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Someone we know makes a return from the dead and is going to make all those who betrayed him pay.


Detailed summary

The Tomahawk transports a combination of Joes and mounties to a cabin by a remote lake in Northern Quebec. Sgt. Fournier quickly talks down the gun-toting cabin owner and inside they find a trio of arms buyers from terrorist dictatorships, who were flagged as entering the country at the same time. Chuckles operates a hidden control panel and a Terror Drome emerges from under the lake. Inspector Cates wonders why the deal is being done there instead of Cobra Island. Clutch checks the paperwork and learns the Terror Dromes were sent from Denver.

Not far from Denver, Dr. Mindbender and Raptor are supervising a group of Vipers who are trying to disinter Cobra Commander's body. However, all they find is a shirt with a bullet hole in it. Suddenly, the masked Cobra Commander appeared surrounded by Crimson Guardsmen from the Fred series. He explains all the Freds were spying on each other: Fred VIII spotted Fred VII burying his supposedly dead body, revived him and took him to a Fred doctor. He then used the Freds to set up a new organisation based in Denver. Mindbender asks why he didn't go back to Cobra Island and Raptor asks what happened to going straight. Cobra Commander describes the latter as a temporary lapse and says his return to Cobra Island has been planned for some time.

On the island, the arms buyers are somewhat bemused by reports of a coup and claims Cobra Commander is an imposter. In a grounded tanker, an argument is taking place as Zartan and Billy argue that the Cobra Commander with them is really Fred VII, which Voltar is reluctant to accept, while Tyrone wonders how Zartan's suddenly replaced the Blind Master. Cobra Commander then appears on deck, berating Billy and Fred for their role in his demise. Mindbender and Raptor gloat at Fred's misfortune but Cobra Commander points out Raptor helped bury him and Mindbender took advantage of his demise for his own gain, throwing them into the silo with the others.

Cobra Commander has his men set off charges planted earlier which causes sea water to flow through the channel containing the freighter. Zartan tries to calm everyone inside but isn't helped by Tyrone working out that he killed the Blind Master. The freighter drifts into a cavern inside a volcano and into the heart, with Cobra Commander detonating a last charge that buries it. He then tells the buyers they can talk business.

At the federal court in New York, Clutch and Rock & Roll are bewildered when they arrive to testify against Zarana and the Dreadnoks only to find a lawyer has already arranged their release. Zarana mocks the pair by mentioning Broca, sending them into a trance. However, as the helicopter carrying the released Cobras takes off, they are suddenly held at gunpoint by Crimson Guardsmen who tell them they're being taken to Cobra Island to stand trial for treason and have already been found guilty.

At the Pentagon, Hawk and General Hollingsworth are summoned before the Jugglers who confront them with the negative press over the incident at the Cobra consulate. They argue that, since Cobra has gone over to legitimate business and is no longer a threat to the United States, and all GI Joe is managing to do is make them look bad, there is no reason why it shouldn't be disbanded...

Appearances

Featured Characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

G.I. Joe Cobra Civilians Weapons buyers Misc
  • Billy (21)
  • Captain Minh (25)
  • Inspector Cates (2)
  • Jean Baptiste Marais (1)
  • Sgt. Fournier (7)
  • Tyrone (24)
  • Colonel Sharif (17)
  • El Jefe (15)
  • General Liederkranz (16)
  • Lin Wu Zing (8)
  • Minister Bakana (9)
  • Prince Ngoto (18)
  • Sheik Faoud Ibn Sirhan (10)


Featured Vehicles and Equipment

G.I. Joe Cobra Civilian
  • A.R.B. Co. Regional trucks
  • Seaplane



Memorable quotes

"But we thought you were dead!"

--Tyrone, on the cover. (see below)

Other Notes

Errors

  • The cover shows the characters in the freighter reacting to Cobra Commander's return, with Tyrone exclaiming in surprise. Since Tyrone doesn't know anything about Cobra, he certainly wouldn't have any clue that the man before him was supposed to be dead.
  • In the flashback of Cobra Commander's resurrection, he looks completely different from his previous unmasked appearances, including his appearance at the time he was supposedly killed and buried.
    • Compounding the error, this sequence makes him look a lot like one of the Freds (which he'd have never been mistaken for previously), leading some fans to speculate that he was the template on which all the others were based.
    • As further evidence that this is an error, when Fred VII unmasked for Baroness,[1] she immediately recognized that he was an imposter - something that couldn't have happened if CC had the Fred face.

Items of note

  • A Cobra Trooper appears on the cover, but not in the issue.
  • The credits on the splashpage are in French - appropriate, since the scene is set in Quebec.
  • The return of the original Cobra Commander.
  • Billy, Zartan, Tyrone, Capt. Minh, Firefly, Fred VII, Dr. Mindbender, Voltar and Raptor are locked in a freighter, buried and left to die.
  • The letters page gives a quick explanation of how Snake-Eyes, Scarlett and the Blind Master got out of Grenada.[2]

Real-world references

  • The band playing at the Cobra Arms hotel are "Deaf Mangled Washington," a possible reference to punk band the Dead Kennedys.

Footnotes and References




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