Cobra vol. 2 issue 1

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G.I. Joe: Cobra vol. 2 #1
Cobra Civil War
Cobra2-1 cvrB.jpg
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published May 25, 2011
Cover date May 2011
Written by Mike Costa
Line-art by Antonio Fuso
Colors by Arianna Florean
Letters by Chris Mowry
Editor Andy Schmidt
Assistant editor Carlos Guzman and Tom Waltz

As the Baroness takes her first steps in the Cobra Civil War, Breaker starts to doubt where G.I. Joe's focus should be.

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

In the bath in her personal quarters, the Baroness comes to a conclusion: she's never going to be Cobra Commander. As an ancient organisation, Cobra is misogynistic by its very nature, and so would never accept a female ruler... but the Baroness must pretend that it isn't the case, for she would get nothing from complaining, and Cobra rewards loyalty and talent. Travelling to Ecuador to deal with Cobra's "problems" there, she infiltrates the home of a drug kingpin and assassinates him before transferring his money to Cobra's accounts; and, upon returning to Cobra's base for the "civil war", discovers Major Bludd and Serpentor still there after three days — something she rebukes them for, pointing out that due to their lack of information on their enemies' resources, no member of High Command should stay in the same place for more than a day. As the Baroness storms off, Bludd and Serpentor return to their "business".

In G.I. Joe's Washington, D.C. base, Breaker and a fellow Fobbit are interrupted in their analysis of some data by a good-natured Steeler. Breaker tries to explain their beliefs of suspicious activity in Ecuador, pointing to the destruction of an estate followed by an overhead flight slow enough for a surface-to-air recovery that no cartel would be capable of, but Steeler is dismissive and believes the two are wasting their time, ordering them to keep working on the comm-link they were assigned to set up, to the Fobbits' chagrin.

In Panama, Cobra agent Blacklight reports in to the Baroness, explaining to her the "setback" that left him wounded and his spotter dead — something that his superior isn't happy about. While he insists that he can take out the remaining Joes on his own, she believes that his greatest asset is gone with his presence revealed, and that she plans to travel with a platoon to Panama to kill the Joes herself.

Informing the Cobra Council of the deaths of the three Joes in Panama and her assassination of the holdout in Ecuador, she finds them unimpressed with her kill tally. While she attempts to argue that her pursual of Cobra's goals in addition to her own is a necessary quality for the commander to have, the Council aren't swayed. As she is dismissed, the Baroness fumes, furious at having to answer to a set of bored, arrogant absentee trustees. Faceless profiteering, she thinks, is not what Cobra should stand for. Gunpowder, plastique, and the destruction of webs of power — THAT is what Cobra is.

The Baroness tries to have a platoon assembled to take out the remaining Joes in Panama, but is shocked to discover that — thanks to her "encouragement" of Bludd — only a small number of Vipers remained in the installation, most of whom Vargas had claimed as his "personal guard". Shooting one of the Vipers in the head, she orders an affronted Vargas to leave the facility and have the Vipers stay behind, before turning to Serpentor; but though she dismisses him as a pretentious, useless punchline, he drops a bombshell on her: he has something nobody else in Cobra has — someone inside of G.I. Joe.

In the G.I. Joe mess hall, Breaker comments on Steeler's behavior, arguing that it's suspicious, but fails to convince his fellow Fobbit. Returning to his room, he discusses his suspicions over the phone with an advisor, who encourages him to follow his instincts in going to Ecuador... an advisor from the self-help organization, the Coil, a.k.a Serpentor's cult!

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes[edit | edit source]

"I don't care if you do nothing and lose this contest. You have no chance of victory anyway. But you cannot stay here. Despite our current retaliation, we don't know our enemy's strength or resources and we've underestimated them before. No one stays anywhere for more than a day. Don't be here when I return."
"I hate that woman."

The Baroness has no kind words for Major Bludd.

Notes[edit | edit source]

  • This issue shares its structure with the following three — a narration from one of the Cobra Civil War candidates, starting with why they believe they'll never be Cobra Commander and concluding with their summation of what they believe Cobra to be. In this case, it's the Baroness.

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

  • The "Serpent's Tale" arc of the previous Cobra volume gave Serpentor the real name of "Steven Minasian", but this issue uses "Menasian" instead. As future issues will consistently use "Menasian", we're treating that as the "correct" name.
  • Blacklight's failed mission for the Baroness took place in the first issue of the concurrently running G.I. Joe series.

Real-life references[edit | edit source]

Covers (4)[edit | edit source]