G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #328
Writer: Larry Hama
Pencils: Andrew Krahnke
Summary:
Sherlock and Down Range charge into the pyramid and save their teammates from the Revanche androids. Dawn slices open one’s head, flipping its top to the back, like a hinged lid. The android then thinks it’s firing an RPG at Sherlock and Down Range, but it’s really firing at the Terror Drome and its reactive armor. Everything blows up, yet the Joes manage to make it outside.
Dawn Moreno is the last out and takes the brunt of the concussive force. During so, she begins to experience old implanted memories of Snake-Eyes, including a “weaponized Easter Egg” that was implanted by Dr. Venom way back in issue 10. Yup… another circle back to the BRAINWAVE SCANNER. Dr. Venom is seen tinkering with Snake-Eyes’ brain and implanting stuff into his childhood bedroom.
The Terror Drome was destroyed, yet being embedded in stone and earth, it actually acted like a giant makeshift mortar and blew everything through the top of the pyramid, like a smokestack. Revanche, Alpha-001 and Dr. Mindbender viewed the whole thing…yet are perplexed why this peculiar image of an old bedroom seems to linger.
Notes:
- Well, there goes any momentum this title may have had: another recurrence of the frickin’ Brainwave Scanner.
- I get that it’s there to sort out this weird Dawn/Snake-Eyes/Throwdown stuff, but I’d be perfectly fine if these personality and memory shenanigans were sorted out, off-screen. Just have all three walk out of the Pit, one day, and say: “thanks to our session with Psyche-Out, the three of us have figured out any memory or personality issues.” Then have them jump in a tank and shoot stuff. Problem solved. Moving on.
- While the mission and action were somewhat straightforward, the ancient pyramid location seemed like something that would’ve used in the DIC cartoons. Or even like a “fun with science” skit, a la Mark Rober.
- Kinda’ clever how the Revanche bot with the flipped head actually played directly into the plot. It wasn’t just there for gruesome effect. Even though it’s a robot, it is still a little unsettling to have it running around with its head sliced in half, flipped backwards, and dangling.
- In the surreal flashback Brainwave Scanner sequences, Dr. Venom is visually implanting his “easter egg” in Snake-Eyes’ consciousness, in what was apparently his bedroom. We can see posters for Steve Earle and Creedence Clearwater Revival on Snake-Eyes’ walls.
- Also a nice touch how Dr. Venom’s brain tinkerings include a “cut along dotted line” of Snake-Eyes’ head, similar to how the Revanche android was cut open.
- Indeed, the art and those little touches bump this issue’s rating from a 2 to 3, despite yet ANOTHER callback to the frickin’ Brainwave Scanner and Dr. Venom. I suppose this means we’re now in for the THIRD return of Dr. Venom? I get that Hama may have missed one or two ideas the first TWO times he brought back Dr. Venom… but put it out to pasture, please.
Appearances:
Characters (figures): Cover Girl, Jinx, Snake-Eyes (flashback), Scarlett (flashback cameo), Dr. Mindbender, Cobra Commander (flashback cameo), Baroness (flashback cameo)
Characters (comic-only): Dawn Moreno, Sherlock, Down Range, Dr. Venom (flashback/virtual), Alpha-001
Vehicles and stuff (toys): none
Vehicles and stuff (comic-only): none
