G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #242

Summary

In Springfield, Zartan and the Dreadnoks help Wade Collins and his family out of town. Demon Granny, Sean Collins and Storm Shadow all appear to splintering off, as well. As Cobra begins to figure out Zartan’s ruse, Dr. Venom whispers something to the Baroness, letting her know that he’s the real deal.

Flying back from …somewhere… a team of Joes are re-directed to Trucial Abysmia, where the American Embassy has been attacked. Airborne, Leatherneck, Long Range and Rock & Roll HALO jump to the embassy and help US Ambassador McCrory, along with his aides Emerson and Lake (I’m guessing the third guy, Palmer, was killed. Hey-oh). Leatherneck’s parachute gets caught in a gust, dropping him 200 yards away and alerting the local hostiles. The hostiles all begin attacking the embassy as the Joes and the embassy staff hold them off….for now, anyways.

Notes

• The hostile are all called “tangos”, a common military term
• We also learn some more military jargon. “Angel’s twenty” and “angel’s thirty” are 20,000 feet and 30,000 feet, respectively.
• Wild Bill is flying the C-130, per usual. However, his co-pilot is some guy in a baseball hat. No idea who that’s supposed to be. Ace?
• Airborne seems to take the lead on this mission, which is appropriate considering he has the most seniority on the team.
• I think this is the first time we’ve officially seen Airborne since the relaunch!
• I was a little confused, at first, because I assumed the team of Joes were coming back from last issue’s mission in Darklonia, especially since Wild Bill says “you all just came off a rough op”, plus the inside-cover intro text mentions Sneak Peek and the events of last issue. But it’s a completely different team. What “rough op” they just came back from is anybody’s guess.
• Ambassador McCrory is ready to roll, as he was a recon Marine.
• Long Range is mistakenly called “Long Shot” by Airborne. No-Prize….errrr, NOH Award Explanation: Airborne hasn’t worked with Long Range much, so he simply messed things up. Plus, Long Range is now supposed to be a sniper, so “Long Shot” actually makes sense. Oh, he shoots…Long SHOT.
• Long Range gets a Bad-Ass Moment as he shoots a tango who was shouting orders. “He just got demoted to dead”.
• By the way, speaking of Long Range and his sniper role: still no explanation on why he switched from a heavy ordinance driver of the Thunderclap to a sniper. He recent roles have been more fit for Low-light (or Sci-fi if you followed “Action Force”)
• They’ve reverted to calling Snake-Eyes II “Sean”, once again. So this will probably throw-off my running “Appearances” scorecard.
• I picked up the “subscription variant cover”, once again. This time by choice, as I didn’t really care for the regular cover of Dr. Mindbender’s grill. The variant actually has an action-packed cover of Scarlett fighting some Cobra Eels. Nothing to do with this story, of course… but neither did Dr. Mindbender.
• A 3-page preview of “Diablo House” is included in the back of this issue. Yeah, sorry…not interested at all.

Appearances

Characters (figures): Storm Shadow, Wild Bill, Airborne, Long Range, Leatherneck, Rock and Roll, Zartan, Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness, Torch, Ripper, Buzzer, Zarana

Characters (“comic-only”): Throwdown (Snake-Eyes II), Demon Granny, Dawn Moreno, Wade Collins, Heather Collins, “Mrs. Collins”, Ambassador McCrory, Emerson, Lake, Mafood, Ishmael, Dr. Venom

Vehicles and stuff (toys): none

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): GI Joe C-130, Dreadnok Thunder Machine, HISS

Firsties:
Characters: Ambassador McCrory, Emerson, Lake, Mafood, Ishmael

Vehicles and stuff: none

Rating: 4 Flag Points