G.I. Joe vol. 2 issue 1
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| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 11, 2011 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | May 2011 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Chuck Dixon | ||||||||||||
| Line-art by | Javier Saltares | ||||||||||||
| Inks by | Christopher Ivy | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Romulo Fajardo, Jr. | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Shawn Lee | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Andy Schmidt | ||||||||||||
| Assistant editor | Carlos Guzman & Tom Waltz | ||||||||||||
The Cobra Civil War kicks off in earnest as the Baroness makes her move against G.I. Joe.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Cobra Commander has been murdered by a traitor within Cobra... and this, deem the Cobra Council, is unacceptable. While a second "death" is engineered for the Commander's public life outside of Cobra, the Council have selected seven candidates for Cobra's new leader: Baroness Anastasia DeCobray, Major Sebastian Bludd, Vikrim Khallikhan, Tomax Paoli, Oda Satori, Krake, and Rodrigo Vargas. The challenge: to bring as much misery as possible to G.I. Joe; whoever spills the most blood will take on the Commander's mantle.
In the Pit, Scarlett and Duke discuss the Joes' next move; though Scarlett believes that the wounded Cobra is more dangerous than ever, their best asset is still the Snakehunter program created by Mainframe. Mainframe, who's glad to hear that he's "like a hero", quietly inquires with Duke about his past relationship with Scarlett; but Duke, immediately seeing the Fobbit's intentions, bluntly informs him that he doesn't have a chance: Scarlett's into ninjas.
From her lavish quarters, the Baroness contacts her agent, Blacklight, in Panama; the sniper is tracking G.I. Joe team Bravo, and when the squad pauses thanks to Leatherneck's suspicions, Blacklight takes the opportunity to take them out; he swiftly manages to kill Hammerlock, Dragon, Apeface and Mojo, but is stymied when Leatherneck responds with a grenade launcher; when the Joes send their observation drone Buzz into the air, Blacklight's spotter is killed by Leatherneck's covering fire, and the sniper is forced to flee in a Cobra flight pod. Though Stalker believes that the pod will have to land within the Joes' satellite footprint, they are unable to pursue as Recondo is badly injured, forcing them to call for evac and allow Blacklight to get away.
Mainframe finds Scarlett above ground on the base that conceals the Pit, though his attempts at romantic conversation are disrupted by Scarlett's observation that hundreds of Cobras are dying on the Moon. Mainframe's news about team Bravo is interrupted by an incoming vehicle, whose driver is identified by the Joes' facial recogniton software as General Hawk. The General's presence is unexpected, as he was supposed to be in Washington, DC, but he dismisses the other Joes' concerns as he makes his way to the Pit's perimeter security center, stopping to correct the protocol of Agent Helix, who doesn't seem to recognise him. At the security center, Hawk has Shareware check the northern perimeter... and once the soldier names the relevant sectors, "Hawk" stabs him in the neck before deactivating the sensors in those areas, leaving the Joes blind — a perfect medium for mayhem, as embodied by Cobra's ninja Storm Shadow!
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| G.I. Joe | Cobra |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
"Gripes me that sucker got away."
"There'll be another day."
"Not for Hammerlock. Or Mojo. Or Apeface and Dragon."
- —Recondo, Leatherneck and Stalker
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- Blacklight first appeared in G.I. Joe vol. 1 #14-15, in which the Baroness had him abduct Dr. Orizama to work on the M.A.S.S. device. The plotline of his botched assassination continues from this issue in Cobra vol. 2 #1.
- The shapeshifting Zartan who impersonates Hawk is a clone of the assassin from the first issue of G.I. Joe vol. 1; his origin was told in a three-issue arc in G.I. Joe: Origins.
Errors[edit | edit source]
- Recondo is missing his signature mustache and safari hat, making him look... well, very little like Recondo. In fact, between his night vision goggles and tiger-stripe camo facepaint, he looks more like Tripwire's IDW design, as seen in G.I. Joe vol. 1 #13.
- The outfits of the hi-and-dies in team Bravo are inconsistent; two of them have short sleeves when they first appear on page 10, but all four have short sleeves in the panels where they're shot, which doesn't help with identifying any of them.
- Helix's torso is miscolored mostly yellow on page 20.
Covers (4)[edit | edit source]
- Cover A: The Baroness claims the role of Cobra Commander, by Zach Howard and Nelson Daniel.
- Cover B: Destro claims the role of Cobra Commander (despite not being in the running), by Zach Howard and Nelson Daniel.
- Cover C: Krake claims the role of Cobra Commander, by Zach Howard and Nelson Daniel.
- Cover RI: A tableau including Zartan, the Baroness, Krake, Snake Eyes, Duke, Scarlett, Hawk, the Dreadnaught, Cobra Commander's helmet, and Zartan-as-Dusty in a robot suit, by Javier Saltares.
