Notes of Interest

First appearance of Recondo, Blowtorch, Rip-Cord and Lady Jaye.
The first meeting of Scarlett and Lady Jaye is a moment to remember.

Death of Fred Broca in the Hgh Sierras.
First Appearance of Fred II, Sean's new father.

Major Players

The Joes: Snake-Eyes & Timber, Spirit Iron-Knife, Airborne, Hawk, Duke, Clutch, Recondo, Blowtorch, Scarlett, Rip-Cord, Lady Jaye

Cobra: Destro, Firefly, Cobra Commander, Fred Broca, Storm Shadow, Baroness, Major Bludd,
Dreadnoks: Zartan, Buzzer, Ripper, Torch, Fred Broca II(Sean's Father)

Additonal Characters: Sean, Billy, Soft Master

Creative Team

Script: Larry Hama,
Pencils: Frank Springer,
Inks: Andy Mushynsky,
Lettering: Rick Parker,
Colors: Charlie Sheele,
Editor: Dennis O'Neil, Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
Cover Artist: Frank Springer

Full Details

Destro, Spirit Iron-Knife, Firefly, Airborne and Fred Broca are laying on the ground, all wounded from the destruction of Snake-Eyes' mountain cabin. A chubby old man comes walking up the slope, waving away the vultures. He stops by Spirit, and offers him some water. Destro sees him, and fires two wrist-rockets at him from behind. Without even seeing them, the old man uses his pick-axe to bat away the rockets. He unmasks himself, revealing himself to be the Soft-Master, the ninja master who helped train Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow. He tosses the Cobras their weapons and tells them to leave; he has work to do. To weak to fight, they do leave. At the Pit, the Joes are getting ready for their opening ceremony of the upgraded Joe headquarters. Some are also worrying that something may have happened to Snake-Eyes. Back in the High Sierras, the Soft-Master is telling the Joes that he needed to let the Cobras go. All the while he is pulling the bullets out of Airborne's leg. Right after that, he asks Spirit Iron-Knife to help him remove the debris off of the door on the ground that leads to Snake-Eyes' underground chamber. In Springfield, Billy is working with the Baroness and Major Bludd, practicing the way that he'll assassinate Cobra Commander.

On their motorcycles on the highways, the Dreadnoks are trying to explain to Zartan why they did what they did at McGuire Airfield. While they ride, they find an Arbco moving truck lowering its back door, allowing the Dreadnoks to ride up into it. The trailer is really Cobra Commander's mobile office. He is inside, and asks the Dreadnoks to be his personal bodyguards. Little does he know that Storm Shadow is riding on the roof of the trailer, listening to everything.

While Snake-Eyes and Timber lay unconscious, Spirit walks off to go find food and firewood for the mountain group. Farther down the mountain, Firefly wakes up Destro, telling him that while they were asleep, Crimson Guardsman Fred Broca took a gun and headed back up to the cabin sight to kill the Joes. They know they have to go stop him. In Springfield, the Commander has left the Arbco moving truck, only to be met by Storm Shadow. He immediately offers to double the ninjas pay as a bodyguard. He also promises to reveal to Storm Shadow who killed his uncle, as long as he protects him during the upcoming celebration. He knows full well that the Baroness and Major Bludd are trying to kill him. Storm Shadow also explains how he escaped from Alcatraz. After using a mattress spring to pick the door lock, he found a hose to breath from and rode underneath a boat heading back to San Francisco.

The heavily-wounded Fred Broca has arrived at the cabin ruins, ready to kill. The Soft-Master merely holds his arms out and tells him to go right ahead. Farther away, Destro and Firefly run into Spirit, only to find that he is trying to avoid a bear! The furious bear then chases the soldiers up a tree, and Firefly tries to drop a satchel charge on it. Spirit, seeing that the tree could go down in the process, grabs the charge, and leaps from the tree. He tosses the charge around the bears neck, and tries to get it to chase him away. The bear doesn't follow, and explodes by the tree, causing it to collapse. Destro and Firefly are forced to ride the tree as it goes crashing off of a cliff. Luckily for them, it crashes into a river, and they survive. Spirit returns to the cabin, and sees that Broca died, realizing that killing the Soft-Master would have brought him no satisfaction. His wounds eventually finished him off. At the Pit, Scarlett is furious to see two strangers enter the building. She demands to see their I.D. Rip-Cord is obedient, but Lady J just gives Scarlett a bunch of sarcastic slams. Scarlett gets really mad. At Fred Broca's house, his children come running out to meet him, only to realize that this really isn't their father. This is a Cobra agent made up to look like their father, and to take his place in their lives.

By Jeff Edburg

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