G.I. Joe Special Missions #12

Special Missions #12- “Airshow”

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Herb Trimpe

Summary

Maverick, Slipstream and Ace make a public appearance, with their respective planes, at an airshow in Orange County, New York. Firefly and a small Cobra team rush the show, steal the modular flight components from the Skystriker and Conquest, then escape in the Vector. Maverick and a local pilot named Bert Phriem tail the Vector in a bi-plane, eventually tracing it to a garbage barge floating to NYC. Maverick and Bert attack the barge on foot and with the help of the NYPD, capture the baddies.

Notes:

• Ugh. Definite cartoon fodder. The top-secret Joes make a VERY public appearance with their classified vehicles and are announced as being from the “GI Joe Team”.
• All of the other airshow daredevils are given full names, so I’m assuming that they were, in fact, real people. I’d also guess that they were friends of Trimpe, considering his affection for planes.
• As Maverick and Bert chase the Vector, they give a vocal “tourism brochure guide” of several landmarks in Orange County. Like; “look, that’s the Ashokan Reservoir and there’s scenic Rosedale”. *Groan* They do this roughly 10-12 times throughout the issue.
• To make a refueling stop, Maverick and Bert land at Accord Speedway and meet Smitty Smithers, the owner. Editorial asterisk tells us that the Speedway recently closed.
• Only redeeming aspects in this story are the appearance of Firefly and Maverick’s love of bi-planes. On Maverick’s file card, it was mentioned that his mom was a crop-duster and would strap Baby Maverick into her bi-plane on a daily basis.
• With this issue, Special Missions goes monthly and the quality degrades. The first 6 issues were good, but the last 6 have been stinkers.

Appearances:

Characters (figures): Maverick, Ace, Slipstream, Firefly

Characters (“comic-only”): Bert Phriem, several airshow daredevils and Smitty Smithers (all presumably “real” people)

Vehicles and stuff (toys): Skystriker, Conquest X-30, Vector

Vehicles and stuff (not toys): Airshow planes.

Firsties:
Characters: Airshow personnel

Vehicles: none

Rating: Rating: 1 Flag Point