GI JOE #32Creative Team: Larry Hama-writer, Frink Springer & Andy Mushynsky-art, Rick Parker-letters, George Roussos-colors, Denny O'Neil-editor, Jim Shooter-on furlough.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the battle at Snake Eyes' cabin, there are bodies strewn about, the living and the dead. A new figure comes into the area and offers water to Spirit Iron Knife. Spirit says he has a healing touch and the dude downplays it, but he also swats away wrist rockets, launched at his back, by Destro. He opens his hood and removes his goggles, to reveal the Soft Master.
He tells Destro to take the lightly wounded Firefly and the badly wounded sleeper agent (Fred) and bugger off the mountain.
At the Pit, Duke and Hawk look over the plans and Duke reports that they are operational, barring some cosmetic touches. Hawk tells him to get out the compact and finish up, because General "Iron Butt" Austin is coming for the opening ceremonies (which you should always have, for a secret base). This leads to Clutch driving into the vehicle park, with new JOES Recondo (I'll explain, later) and Blowtorch, who have the soda and ice cream, for the party.
No beer? Someone give that man an Article 15! (I'll explain)
They ask Duke where to put the stuff (too easy) and he asks what they really want to know and Clutch asks about Snake Eyes. Duke says he detailed Airborne and Spirit to watch over him and Scarlett overhears and is miffed.
Back on the mountain, Airborne questions why the Soft master let Destro and Firefly go, with their weapons. he makes some BS spiel about knowing what they will do with weapons, but he is just covering for his #$%@-up, as he digs two bullets out of Airborne's legs.
In Springfield, little Billy practices his Jack Ruby imitation.....
I think Billy may have fired another shot!
On the mountain, Soft Master has Spirit help him shift some debris from the cabin, so he can find Snake Eyes' bolt hole, which he does. Further down, Firefly whines about running from the fight and destro says they withdrew, with honor.
I think Nixon said that, in 1973. Wasn't true then, either.
Elsewhere, Zartan is giving the Dreadnoks the silent treatment and they ask if he is still mad about the air base. he finally says he is concentrating and then spots an Arbco moving van, and they do an Italian Job rendezvous, in motion.....
Catchy tune!
Cobra Commander is inside, doing his best M, in the field.....
Zartan asks about Storm Shadow and CC says he is locked up in Alcatraz. Not quite, as it turns out....
CC says he prefers it, lest he learn about the death of his uncle.
On the mountain, Soft Master and Spirit bring the unconscious bodies of Snake Eyes and the wolf to join Airborne, then Spirit goes off to hunt food and bring back wood, for a fire (um, they need the fire first and there is a tree, close by). Down the hill, Fred, the sleeper, has disapepared back up the mountain, as Firefly and Destro discover, when they wake up, after a siesta. Mr Yupiie is out to prove himself a Rambo, which means he wil be toast in a few pages.
In Springfield, Major Bludd and Baroness witness Cobra Commanders return, complete with Dreadnoks and Storm Shadow....
On the mountain, a bald eagle lands on Spirit's arm, because why not? It leads him to a blood trail, which is from fred, as he tries to ambush the others.
In Springfield, Storm Shadow explains how he got out of Alcatraz (dug his way out and made a raft out of raincoats and inflated them with air....wait, that was the Clint Eastwood movie). he then questions CC about bringing back the help he promised and he backpeddles like a politician confronted by angry constituents.
On the mountain, Destro and Firfly follow the blood trail and run into Spirit, who tells them to keep quiet and back away. They think he is bluffing and rush him and find out he wasn't....
Yogi has come to raid picnic baskets and kick ass and he is all out of picnic baskets!
Back up the mountain, Fred turns up, with a disproportionately large paratroop model AK-47 and Soft master tells him to get, as everyone s helpless and he will be committing murder. He says "Pull the other one!" and takes aim.
Yogi has Spirit, Destro and Firefly treed and Firfly wants to dump a stachel charge on him, but Spirit stops him, because there is enough C4 in there to blow up the base of the tree, killing them in the process. He loops the satchel charge's carrying strap over the bear's head and neck and tells him that Boo-Boo has a picnic basket in the other direction and runs. Yogi isn't biting and stays and Destro yells for Spirit to return and the charge goes off...
CC and SS talk and CC reveals he knows about Destro, Major Bludd and the Baroness' treachery and he doesn't trust the Dreanoks, either. He tells SS he trusts him and he knows who killed the Hard Master and he will tell him, if he safeguards his life, until the big pep rally.
Destro and Firefly are still up the tree, safe, but it is weakened and tips over. They hang on and ride it down and think they are safe, until it starts sliding downhill and beyond....
This is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon!
Spriti arrives back at camp and finds Fred dead. He bled to death and was not the victim of any ninja s@#$. Snake Eyes wakes up and Soft Master says they must talk about who really killed the Hard Master.
Destro and Firefly land in a river and their tree joins a logjam, from a nearby lumberjack camp, or something.
At the Pit, two soldiers wander in and Scarlett challenges them and the female gets catty, but the male, being sensible....because no girl is reading this book, so misogyny rules....shows her their orders, as replacements for Scarlett and Grunt. They are Ripcord and Lady J and are both about to find themselves on report, as Scarlett outranks them and isn't going to put up with Lip from some hussy with her artillery on display.....
Meanwhile, in the suburbs surprisingly situated outside the gates of Ft Wadsworth, Fred returns home and his "kids" run out to greet him and realize he isn't the same guy and say so. he tells them he is their daddy, now and to go clean their rooms, while he gives "mom" a surprise.
Thoughts: Well, lot of stuff going on, with plenty of intrigue, a bit of action that would be at home on Saturday morning, apart from the guns, and some more advertising for toys. Blowtorch and Ripcord were part of the 1984 toy release, of whom we still haven't seen Scrap iron, Thunder and the Cobra Copperhead trooper. Lady J is part of the 1985 release and this issue is cover dated February of 1985; so, it is probably finishing up the previous year's release and beginning to introduce the new figures. I will be ranting about them in about 8 issues. Standby for the fireworks.
Baroness tries to sway Billy with some mothering; but, I am pretty sure this kid entered puberty, after having a hot lady in a leather outfit press her........interests.....on him. The Cobra Scout uniform is a nice touch. i personally found scouting to be a bit fascist and militarist, so it tickled me. Then again, I did willingly apply for Navy ROTC and 4 years active duty, so what did I learn in scouting? I should have learned that me and uniforms don't mix; but, some truths you have to learn the hard way.
Spirit should be freezing his Tontos off, since he is running around at high altitude, in winter, in buckskin trousers and a cloth shirt, but no insulating layers. I guess native Americans are impervious to cold; but, then, I'm sure I remember seeing the Lakota wrapped in buffalo hides, in winter. Gotta love stereotypes.
The bear makes for convenient comedy, though blowing it up with a satchel charge isn't particularly funny. Not showing the corpse (there would be parts left) doesn't improve the situation. Guess it is too sophisticated humor, for my tastes.
So, we are getting ready for the opening ceremonies for the rebuilt Pit, which suggests it isn't as secret as it should be, though only the military would build a secret base on a site that was already compromised once.
This isn't much of an exaggeration.
Scarlett is an E5, sergeant, and Ripcord and Lady Jay are E4, corporals. As such, Lady J's belligerent attitude could have her brought up on charges of insubordination to a superior non-commissioned officer. Such charges would be handled via what is known as an Article 15, in the US Army. Article 15 of the Uniform Code of military Justice sets forth the provisions of non-judicial punishment, at the organizational level...meaning punishment without resorting to a formal court martial. There are limits set forth as to the punishment that a commanding officer can lay down; but, they include reducing in rank by one grade and take up to 2/3 of the offender's pay, for up to 90 days, as well as additional duty and restriction to barracks. They can combine some of these elements, so Lady J could be busted to E-23, which reduces her pay, which is tied to rank, and then they can take 2/3 of it, at the lower pay grade, for up to 90 days (6 pay periods, essentially). You'd be amazed how quickly people get the message! The Marines refer to it as "Office Hours," and the Navy calls it "Captain's Mast," since it was traditionally administered before the main mast, on sailing vessels.
Ripcord is supposed to be airborne (like Airborne) and a HALO expert (High Altitude, Low Opening.....aka freefall). Lady J is intelligence (not demonstrated so far) and infiltration, which is Scarlett's area. Like Scarlett, she has somehow attended training schools which were prohibited to women, in the 1980s. She is also improperly attired, as her blouse seems to be open from about her abdomen upward and the Army isn't noted for displaying cleavage, even in the 80s. Ripcords camo jumpsuit looks right out of the Korean War. This is a sad factor of comic books of the period, as no one seemed to be able to draw accurate camouflage patterns,. Stalker was previously shown in tigerstripe, which was discontinued, after Vietnam, and everyone else has been in OD Green, which was replaced by Woodland Camouflage, in 1981. Scarlett's outfit wasn't even superhero issue. Mostly, she looked like an armed go-go dancer.
Recondo is military-speak for Reconnaissance Commando. In the Vietnam Era, they set up the Recondo school, to train officers and non-coms to lead long range recon teams. There was an Army school at Ft Bragg, then a local one was set up in Vietnam, at Nha Trang. The character Recondo is supposed to be from Wisconsin, yet he is wearing a distinctly Aussie bush hat. There was an unofficial variation of one, worn in Vietnam, which was then adopted, officially, by the 1st Air Commando Group (Air Force pilots who trained Vietnamese to fly WW2 Era planes, like the B-26 Marauder and the T-28. They were called "Jungle Jims," because of the hat, after Johnny Weismuller and the Jungle Jim films. His backer card says he is a cadre member at the Jungle Warfare Training Center, but that is in Okinawa and run by the Marines. The Army has the Jungle Operations Training Center, in Hawaii, at Schofield Barracks. However, I think this is actually intended to invoke the Australian Army and the Land Warfare Centre, in Queensland, where their original Jungle Training Centre was formed, in 1942. Here, troops were trained for the New Guinea Campaign, as well as special units, like Z Force, who carried out special operations in Borneo and the Dutch east Indies, as well as New Guinea. Units destined for Malaya and Borneo, as well as, later, Vietnam, trained at the center. In the 1980s, the jungle training component was moved to Tully, Queensland, because of urban development encroaching on the training area. That would explain the Aussie slouch hat and khaki blouse. His weapon, on the backer card, looks like a stylization of the paratrooper version of the M1 Carbine, which was used in Vietnam, by early advisors and South Vietnamese troops.
Ripcord's backer card either has a typo, or Larry Hama was smoking something, when he wrote it (assuming he wrote the later cards, as he did with the initial wave...not sure about that) as it says he is an expert with the Carl Gustav 9mm parabellum. A "Carl Gustav" is a Swedish manufactured recoilless rifle, which is used by the British, Australian, Canadian and US Armies. However, it is 84 mm. 9mm parabellum is the standard pistol cartridge for most military pistols, including the Browning Hi Power, US M9 (aka the Beretta Model 92F), Sig Sauer P26 (as seen in Robocop, for the police officers) and similar weapons, as well as the Uzi, Mac-10, HK-53 and most other major submachine guns. It was developed by the Germans and was used in WW1, with the Luger P08 pistol, as well as the WW2 P-38 and MP-40 submachine gun. So, either a comma or semicolon is missing, or someone went nuts.
I have been pleasantly surprised by how engaging these stories have been, as I was kind of expecting to lose interest, long before this. I mostly nitpick for fun, as I recognize this is all fiction, based on a toyline; but, the plots are pretty good and are much better than the bulk of the firt year, which were the only comics of the series I had previously read (well, about 2/3 of them). I still wish the series had an artist of the caliber of Michael Golden, to give it some style; but, Mike Vosburg did a decent job and Frank Springer and Andy Mushynsky are doing a serviceable job. I do wish Larry Hama and Steve Leialoha could have been the regular team, based on the pair of issues they did; but, I doubt Hama could write and draw a monthly book and handle his editing duties. Not without "go pills," at least. (ask a Vietnam or Afghanistan vet). I can see why a toy tie-in lasted so long, even in the Reagan 80s.
Next time, it's party time, Cobra style, while the JOEs have their ribbon cutting and we have fun and mayhem in that 80s playground, the mall! All this and a bear named Bongo.
Plus, the promotion board has met and the results are about to be posted.