Alternate Covers

Covers B,C and D are not labeled as subscription, which they might be.

Cover A

Cover B

Cover C

Cover D

Cover E (Retailer Incentive A)

Cover F (Retailer Incentive B)

Cover G (Retailer Incentive C)

Notes of Interest

Issue #1 & #2 were both released in August 2017, two weeks apart.

There are two different stories contained within this issue: “First Strike” and a shorter backup tale, “The Origins of Evil, Part Two: A Game of Chess.”

Lady Jaye carries her specialized throwing javelins in this issue, weapons unique to her character from her very first advent in the Sunbow cartoons (see “G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra” miniseries).

Destro’s Razorback was a vehicle released by Hasbro in 1989. It came with the action figure driver called Wild Boar), but in this issue, Destro prefers to drive his vehicle himself.

Previously, I.R.O.N. Stormtroopers dressed as Destro’s “Iron Grenadiers” have appeared variously in the pages of “Revolutionaries”, and became subject to the bidding of General Blitz and Baron Ironblood (see Revolutionaries” #5-6) for their origins). With the confirmation of Destro as an ally to Baron Ironblood in the “First Strike” miniseries, one could speculate that some of the Iron Grenadiers fighting on Cybertron might be actual human members of Destro’s Elite Troopers.

M.A.S.K. aficionados will probably notice that Miles Mayhem is still wearing his “Viper” mask, which – utilizing “Technopathy” (a “mental connection to machines via enhanced electromagnetic pulses”) - “bonds” him to his Switchblade helicopter / jet plane (see Revolution: M.A.S.K. #1). Instead, he should probably be wearing his “Python” mask, which would enable him to better “control” the Outlaw tanker truck / command center he is driving on Cybertron.

Scarlett congratulates Matt Trakker (Spectrum) on convincing his partner, Gloria Baker (Aura), to return for this adventure. Unfortunately, at the time of this review, the issue referenced (M.A.S.K. #10) has yet to make it to market, thus spoiling a minor plot point for readers. Note: when she initially appears, the Shark driver is enigmatically introduced as “Gloria Baker Aura (formerly)” as if she has given up her duties and / or helmet (also probably referencing events in issue #10).

Shazraella is the wife of Baron Karza, now the Emperor of the Micronauts (see all issues of Micronauts and Micronauts: Wrath of Karza).

A “Mysterious Agent” rides along with General Mayhem and General Blitz in the cabin of the Outlaw (and is also depicted on Retailer Incentive Cover C). Long-time readers of G.I. Joe may notice a very strong resemblance between the facemask of this mystery man and Wraith, a character originally created by Brandon Jerwa for the Devil’s Due Production comic run (first occurrence: “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” #31 – “Players and Pawns” Part Four ). Whether the IDW character is intended to be this universe’s version of Wraith, or some other character, remains to be seen. For the 2008 action figure of Mercenary Wraith and his variant, see: Wraith

Castle Destro is shown to be again in Scotland, where it was originally. At one point, Destro had moved his ancestral home “brick-by-brick” to Patagonia. See Issue IDW G.I. Joe, Volume 1 #5

The B.A.T.s inside Castle Destro do not resemble the more recognizable Hasbro or Marvel types B.A.T.; this design is more reminiscent of the contemporary variety used in G.I. Joe: Cobra #4, #10 and G.I. Joe: Cobra Civil War #7.

Destro’s infamous chessboard turns up again (ARAH #21 and cover of ARAH #22 ). Some of the pieces on it are representations of Spectrum (Matt Trakker), Rom, Optimus Prime, Scarlett, Destro and the Baroness.

As of this issue, the Baroness is a prisoner of war under the supervision of Duke and his unnamed organization and is being transported to the International Criminal Court and the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague in the Netherlands. (G.I. Joe, Vol. 5 #7).

Major Players

G.I. Joe: Scarlett, Roadblock, Lady Jaye, Doc (Carla Greer), Quick Kick, Talon (Zilong Qian), Flint, Spike (Steven Witwicky), Joseph “G.I. Joe” Colton, Marissa Faireborn,
Mentioned: Dial Tone

Cobra: Storm Shadow II (female), Destro, Major Bludd, “Mysterious Agent” (Wraith?), B.A.T.s (Battle Android Troopers)

Dreadnoks: Buzzer, Ripper

M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand): Spectrum (Matt Trakker), Aura (Gloria Baker), Miles “Mayhem” Manheim (a.k.a. Miles “Wolf” Mayhem),

Transformers: Optimus Prime, Windblade, Ironhide, Starscream, Elita One, Carcer (a.k.a. Vigilem), Skyburst, Stormclash, Soundwave;
Mentioned: Astrotrain

Micronauts: Shazraella,

Other: Red Shadows (Red Ninjas / Red Ninja Vipers), Baron Ironblood (Joe Colton), Iron Grenadiers (I.R.O.N. Stormtroopers), General Blitz (Garrison Kreiger), the Solstar Order (various members);
Mentioned: Iron Klaw (Count von Rami); Hologram: Doctor X (Mercy Gale)

Creative Team

"First Strike #2"

Written by: Mairghread Scott and David A. Rodriguezr
Art by: Max Dunbar
Colors by: Ander Zarate
Letters by: Tom B. Long
Edited by: David Hedgecock
Assistant Edits by: David Mariotte
Publisher: Ted Adams

"The Origin of Evil Part 2: A Game of Chess"

Writer: Josh Barber
Pencils: Nethro Diaz
Inks by: Walden Wong
Colors by: David Garcia Cruz


Cover Credits
Cover A: Art by Freddie E. Williams II, Color by: Jeremy Colwell
Cover Company: IDW

Cover B: Art by Max Dunbar, Colors by Ander Zarate
Cover Company: IDW

Cover C: Art by Alex Ronald
Cover Company: IDW

Cover D: Art by Rob Duenas
Cover Company: IDW

Cover E (Retailer Incentive A): Art by Jay Fosgitt
Cover Company: IDW

Cover F (Retailer Incentive B): Art by Davide Fabbri, Colors by Monica Kubina
Cover Company: IDW

Cover G (Retailer Incentive C): Art by Leonardo Manco
Cover Company: IDW

Full Details

Editor’s Note = (info in parentheses) is in comic character descriptions; [Info in brackets] are my comments.

Colonel Scarlett, G.I. Joe's squad leader, has infiltrated General “G.I. Joe” Colton’s hideaways in the Swiss Alps. Her group consists of Roadblock (Field Commander), Lady Jaye (Covert Operations), Doc II (Medic) [Carla Greer] and Quick Kick (Hand-to-Hand Expert). As the Team Leader completes the letter addressed to her by her former superior, the ceiling shatters directly overhead and a slew of cybernetic Red Shadows (Red Ninjas / Red Ninja Vipers) spring from the maw like a Biblical plague of locusts.

Retaliation is swift: Scarlett “takes names” with deadly quarrels from her trusty crossbow and slugs from her sidearm; Roadblock squeezes off a stream of awesome energy bursts with his Cybertron-derived heavy laser gun; Lady Jaye expertly swings her 6-foot energy-javelin; Quick Kick unleashes the full fury of his bolos, feet and fists; Doc utilizes a hand-held device that produces a force field to protect her teammates. Nevertheless, the G.I. Joe Colonel understands that the cyber-ninjas are simply too many for the small group of humans to contain and mandates a retreat. Lady Jaye, her Covert Operations specialist, launches her explosive-tipped javelin into the space over their enemies, resulting in large portions of the resulting rubble burying an impressive portion of their antagonists while the squad scrambles upward towards the exit three levels above.

As they approach the exit through a swarm of ninja, the soldiers notice a constant beeping, indicative of a countdown. Scarlett urges her troops onward, just in time to watch as their modified tiltrotor Osprey explodes on the landing zone outside the massive entrance. An identical aircraft, still airborne, veers away to avoid the same fate. This merely serves to enrage Roadblock, who wields his measurable blaster and his intimidating bulk to scatter the Red Shadow minions around him and clear a path for to safety for his friends. The timing is precise and the Joe team achieves freedom as General Colton’s mountain headquarters is consumed by the tremendous detonation of the time-bomb within.

Far away, in the capital city of Iacon on Planet Cybertron, the terrorist attack instigated by General Colton in his Baron Ironblood persona, continues to wreak destruction upon all within his path. Destro launches all eight missiles of his armored Razorback vehicle at Optimus Prime, while Windblade the Camien City speaker helplessly gapes in horror. Astride the Cobra Weapons Supplier’s transportation, Storm Shadow II [Female Version] wonders why the metallic arms dealer chooses to race past the stricken Autobot Leader and the female Transformer without further battle. The Destro explains calmly that there simply is not enough time to engage every combatant they meet; they have a schedule to keep.

Joe Colton, still attired in his “Baron Ironblood” helmet and uniform, sustains the charge against the Cybertronians and visiting humans, accompanied by his army of Iron Grenadiers. As the last observable Transformer falls before the extremists’ firepower, the General instructs his followers dismantle the bodies of the slain ‘Bots and that Team Two proceeds to the “Rendezvous Point.” One of his closest friends and once an Adventure Team comrade, Miles “Mayhem” Manheim presses the gas pedal of his tanker truck, the “Outlaw,” and shifts into action. Hidden within the trailer section of the mobile command center, the Talisman of Eukaris resides. In the passenger-seat next to the head honcho of V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem), an inscrutable, shadowed figure warns General Mayhem to keep his mind on their objective.

Located just behind them, the cybernetically enhanced General Blitz (Garrison Kreiger), warlord of the I.R.O.N. (International Robotic Operations Network) Army, imparts his account of the Talisman’s true function: if their colleague, Queen Shazraella (see all issues of Micronauts and Micronauts: Wrath of Karza) can interface with the alien artifact’s core, then all the fuel of the Transformers on Cybertron, Energon, will become a poison that acts like a devastating infection.

Nearby, Shazraella demands that Storm Shadow to take her to a desirable Transformer so the Empress of the Micronauts can enerchange with it (thus using its body for her nefarious purposes). The ninja assassin spies a fleeing female insectile specimen that would fit their purposes. Like a bullet train, she sprints towards the target, katana unsheathed, as her tiny passenger clings tightly upon her tunic.

On Planet Earth, aboard a Navy submarine underneath the Greenland Sea, the returned members from the Swiss mission are pouring over film from the terrorist strike on Cybertron. Next to the Joes, Spectrum (Matt Trakker) and Aura (Gloria Baker) of M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) recognize the technology on the screen facing them. These faux “Transformers” - the Trojan Horses that kept the Red Shadow ninjas inside from discovery until Colton’s murderous call to action (see previous issue First Strike #1) - incorporated Mayhem’s unmistakable M.A.S.K. designs. This connection to the Adventure Team’s founder is undeniable (see Revolutionaries” #3 “ ) and reveals that the two are working together again. Roadblock divulges what Dial Tone has uncovered: Doctor X (Mercy Gale) and Iron Klaw (Count von Rami) are still on Earth, but the three xenophobic Generals, Mayhem, Blitz and Colton are all unaccounted for… which establishes the obvious: they are on Cyberton. Colonel Scarlett knows there is one exclusive way to jump the vast distances between her home-world and that of the alien robots: The Spacebridge in Autobot City. However, they will need the Decepticon/Autobot ally guardian, Soundwave, to grant permission for such a monumental journey. Gloria smiles and quips that “this” is the reason she misses field work (indicating that she had relinquished it -- see Notes of Interest above).

As the others leave to prepare for the trip to Autobot City, Scarlett pulls the chief of M.A.S.K. aside for a private conversation. She wonders how his team has progressed with the techno-virus their two organizations had retrieved from Astrotrain’s decapitated head (see M.A.S.K. Annual 2017). Matt is reluctant to step into another unknown situation, but the Scarlett officer is adamant that they have every possible weapon at their disposal on a planet full of giant robots and rogue evil geniuses with super-weapons. Unperturbed, the young man removes a slim, glass tube from his uniform. The glowing liquid within is a synthetic, uncorrupted form of the virus… and the Joe officer is quick to offer heartfelt thanks for M.A.S.K.’s cooperation.

Baron Ironblood, the Iron Grenadiers and the Dreadnoks swiftly discharged their task of disassembling the dead Transformers littered about Iacon’s central square. Simultaneously, Storm Shadow ends the life of the insect-like Transformer that Shazraella desires. Nearby, Flint and the Chinese G.I. Joe Field Commander of Cybertron, Talon (Zilong Qian), continue to be pressed back into a corner by Red Ninjas. As Flint transmits a distress call to his the Cybertronian security forces chief, the Autobot Ironhide, the Micro-Queen launches herself towards the Cobra assassin’s sprawled kill. Ironhide confirms that he will make his way to Flint as Windblade and a wounded Optimus continue to stave off attackers. Talon, Flint and Spike (Steven Witwicky) are surrounded by Major Bludd and a glut of crimson cyber-ninja, only to greet the front bumper of the “toughest Autobot around” in his latest Cybertronian alt-mode. Bodies fling far and wide and Ironhide screeches to a halt, directing the Joes to hop aboard.

Variations

Continued from the Full Details/Long summary section...

In another section of Iacon, the rambling MASK vehicle Outlaw pulls up alongside a parked Razorback, which the metal-encased Destro unceremoniously leans against. The driver’s door opens and the pudgy Miles Manheim exits, exasperatedly curious as to the whereabouts of Shazraella and the Storm Shadow.

Blitz fears betrayal, but a newly enerchanged Queen Consort steps from behind monolithic galactic architecture, now towering over her white ninja companion in a freshly converted Transformer-Micronaut shell. Jubilantly, she lifts the door to the rear of the V.E.N.O.M. trailer, displaying the silent form of the sentinel-like Talisman which has been fitted with straps. The unknown, shadow man who had sat next to General Mayhem stands casually within, his cloaked features now introduced by the light of the stars. He lowers a powerful laser rifle down to Destro. There is something familiar about his mask…

Shazraella easily places her nascent robotic arms into the straps, and secures the Eukarian artifact onto her back. She steps over to a grate the size of a hangar door and wrenches it from its fastenings. Casting it aside, she waves the quintet of earthlings inside.

Traversing up an endless flight of stairs that lead to the enormous chambers of the Council, Optimus Prime and Windblade ignore the smoldering ruins of Iacon at their rear. Inside, Starscream, the current Ruler of Cybertron, and Elita One, his political nemesis, argue over the presence of the humans now on his planet. The Carecerian Leader is all for eliminating every member of the home sapiens species on Cybertron, despite the presence of the miffed Earth Ambassador, Marissa Faireborn, standing at her feet. The heroic Autobot leader stumbles in and attempts to calm the quarreling Transformers. When the captain of the living spaceship, Carcer, berates his decision on the annexation of Earth into the Council of Worlds and points her right gun arm menacingly at the diminutive redhead, Flint’s defiant daughter shames Elita One by staunchly questioning the ‘Bot’s own abilities, since she prefers a “mass-murder” panacea over one of calculated strategy. Subdued, the Carcerian allows her weapon to droop at her side and then buzzes Carcer on her left wrist communicator. She wants her motley Titan to send reinforcements to the surface of Cybertron to contain the myriad of aggressive invaders causing untold havoc within Starscream’s metropolis. Yet, a further development keeps the “Titan from the era of the Thirteen Tribes and the First Cybertronian Civil War” from complying with the First One’s request. He is surrounded by a platoon of silvery personalities, a disparate gathering of the Knights of the Solstar Order. A transmission is sent to the denizens of Cybertron: Dire Wraith signatures have been detected upon the mechanical beings’ home world. Quarantine is the sole resolution offered by the space-spanning paladins; war will be the result of any disobedience to the decree. Starscream is skeptical of the report, but Elita One assures a speechless Optimus Prime and the Decepticon Seeker that the unsettling news must be accurate.

Cutting through the waves of Earth's ocean, the Joes’ Navy sub surfaces. Defying the pull of gravity, Autobot City hovers overhead, while icebergs bob lazily beneath. Scarlett, Roadblock and Matt Trakker emerge from a dorsal hatch powered by hydraulic pistons which deposits them upon the deck of the sub’s tower-like sail.

The Helicopter Twins, Skyburst and Stormclash, joyously descend through the chilly atmosphere to greet their human visitors. A hasty leap inside Skyburst and the trio of heroes are dropped into the presence of Soundwave, Optimus Prime’s trusty Decepticon supporter. The Communicator sadly laments that the Spacebridge has been deactivated from Cybertron’s end, and cannot be accessed. The M.A.S.K. agent muses over how General Mayhem conveyed his ninja-filled constructs to the alien world, but Soundwave has no answer. Roadblock and Scarlett both promptly theorize: Cobra’s M.A.S.S. (Molecular Assembler Scrambler Sender) Device riding in upon the delivery beam that sent the last batch of delegates and reporters from Earth to Cybertron. The Autobot twins confirm that this was likely, but that they should be able to reopen the Spacebridge by refurbishing their targeting array and then attaching it to the Cobra transporter.

Committed to the chore at hand, Skyburst and Stormclash immediately begin their labors, but Shockwave warns the group of humans that their chances at success are nonexistence. He rectifies their odds by offering his assistance, and that of his companions. Together, they will all storm Castle Destro in Scotland and seize the M.A.S.S. Device so that they can travel to Cybertron to stop Baron Ironblood!

Summary by Sean Eley

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Backup Story
The Origins of Evil, Part Two: A Game of Chess [Months prior to the events of “First Strike”]

A hologram message from Doctor X (Mercy Gale) informs Destro that he should expect a visit from Baron Ironblood at any time. The arms dealer grumbles that he has kindly bestowed the use of his M.A.S.S. Device to his allies, but that does not give them unlimited admittance to his castle domain in Scotland. He no sooner speaks than General Joseph “G.I. Joe” Colton beams in, which is a baffling surprise for the Scotsman, though it is not enough to cause him to turn from his walk towards the subject of interest across the room. He commands his B.A.T.s (Battle Android Troopers) to kill. Despite Joe’s revelation that he is “Baron Ironblood,” Destro remains unimpressed and pulls up a chair to the table where his prized chessboard rests. Each piece is crafted to represent important individual from the Hasbro universe.

As the General skirmishes with the robotic abominations – holding his own due to his bionic fist - he unveils his history of becoming the Red Shadows overlord to unite the major “villains” of his world, because he believes that none of them have become corrupted by the Dire Wraiths, who have infiltrated key positions in every organization he used to trust over the years. Together, with Destro’s forces, they can pillage the best technology of the Transformers from their home-world for themselves. The former Cobra agent regrets that this is impossible because the M.A.S.S. Device possesses nowhere the range to reach across the galaxy and open a door for them on Cybertron.

There is a solution, Joe says, till struggling with the throng of artificial soldiers: by secretly nabbing the signal to the Autobot City’s Spacebridge while it is activated, then Destro’s transporter can piggyback with unnoticed personnel along with it. This news is enough for the piqued master of the feudal estate to order his android army to desist. The relieved warrior pushes past the useless clutter of his smashed opponents towards the weapons smith, who states clearly that he will be joining the expedition to the alien planet.

Before Destro, two chess pieces crafted in his likeness and that of his beloved Baroness are arranged. For the sake of the advanced Cybertronian products and her, he gladly accepts “Baron Ironblood’s deal.”

Summary by Sean Eley