we”.
• Road Pig looks like a cross between Brian Bosworth and Wez from “The Road Warrior” (“You!! You can run…but you can’t hide!!”).
• Mutt mentions that Junkyard is in the Pit’s infirmary and asks how he’s doing. Mutt, himself, is just arriving at the Pit. So it appears that Junkyard flew back to Utah on his own flight. Funny.
• Minh places a collect call from a payphone to “The Pentagon…the one in Arlington, Virginia”. Funny … and very similar to a scene from “Air Force One”, where Harrison Ford place a call to the White House.
• Minh is still using his converted Cobra Hyrdofoil. As such, his equipment can pick-up all other Cobra radioes.
• Law & Order are on hand at the Jersey PD. They mention that the BF2000 guys were let off.

Appearances:

Characters (figures):Law, Order, Hawk, Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Spirit, Dusty, Mutt, Jinx, Blocker (cameo), Knockdown (cameo), Leatherneck (cameo), Shipwreck (cameo), several faceless background Joes, Zarana, Zanzibar, Road Pig, Dr. Mindbender, Zartan

Characters (“comic-only”): Captain Minh, Fred VII (cameo), Billy’s Mom

Vehicles and stuff (toys): APC, AWE Striker, Cobra Mamba, Cobra Hydrofoil, Zanzibar’s Air Skiff

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): Cobra transport/gunship copter, Zartan’s helicopter (ZTN-456), Cobra air tanker

Firsties:
Characters: Road Pig, Billy’s Mom

Vehicles and stuff: none

Rating: 3 Flag Points