G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #36

“All the Ships at Sea”

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Rod Whigham, Mark Bright, Bob Camp, Larry Hama

Summary

In the South Atlantic, the GI Jane fights off some Cobra Sea-Rattlers, while Torpedo and Snow-Job take the WHALE and assault a Cobra atoll base. Thanks to some clever manuvering and misdirection, the WHALE mission is successful. The Jane isn’t so lucky, as they have some trouble with the Sea-Rattlers. Deep-Six uncorks a special cargo box containing…holy shit.. the MMS missile launcher!! The Joes eventually take out the Sea-Rattlers, but not before the Jane is damaged and sunk. But Cutter put in an SOS to the USS Flagg aircraft carrier.

Meanwhile, Snake-Eyes and Scarlett run into Fred II and some Crimson Guardsmen on the Staten Island Ferry. Fred falls overboard when he sees Snake-Eyes’s real face.

Notes:

• The ensemble art team is pretty easy to categorize: Hama takes the lead on the Snake-Eyes/Scarlett story, Whigham the lead on the Jane story, and Bright the lead on the WHALE story.
• Awesome cover by Michael Golden
• Pretty good combat issue with action all around. The new ASP canons play a prominent role.
• We assume Fred “dies”…but we find out in issue 42 that he’s still alive.
• Deep-Six is back with his Coast Guard gear again.
• Pretty sure this was the last appearance of the GI Jane Freighter. The USS Flagg would take over as the main sea vehicle for the Joes from now on.
• The Sea-Rattlers are just Rattlers with special sea-plane landing gear. Their pilots are distinctive, though, with all-white uniforms. They never appeared in the cartoon or as action figures.
• The MMS makes its first full appearance in the series. It appeared in issue 8, but was tough to see and was blown up within two panels. Nice to see them dipping back into the vaults and using some of the older equipment. The MMS toy had been off the shelves for awhile at this point.
• The Cobra Hyrdofoils make their first appearance, but they’re more like blue speedboats. They make a proper appearance in issue 40.
• After the atoll base is destroyed, a Cobra officer remarks that they haven’t really lost. The Joes don’t know about the REAL reason Cobra was in the Gulf of Mexico. Hmmm….
• The Crimson Guardsmen recognized Scarlett on the Ferry, but not Snake-Eyes, since he was wearing his rubber mask and looked like a regular Army officer. Scarlett also clarifies that the Ferry is their “romantic” place.
• In the letters page, an enthusiastic fan tries to win a No-Prize about Soft-Master and Snake-Eyes “having a talk” in issue 32. He says that Snakes can’t talk, but that all ninjas are telepaths–like Stick from Daredevil– so that’s how they talked. Uh-huh… The editors politely decline his No-Prize.

Appearances:

Characters (figures):Tripwire, Cutter, Doc, Deep-Six, Torpedo, Snow Job, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett

Characters (“comic-only”):Fred II, undercover CG’s, Sea Rattler pilots.

Vehicles and stuff (toys): MMS, WHALE, Cobra ASP, Cobra (Sea)Rattler, Cobra Hydrofoil (unofficial), USS Flagg,
Vehicles and stuff (not toys): GI Jane

Firsties:
Characters:none
Vehicles: Cobra ASP, USS Flagg, Cobra Hydrofoils

Rating: Rating: 4 Flag Points