Snake Eyes issue 8
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| Publisher | IDW Publishing | ||||||||||||
| First published | November 16, 2011 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | November 2011 | ||||||||||||
| Written by | Chuck Dixon | ||||||||||||
| Line-art by | Casey Maloney | ||||||||||||
| Inks by | Juan Castro | ||||||||||||
| Colors by | Simon Gough and Romulo Fajardo, Jr. | ||||||||||||
| Letters by | Shawn Lee | ||||||||||||
| Editor | John Barber and Tom Waltz | ||||||||||||
| Assistant editor | Carlos Guzman | ||||||||||||
With the Ray-Pharm lab under siege by Cobra forces, Snake Eyes and Duke must buy time for the cure to the Madness Bug to be found.
Synopsis[edit | edit source]
Surrounded by guards at the Ray-Pharm R&D facility, Kwinn tries to surrender, offering to explain; but when the guards slam him against his limousine, he uses an app on his phone to trigger a bomb elsewhere in the facility, giving him the chance to steal one of their guns and escape; as he runs, he triggers a second bomb strapped to the underside of the car, ensuing that he won't be pursued. At the same time, Snake Eyes and Duke — using a Cobra Imp for mobile cover — slaughter their way through hordes of Cobra Toxo-Vipers, but are blindsided by another pair of them, who use a minigun and a rocket launcher to destroy the Imp and send the two Joes flying; taking cover behind the wreckage, the duo fight back against the attackers, and when the one with the rocket launcher is shot he misfires a rocket at the roof of the facility, bringing the ceiling down on top of the two Vipers.
Within the laboratory, the Ray-Pharm scientists prepare to administer the first test of their cure — "Orphiophagus Z two-point-five" — to Dr. Rodrigo Vargas, over his shouted objections. Upon being injected, Vargas initially feels his strength returning to him... but it quickly becomes obvious that the cure is too much, too fast; his heart races, his eyes bulge, his skin turns a bright red, and in a matter of seconds Vargas has gruesomely burst, causing his containment bag to swell up with the sheer volume of blood. Lighthorse is furious about the cure's failure, insisting on a "plan B" for Duke, and while the lead scientist has a better idea for the next use of the cure, they have more pressing issues in the face of the Cobra assault, which will inevitably kill everyone in the labs once it breaks through. Lighthorse has a plan, though, and calls Duke and Snake Eyes back to the lab; within a few steps, though, Duke falls unconscious, forcing Snake Eyes to pick him up and carry him. And after they leave, a well-muscled arm picks up the Toxo-Viper's minigun from the rubble...
While Lighthorse calls Scarlett to update her on their situation, Snake Eyes is cornered in the middle of a three-way intersection by Toxo-Vipers, Duke still slung over his shoulder. The ninja soundly defeats the Toxo-Vipers' leader in a knifepoint duel, but the Toxo-Vipers prepare to move in and kill him in its place... until salvation comes at the last moment thanks to the returning Kwinn, who mows down the Cobra attackers with the stolen minigun! With Duke returned to the labs, he receives a blood transfusion and the first of his twelve shots of the re-balanced cure. With Duke's blood able to be used in creating more re-agent, the team's only remaining hurdle is getting out and past the Cobra forces; a problem solved by Lighthorse, who has one of the scientists use the tannoy system to claim that everyone within 5 kilometers has been contaminated with the virus. One of the Toxo-Viper leaders sees through the ruse, but one of his panicked subordinates shoots him, and the troopers surrender to the scientists to receive "medical attention" — in actuality, just shots of saline. The three Joes depart on a helicopter sent in from Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, with Kwinn remaining behind, noting that Snake Eyes now owes him for saving his life... and he knows that the ninja will follow through. Shaking hands, he agrees to see Snake Eyes again down the road.
One week later, Snake Eyes, Duke and Lighthorse arrive back at Fort Baxter, with Duke cured but still weak from the virus. One of the Joes' medical team notes that Duke's lucky to be alive... but all he can think, looking at Snake Eyes and Scarlett embracing, is that he doesn't feel so lucky.
Featured characters[edit | edit source]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| G.I. Joe | Cobra | Others |
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Quotes[edit | edit source]
"You do not know what you are doing!"
"Please relax, Dr. Vargas."
"When I am commander, I will have you all executed!"
"If that thought comforts you..."
- —Vargas and one of the scientists
"I'm not walking away this time. I have nothing to lose. Makes me feel invincible. Know what I mean?"
"..."
"Heh. Look who I'm talking to."
- —Duke and Snake Eyes
"We have a possible fix for you."
"Uh huh... did the first dose work on Vargas?"
"Um... well, he's not sick anymore."
- —Duke doesn't realise that Lighthorse is skirting around the issue
Notes[edit | edit source]
G.I. Joe references[edit | edit source]
- The leaders of the Toxo-Viper squads are based on their 1991 "Eco-Warriors" toy, rather than the 1988 one that the rest of the Toxo-Vipers use.
Other notes[edit | edit source]
- So... the Toxo-Vipers' CBR suits are apparently completely ineffective, huh? They certainly don't seem to have any faith in them being able to protect them from the Madness Bug. Makes you wonder why they didn't just send regular Vipers...
Covers (3)[edit | edit source]
- Cover A: Snake Eyes' 2007 toy vs Storm Shadow's, photographed by John Haynes; part of IDW's "photo cover month", along with G.I. Joe #8, Cobra #8, The Transformers #31, and The Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime.
- Cover B: Snake Eyes' present and past selves, by Robert Atkins and Simon Gough.
- Cover RI: A propaganda-tastic version of the new Cobra Commander, by Tom Feister.
