G.I. Joe vol. 2 issue 8
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Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
First published | December 7, 2011 | ||||||||||||
Cover date | December 2011 | ||||||||||||
Written by | Chuck Dixon | ||||||||||||
Art by | Wil Rosado | ||||||||||||
Colors by | Romulo Fajardo, Jr. | ||||||||||||
Letters by | Shawn Lee | ||||||||||||
Editor | John Barber | ||||||||||||
Assistant editor | Carlos Guzman |
...long live Cobra Commander.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
With the command tower of the Tuna docked at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, Shipwreck reveals their devastating estimated body count: one hundred and thirty two members of G.I. Joe are thought to have gone down with the body of the submarine. Shipwreck attempts to assume responsibility for their deaths, pointing out that he should've thought to drydock the sub and search it for Cobra's leftover tricks rather than take it out into open waters, but Hawk cuts him off: as the general in command, the deaths are on his shoulders, and he's going to take the heat for it... and there will be heat coming down on them.
In the ruins of Springfield, Dusty and Barricade examine the head of the B.A.T. that nearly killed their comrades. As they make ready to leave, one of the soldiers going through the debris shouts that he's found a survivor: despite all odds, an unconscious Ripcord survived the B.A.T.'s initial attack! En route away from the town, the Baroness complains to her captors, while Hard Drive receives the bad news over the phone from Scarlett: their resources have been devastated by Cobra's strikes, the destruction of the Pit and the sinking of the Tuna, and a single senate hearing could well see them shut down. Flint's team is ordered to continue on to Fort Baxter with their prisoner in the hope that she'll give them something usable, but even that is too much to hope for when an improvised explosive device — strapped to the side of a cow — blows up the front of the convoy, followed by attacks on the other vehicles and the deployment of covering smoke. In the confusion, the Baroness is able to escape, though she is unsure whether she's being thrown a rescue party or a funeral... and, fleeing from her captors, comes face to face with her savior: Krake, her rival in the contest to become the next Cobra Commander. Assuming that he intends to kill her, she insists on it being a clean kill, but Krake simply knocks her out, feeling that her mere humiliation will serve him much better.
In Washington, D.C., Hawk's superiors invite him to plead his case, pointing out the disastrous failure of G.I. Joe to uphold their mission statement and the catastrophic losses they've taken. Hawk isn't in the business of giving excuses, however, and merely asks them to have some sympathy for the dead; but is coldly informed that the government isn't paying for a second funeral for them.
In the halls of Cobra, the three final candidates to become the new Commander gather: Major Bludd, who placed an inside man within G.I. Joe and sunk the captured Dreadnaught; Oda Satori, who had his operatives destroy G.I. Joe's main facility and sending them scattering, with many more dying while fleeing from cover; and Krake, who has killed countless Joes and rescued the Baroness from captivity. It has been a long and hard contest, but in the end, the Cobra Council has chosen their new Cobra Commander... and it is Major Bludd! Bludd begins to give a victory speech, but is interrupted by Satori, who "feels" that the contest is not yet over; and through a fit of laughter, his face changes before the Council's eyes, revealing that his true identity is Zartan, Cobra's resident shapeshifter! A furious and confused Major Bludd takes his anger out on Zartan, but Krake points a gun at the man's head, ordering him to stop: Zartan is under his control, and has been impersonating Satori since before the contest ever started, meaning that all the destruction and death caused by Satori's followers was done under Krake's orders! Accepting Krake's explanation that Satori was planning to betray Cobra, and impressed by his duplicity, strategy and willingness to alter the rules of the game, the Council change their position: Krake is to become the new Commander, not Bludd. Having had his prize torn from him, Bludd gripes to Serpentor about having to follow the orders of "some newcomer", but finds an unwelcome surprise when the self-stated holy man reveals that he plans to follow and support their new leader without question. And so, the Council promises the followers of Cobra a new era of dominance, led by the ambition of their new Cobra Commander!
And elsewhere, in the Cobra science facility Section X, Destro impatiently insists on running the teleportation chamber intended to free him from the metal armor he is forced to wear, despite his team's misgivings. The test is run, and Destro is transported through to the other chamber of the machine, from which he steps... but something has gone wrong. He is no longer wearing his armor... because it has fused to his skin, rendering him a man of living metal!
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
G.I. Joe | Cobra | Others |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
"Your mission was to unover and interdict this country's enemies far from our shores. Instead, you brought war to America."
"And the dead, sir?"
"They had their funerals, General. We're not paying for another one."
- —The government official and General Hawk
"You have revealed yourself to be a treacherous, devious and machiavellian schemer, Krake. To win the game you have altered the game. You used any means to achieve your end. All of which makes you the perfect choice to be our next Cobra Commander. The council has chosen."
- —The Cobra Council decides.
Notes[edit | edit source]
Continuity notes[edit | edit source]
- And so, the Cobra Civil War comes to a close, with not all the candidates having made it out alive. To recap:
- Krake was generally shown to be the most militant and ruthless of the candidates, being the first one shown killing the Joes in person way back in Cobra Civil War #0. He never displayed any particularly fancy tricks prior to this issue, but substance over style tends to be effective.
- "Oda Satori" sent Storm Shadow and Zartan to infiltrate and destroy the Pit in the first arc (issues #1-4 of G.I. Joe vol. 2; however, the end of issue 4 revealed that "Satori" was, in fact, Zartan himself, having assumed the Yakuza boss's identity to manipulate Storm Shadow. Here, he's revealed to have been working for Krake the entire time.
- Major Bludd may have thought that he was never going to be Cobra Commander, but he got damn close thanks to his placing a mole within G.I. Joe (as shown in the second arc of Cobra vol. 2) and sinking their stolen submarine base, the Tuna (as shown in the second arc of G.I. Joe vol. 2).
- Vikrim Khallikhan and Rodrigo Vargas both died during the contest in the pages of G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes, though, interestingly, neither was killed by Snake Eyes himself: Khallikhan died at the hands of Agent Helix, and Vargas "popped like a tick" during the attempt to cure a virus he himself created.
- The Baroness is described as being "disqualified for incompetence"; she's had a bad run of it during the Cobra Civil War arc, first with her agent Blacklight failing to clear up after himself in G.I. Joe vol. 2 #1, and then her own failure to take control of Bear Lake and being captured by the Joes (and needing Krake to rescue her) in issues #5-8.
- Tomax Paoli goes unmentioned here, but that's not particularly unreasonable, as he didn't really do anything during this arc — the most he was seen to do is escape a prison after failing to kill Hawk.
- While Destro and Serpentor were treated as candidates for Cobra Commander by promotional material for this arc, neither was one in the story; and though Serpentor has been a prominent character in Cobra, trying to act as a "kingmaker", Destro hasn't appeared at all until this very issue.
- The unreasonable government men who Hawk answers to were first seen in issue 2 of this volume of G.I. Joe. They weren't very understanding there, either.
- Destro's teleportation test is intended to free him from the metal armor holding his molecular structure together, something he's been trying to achieve since he was first sealed into it in G.I. Joe vol. 1 #6.
G.I. Joe references[edit | edit source]
- The soldier in Springfield in the breathing mask isn't named, but his bright green helmet and body armor over yellow fatigues mark him as classic G.I. Joe character Airtight.
Other notes[edit | edit source]
- Krake claims that Satori was hiding funds from Cobra and planning to create a new organisation to threaten the Cobra Council; and, okay, that seems in character for Satori, so it's perfectly believable. But Krake has already shown himself to be a duplicitous bastard, and the Cobra Command arc shows that he has no love for the Council, so... is he telling the truth? We'll never know!
- Funnily enough, of the four surviving candidates at the end of the arc, three of them would end up taking on the mantle of Cobra Commander: Krake in this issue; Tomax informally in G.I. Joe vol. 4 and formally in Revolutionaries #5; and the Baroness in G.I. Joe: First Strike. The only one who hasn't yet is Major Bludd, but who knows what the future holds?
Covers (3)[edit | edit source]
- Cover A: The Cobra Commander Candidates surrounding the helmet of the former Cobra Commander, by Tom Feister; the helmet in the center can be scratched off to reveal the winner, Krake, underneath.
- Cover B: A battle scene featuring assorted toys of Scarlett, Stalker, Duke, Cobra Commander, the Baroness, Roadblock, Storm Shadow, Hawk, and Destro, photographed by John Haynes; part of IDW's "photo cover month", along with Snake Eyes #8, Cobra #8, The Transformers #31, and The Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime.
- Cover RI: A non-scratch-off version of cover A, by Tom Feister.