Retired

« G.I. Joe vol. 2 #21 » « »
"Retired"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	January 16, 2013
Cover date	January 2013
Written by	Chuck Dixon
Art by	Will Rosado
Colors by	Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Editor	John Barber and Carlos Guzman

As an era comes to an end, the former General Hawk finds his retirement might be more exciting than he thought.

Synopsis

In Clearwater county, Idaho, a team of Vipers have been deployed on a very specific mission: capture and bring in the former commander of G.I. Joe codenamed Hawk. Deployed on ATVs from shipping containers, the team has been ordered to retrieve their target as stealthily and quickly as possible; needless to say, for any of them to be captured is unacceptable.

Near his isolated cabin in the woods, Clayton Abernathy — the former Hawk — fishes while Timber the wolf looks on. His catch of a large trout is interrupted when a tourist coming along the river trips and falls into the shallow lake. Clayton helps her out and back to his cabin to dry off; as she changes clothes, they chat about the former general's retirement, and he mentions he doesn't have a phone or internet connection... leading the woman — actually Cobra infiltrator Munitia — to step out from behind the sheet she was using to change and level a pistol at him. However, Hawk was smarter than she gave him credit for, and already has a shotgun leveled at her and Timber with fangs bared; Munitia drops her pistol, ready to explain herself, but Hawk only knocks her out with the butt of his shotgun before opening a hatch in the floor.

The Vipers move in cautiously, their advance agent not having made contact with them. One of them moves to open the door of the cabin, but as soon as he does he takes a shotgun blast to the chest; the other Vipers open fire, but when they enter, nobody is inside — only the shotgun taped to a chair and set up to fire automatically. The soldiers quickly find Munitia tied up and tucked in under the hatch in the floor, which leads to an underground passageway; but when they start to pursue Hawk down the tunnel, they are caught in the blast of a claymore mine. With a long hike between him and the highway, Hawk is unsure of his chances; not wanting Timber to get hurt, he shouts at the wolf until he runs away, to Hawk's regret.

While one of the Vipers bursts the tires of Hawk's truck, Munitia calls in requesting detailed topography of the surrounding area, but when she does, she is put through instead to Cobra Commander. The Commander criticises her for not yet having secured the target, and when she claims that she underestimated him, Cobra Commander is unsatisfied: if she had researched her target, she would know that he was a warrior with over a decade of experience in the U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force. Munitia's team proceeds, finding the other end of the tunnel, which they assume to be a trap; Munitia sends two of the Vipers, Horst and Kelvin, back to their vehicles — supposedly to secure them, but actually as bait. Kelvin, deafened the explosion, doesn't hear when Hawk shoots Kelvin in the head, and though the other two Vipers sneak up on him, the general manages to eliminate them; pursuing Hawk, Munitia orders Kelvin to get two of the ATVs started, but when the Viper removes the tarpaulin covering them, he pulls out the pins of three hidden grenades that go off and kill him.

With the rest of her team dead, Munitia throws down her rifle in surrender, but when Hawk goes to apprehend her — promising to hand her over to the Joes to stop Cobra from killing her for her failure — Munitia activates her taser vest, shocking and incapacitating Hawk. Suddenly, Timber returns, and leaps at Munitia to attack her; the Cobra agent stumbles backwards, toppling over a cliff and falling to her death. Grateful to the wolf for saving his life, Hawk promises him a huge steak when they get to the highway the next day.

The end... for now.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Cobra	Others
Vipers (1) Munitia (4) Crimson Guard (5) Cobra Commander (6) Savane (7)	Hawk (2) Timber (3)

Quotes

"So, we really are alone?"
"Just you, me, Timber, and Mister Remington. Of the three of us, which one is most likely to miss?"

—Munitia and Hawk

"I underestimated him, sir. It will not happen again."
"That is not an acceptable excuse, Munitia. You did not research your target. Hawk is no political general commanding a desk in an office. He is a fighting man with over a decade of experience with the U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force before taking leadership of the G.I. Joe program."

—Munitia and Cobra Commander

"You win. The Commander was right. I should have read your file."
"Knowing is half the battle. Heard that on a cartoon once."

—Munitia and Hawk

Notes

Continuity notes

• Hawk was forcibly retired in issue #12 of this series, following his failure to stop the destruction of Nanzhao.

G.I. Joe references

• Timber the wolf originated as the pet wolf of Snake-Eyes, who came packed in with his second action figure. A wolf with a connection to Snake Eyes had previously appeared in the nineteenth issue of G.I. Joe: Origins but that nameless wolf is presumably seperate from the Timber seen here.
• Munitia is based on a direct-to-consumer toy released in 2009 through the G.I. Joe Collectors' Club.
• One of the images of Hawk on Cobra Commander's screen is based on his original 1982 toy.
• You shouldn't have to be told that Hawk's "knowing is half the battle" quip is a reference to the PSAs from the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon.

Errors

• Hawk says that it will take two days of fast hiking to reach the highway, but later expects himself and Timber to reach the highway within a day, despite not having travelled far from their original location. Maybe he didn't realise that the Vipers would burst his truck's tires?

Other notes

• This is the last issue of G.I. Joe vol. 2, and the last issue of Chuck Dixon's run on the main title; following this issue, Fred Van Lente would take over the main title for G.I. Joe vol. 3, while several recurring cast members of Dixon's run would be transferred to G.I. Joe: Special Missions, written by Dixon and running alongside Van Lente's main comic.
• Thanks to the way that Target: Snake Eyes was collected in trade paperback, this issue, along with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow #21, have yet to be collected in trade. So if you're reading trade-by-trade instead of by individual issues, you'll completely miss this one!

Covers (2)

• Regular cover: Hawk fights off an army of Vipers mobbing his cabin, by Kenneth Loh and Joana Lafuente.
• Cover RI: Hawk is hunted through the woods by Cobra, by Robert Atkins and Simon Gough

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