Notes of Interest

First Appearance of Lift Ticket, Slip Stream, Leatherneck. Serpentor is created.

Major Players

Strike Team: Leader: Hawk, Lady Jaye, Barbecue, Heavy Metal, Flint, Deep-Six, Airtight, Footloose, Bazooka, Crank-Case, Alpine, Blowtorch and Shipwreck.

Security Team: Leader: Duke Steeler, Grunt, Rock 'n' Roll, Flash, Gung-Ho, Tripwire, Short Fuse, Breaker, Mutt & Junkyard, Snow Job, Zap, Doc, Cover Girl and Roadblock.

Assault Team: Leader: Stalker Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, Quick Kick, Recondo, Spirit, Torpedo, Beach Head and Leatherneck.

Air Support: Airborne, Ace, Wild Bill, Lift-Ticket, Slip Stream.
Other Joes: Rip Cord, Storm Shadow

Cobra: Baroness, Cobra Commander, Destro, Dr. Mindbender, Firefly, Scrap Iron, Serpentor, Tomax, Xamot
Dreadnoks: Buzzer, Ripper, Torch

Creative Team

Script: Larry Hama,
Pencils: Rod Whigham,
Inks: Andy Mushynsky,
Letters: Joe Rosen,
Colors: George Roussos,
Editor: Bob Harras,
Editor in Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Mike Zeck

Full Details

At the Springfield Museum, Destro & Dr. Mindbender collected 10 of the world's greatest leader's remains. These remains DNA will be scanned by the Brainwave Scanner in order to create the ultimate soldier. The combination of these leaders' DNA, mixed in with Storm Shadow's as well, will be fed into a simulacrum body. Then Dr. Mindbender will add his own modern technology knowledge and allegiance to Cobra into the Scanner mix. The Scanner will then combine them all together to make a great Cobra leader called Serpentor.

At a bar in Springfield, Rip Cord dressed as Zartan along with the Dreadnoks are partying it up. Unknown to the Dreadnoks is that Rip Cord has just given up the location of Cobra Headquarters to GI Joe. Firefly and Scrap Iron break in because they intercepted the call to Joe headquarters. Rip Cord's cover is blown and he is captured by Firefly. The Dreadnok and Firefly then drag Rip Cord to the Brainwave Scanner over at the museum to see exactly what he told the Joes. On the scanner monitor, they watch Rip Cord give the coordinates of Springfield to Breaker. Cobra Commander immediately orders Destro to evacuate Springfield.

By connecting Rip Cord to the Scanner, unknowingly his GI Joe knowledge is also combined into the Serpentor mix. And Serpentor has now been created.

Hawk assembles all of the Joe team, some of the Joes with desk status are temporary upgraded, and many new members are going to get there first taste of fighting Cobra. The plan: the Strike team, lead by Hawk, will secure the airport and then move to neutralize the main headquarters. The Security team, lead by Duke, also helps with taking the airport and then moves to block the roads heading out of town. The Assault team, lead by Stalker, goes in early to cut off the power and communications. Additional, air support will come from Wild Bill and the new helicopter pilot Lift Ticket.

The Assault team goes in first and is successful in taking out Springfield's power and then moves on to secure the police station. The other teams are successful in taking the airport, and GI Joe has begun it invasion of Springfield.

At the museum, Serpentor has taken command of the Cobra ground forces that are left in Springfield. His mission is to lead a holding action against both the Strike and the Assault teams of GI Joe, allowing Cobra enough time to evacuate the city. The Baroness is handling the evacuation of Springfield with support from Destro. Because Serpentor is an unknown quantity, Firefly is given the assignment of watching him and to kill him, if he acts against Cobra.

Summary by Josh Eggebeen

Variations

Canadian Price is Newsstand Only.

The Mark Jeweler jewelry insert was released in many Marvel comics throughout the late 1970s til the late 1990s. What is pictured here is the actual insert included in Marvel #49. To read about the history of the Mark Jeweler insert follow the link - Marvel Mark Jewelers Inserts Part 3 - The Slick Number Era - May 1978 - September 1986

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