G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #147

“Oblivion Express!”

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Phil Gossier
Finishes: Crusher Wallace, Steve Alexandrov, Jim Amash, Don Hudson

Summary:

On the asteroid, the Joes and the guard continue blowing away robot drones. The drones eat away at the Defiant, leaving only the Russian shuttle and the Joes’ short-range Starfighter (a re-fitted Cobra Stiletto). They come up with a master plan: storm the asteroid’s command center and blow up all kinds of stuff.

In W-land, Cobra attacks from Darklonia and are suckered into a trap set by Hawk and Stalker. Cobra is pushed back, temporarily.

Notes:

• The cover of this issue is an homage to issue 7: a Joe and a Guardsman are standing back-to-back and blasting away at their enemies. But this time, they’re wearing space-suits and are surrounded by robots drones.
   
• The Joes in W-land can see the meteor approaching Earth’s atmosphere. Small touch to tie together two completely un-related plot lines
   
• Once again the “Armageddon” similarities exist, as the American shuttle is disabled.
   
• The Joes are still acting as advisors to Gen. Leiderkranz and W-land.
   
• Hawk and Stalker’s trap is kinda’ neat: they set up empty containers and barrels to resemble tanks. Similar to Stalker and Breaker’s false tranches and dummies in issue 13. Cobra falls for it, as the W-landers are able to flank the Cobra armor and blow them away.
   
• Red Star has some minor characterization, as he’s bent on disabling the meteor project. Duke speculates that it was a source of national embarrassment. But I’d guess that the un-named “Russian Scientist” also had a hand in Red Star’s strange resemblance to Col. Brekhov. So there could’ve been a seed planted for a later plot. But we’ll never know, as the series only has a few issues left.
   
• After seeing Castle Darklon obliterated, the entire populace of Darklonia became passive and put up no resistance to Cobra.
   
• The Cobra Detonator has become their main vehicle. Replacing the Paralyzers which had replaced the HISS tanks.

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Hawk, Stalker, Duke, Roadblock, Sci-Fi, Spaceshot, Payload, Red Star, Cobra Commander, Destro, Zartan

Characters (“comic-only”): Lt. Gorky, Dragonsky, Daina, Gen. Leiderkranz, Wolfgang

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Defiant, Armor Bot, AWE Striker, MBT Mauler, Rhino APV, MOBAT (?), GI Joe Starfighter, Cobra Detonator

Vehicles and stuff (not toys):Oktober Guard Armor Bot, Russian Space Shuttle.

Firsties:
Characters: none

Vehicles and stuff: GI Joe Starfighter

Rating: 3 Flag Points