August, 1988 "Airshow" Written by Larry Hama;
Summary by Russ Humphress |
Meanwhile Bert and Maverick are enjoying the Stearman, doing some acrobatic loops, when Maverick sees that his plane is missing from the Airport. They land and the other Joe pilots fill Maverick in on the situation. Maverick and Bert take back to the air in the Stearman, and give chase. They follow the stolen Vector until the Stearman is almost out of fuel, and they are forced to land, with no airfield nearby.
Luckily, there is a motor speedway nearby, and the owner is a friend of Bert's. After fueling the Stearman, Maverick and Bert once again take to the air, but there is no sign of the Vector. They head back toward the Hudson River, and spot the Vector, but it ducks behind the hills, and when they come to the river valley, the Vector has disappeared again. The river is empty, save for a lone barge.A flight of USAF F-16s shows up, and Maverick and Bert head back to the ground. After a short stop at Bert's home airfield, they arrive back at the Orange County Airport. Ace and Slipstream let Maverick know that the Airforce has had no luck with the search, and Maverick and Bert suddenly realize the Vector must have landed on the barge.
Taking back to the air, they catch up with the barge as it heads down river into New York Harbor. After spotting the Vector's tail fins from the air, they land the Stearman at the closest available landing strip... the flight deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid memorial and Museum. Some helpful bystanders call the Police, FBI, and Harbor Patrol, as Bert and Maverick commandeer a boat and catch up to the barge. Firefly and the other saboteurs open fire as Maverick and Bert board the barge, and Bert decides that this day had been fun until the shooting started. Never-the-less, he comes though, whacking one of the saboteurs over the head before he can shoot Maverick from behind. A number of boats and helicopters surround the barge, and the terrorists give up.
Much Later, at an NYPD station, Maverick and Bert are finishing up the
paperwork. Bert's plane is being ferried back upstate at federal
expense. Later at the pier, the last of the garbage is being hosed off
the Vector, and Bert mentions he could use a ride, although he says he
won't mind if Maverick can't do that. Maverick says that the regs
clearly state that he can't give and unauthorized civilian a ride, however...they
don't say anything about letting a civilian drive!
Commentary: This is definitely one of the cooler stories of the
Special Missions series. The basic premise is fairly cool, although
for a Top Secret Team, the Joes certainly seem to do a lot of public events
and get a lot of press coverage. That aside, there are a number of
cool things about this issue, no the least of which is the
landing at the Intrepid Museum. However this is but the last
in a long line of references to places (and people) in New York state.
A number of places are mentioned during the various flight scenes, including
Rosendale, Ashokan Reservoir, Rondout Valley, etc. When Maverick
and Bert land at the speedway, there is a notation reading: "Thanks to
Accord Speedway in Accord, NY, Now closed after 26 years of fun, and to
Smitty Smithers, Owner." One tends to get the feeling that this issue is
a tribute by the writer to an area, and some specific people, that he knows
well, and likes. While this sort of tribute making was not unknown in
G.I. Joe, usually it wasn't done very well. This issue is a nice
exception.
As we all came to expect from Larry Hama, the details of this story
make it seem like it could have really happened. That, in this fan's
opinion, is why Larry Hama is so revered among Joe fans. He made
it real.
Return to the main page.