From 1994, G.I. Joe #150, "Slam Dance in the Cyber Castle!" Written by Larry Hama, pencils by Phil Gosier, inks by Crusher Wallace. The cover proclaims "The Battle You demanded...Snake-Eyes vs. Cobra Commander!" If readers were demanding it, they must have been ready to see Snake-Eyes beat Cobra Commander's mask in, since the Commander was by no means a match for the Joes' premier commando. By this point, Snake-Eyes was like Conan, or full-prep time Batman: pretty much unstoppable.
Still, CC has done his best to level the playing field, by which I mean stack the deck in his favor: Storm Shadow tries a run at him, and gets utterly crushed by the combination of "Dr. Mindbender's Cyber-Space Matrix" and the Commander's new, improved, sword-proof battle armor. (He had another armored suit earlier in the series, this one looks like he's wearing his old hood and uniform over it.) The matrix used holograms and real traps, while the new armor was packed with weapons...yeah, Snake-Eyes still rolls over that without breaking stride.
On the other hand, Dr. Mindbender has had time to brainwash Cobra Commander's son Billy, Storm Shadow, and the Baroness; putting them all on Cobra's side again; the next issue blurb implies Snake-Eyes might not have such an easy time with them! Also, Snake-Eyes spends much of this issue--and possibly the rest of the series--without his iconic mask. His face was scarred up, but not like Jonah Hex level or Deadpool or anything, so I could see why not try a bit without it; but the mask was cooler. There were five issues left from Marvel, and I'm thinking the distribution from here out might make those tough to stumble across.
Bonus: this issue also featured some pin-ups, including one you may have seen, a Sal Buscema one of Cobra Commander kicking a dog.
We're either unintentionally syncing this week or you already saw my latest entry for So, Who Would Win? with Nick Fury VS Cobra Commander, either way, cool beans.
ReplyDeleteI was a die-hard Joe comic fan back in the day, but I dropped it by 120. Just lost interest and not really digging the Andrew Wildman art either.
For me, that last good storyline before I quit, was the one with Chuckles and Destro working together to save the baroness from Cobra (#'s 116-119)......and then both joining back up with him at the end of it all. Frustrating but very entertaining nonetheless.