G.I. JOE #7
Walls of Death!
Cover Date: January, 1983
Script: Larry Hama
Plot & Pencils: Herb Trimpe
Inks: Chic Stone
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Christie Scheele
Editor: Denny O'Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

"Tovarich. Friends... for the time being..."
"You're on, buddy... until we get this plane"
— Brekhov and Stalker

Summary:  In the mountains of Afghanistan, the G.I. Joe team and the October Guard have been captured by Cobra Commander and his army, along with the Joe RTV carrying the crashed Soviet spylane the soldiers came to retrieve. The commander, who knows each soldier by name, orders two Cobras to stay behind and to "prolong the amusement" before executing the Joes and the October Guard. The Cobras leave in the RTV ad leave behind the VAMP jeep. While the Cobras wait, to make the soldiers "sweat a little," Clutch seems to have a plan and the laser cannon on the VAMP begins to move, aims at the Cobras and fires just before the Cobras fire their weapons. Clutch reveals that he had his arms crossed the whole time because he was holding the remote control to the cannon. Breaker says that he planted a locater transmitter on the RTV so that they can follow the Cobras to their nearby stronghold. Stalker and the October Guard's commander, Colonel Brekhov agree on a temporary truce to get the spyplane back, despite the protests of Scarlett. The Joes and the Guard get into their vehicles and follow the RTV's signal. Hours later, they reach the Iranian border and have to fight their way past the Iranian border patrol.

Later that night, the two teams reach a hill overlooking the Cobra stronghold. Steeler's image intensifier visor shows no entrance to the bunker, just "smooth, solid unbroken walls." From inside the Cobra stronghold, the Joes' are spotted when Stalker gets an overhead view of the bunker in the JUMP jet pack. All Stalker sees is a maze-like pattern on the roof. Suspecting it to be an alarm system, he and Brekhov send Schrage to the roof with Steeler and Breaker. The others split up to find an entrance. Stalker, Scarlett and Flash are about to use the laser to cut a hole in the bunker when a door opens up. Stalker figures its a trap, but knows it's their only way in. On the roof, Breaker and the others notice the pattern resembles a "hot-plate" just before Cobra Commander activates the electrical field on the roof, knocking them out. Outside Clutch radios Stalker that he's lost contact with Breaker. He later jokes that Scarlett should've "powdered her nose in my mirror..." A Cobra bayonet appears behind Clutch and inside, Stalker loses contact with him.

They continue on into the bunker through dark passageways full of booby traps. They encounter a group of King Cobra snakes and Flash uses his protective gear to deflect the snakes' venom. They blast their way through a steel door leading to the inside of the bunker, only to find the RTV and the October Guard pointing their weapons at them. Brekhov thinks he has won until Cobra Commander appears, pleased that he has again used the two teams against each other. Before he can execute them, a Cobra soldier behind the commander pulls off his helmet revealing that it's Clutch. He grabs Cobra Commander and holds him at gunpoint. Using him as a means to escape. Brekhov says that it is unacceptable that the Joes will succeed and when Clutch asks, "What're you gonna do about it?" he answers, "Eliminate the hostage!" and shoots Cobra Commander. Clutch discovers it wasn't the real commander. The Cobras start firing and the Joes take the RTV and the VAMP, leaving the October Guard behind. Later, as the Joes drive off towards Karachi, Clutch and Stalker discuss what happened in the VAMP. Clutch explains that when he made the joke about Scarlett and his mirror, he glanced in the mirror on the VAMP, saw the Cobra and whacked him with the radio. He stole his uniform and walked right into the bunker.

Later on, Hawk meets the team at the port of Karachi. Hawk tells Stalker they did a job, but now he can now tell them the truth. The real plane was airlifted out of the mountains earlier. The box they hauled was filled with "scrap metal and no-deposit bottles." The team was only a decoy.

Commentary: Part Two of the October Guard story is as good as the first. The Cobras' arrogance gets them killed before they can execute the two teams. The Joes and the Guard decide on a truce, which isn't really much of a surprise, but what's interesting is how opposed to the idea Scarlett is, saying, "You can't trust these lousy reds." While it may be in keeping with the fear of the Soviet Union at the time, it's a little strange to see Scarlett being so intolerant. In a funny exchange, Stalker tells them that to fight is useless, talking only in slang terms. Horrorshow doesn't understand but Brekhov "translates" explaining that he has an "affinity for this particular dialect." Reaching the border of Iran, Breaker quips, "What're you gonna do? Promise to give the Shah back." A surprisingly mature joke that proves Larry Hama actually reads the newspapers. In one of the most violent scenes in the whole series, the Joes and the Soviets start shooting thier way through the attacking Iranian border patrol, leaving a trail of bodies behind them. "Well, so much for Iranian-American relations."

Later on, the Joes use their ingenuity to make it through Cobra Commander's booby traps. It's actually a surprise when Clutch pulls off his Cobra helmet and grabs the commander. It's also a surprise when Brekhov, willing to do whatever he can to get the spyplane, "eliminates" the hostage. Fortunately (or Unfortunately), the real Cobra Commander is hidden away. Stalker is nearly as callous a Brekhov when he shoves Daina out of the way when she tries to get onto the VAMP to escape. In the "Epilogue," we find out why Hawk seemed to be selling out the team to Cobra over the radio in the previous issue: the whole mission was a decoy! Hawk doesn't seem to like what he had to do, either.

One of the interesting things at the beginning is the fact that Cobra Commander not only knows the Joes by name, but knows the October Guard as well. They have apparently fought each other before. The October Guard's dialogue is the stereotypical Russian-talk that Americans tend to expect from Russians with "da" sprinkled everywhere and phrases like "peace loving peoples of Soviet Union." The truce is fairly interesting because Brekhov and Stalker are both soldiers first, and know they need to do whatever they can to succeed. In subsequent appearances, the October Guard may be the Joes' enemies, but they never really seem like "the bad guys." In their next appearance, four years later in G.I. Joe Yearbook #2, the October Guard are actually the main characters in the story, with the Joes having a minor role. They end up to be one of the most interesting aspects of the series.

"Walls of Death" is a good conclusion to this two-part story. This is due to the unexpected depth of the October Guard (a Larry Hama creation that Hasbro had nothing to do with) and because of the very unpredictable story filled with surprises. To top it off, it's full of a sense of humor making sure things don't get too serious.
Reprinted in:
  • G.I. JOE: The Trojan Gambit (1983). A large-sized comic from Marvel Books. This book reprints a heavily edited "combined" version of issues #6 and #7, alongside issue #3. It features a new painted cover loosely based on the cover of issue #3. (Click here for YoJoe.com's samples of the edited and merged pages.)
  • G.I. JOE Comics Magazine #3 (April 1987). Digest format from Marvel Comics. Includes issues #6 and #8.
  • Tales of G.I. Joe #7 (July 1988). Reprint series from Marvel.
  • G.I. JOE: Volume 1 (May 2002). A trade paperback collection from Marvel. Includes issues #1-10.
  • A version of the issue was released by Hasbro in 2005, packaged with three action figures, including the first action figures based on Stormavik and Horrorshow, and a repainted version of the Stalker figure released with a reprint of G.I. JOE #3.
  • Classic G.I. JOE: Volume 1 (January 2009). A trade paperback collection from IDW Publishing. Aside from some slight changes made to the cover, this is a reprint of the earlier Marvel collection. Includes issues #1-10