G.I. JOE #8
Code Name:
Sea Strike!
Cover Date: February, 1983
Script & Art: Herb Trimpe
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Editor: Denny O'Neil
Commander: Jim Shooter

"We will dominate the Earth and sky! It will be our first step in ruling the cosmos itself!"
— Cobra Commander

Summary:  Somewhere off the coast of Florida, a Cobra SRV (Submersible Reconnaissance Vessel) carrying a seaplane is searching the seas. Cobra Commander watches a U.S. space shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center. An officer reports an approaching aircraft and the commander orders the vessel to dive as the SRV disappears beneath the ocean.

Elsewhere, the Joes--led by Stalker--are setting up some equipment in a snow storm. The Joes are complaining all the way. Clutch gets sick of working and throws a snowball at Stalker. Hawk appears without cold weather gear telling Clutch that will cost him a hundred dollars out of next month's pay. He orders the "blowers" to be shut off and we see the Joes are actually training indoors after the "storm" ends. Hawk briefs the Joes that they are being sent to provide security for a space shuttle that is launching to set up a new spy satellite. Rock & Roll complains that it's just like the army to train them in the snow and send them to Florida.

Meanwhile, a huge Cobra underwater fortress readies for Cobra Commander's SRV to enter the port. Later, the commander and the Baroness brief the other Cobra officers on their mission to set up several sea bases that will launch their weapons satellites. To prevent the United States from stopping their plans, Cobra will attack the shuttle and the Kennedy Space Center before the spy satellite can be launched. The Joes arrive at the space center for their briefing. Stalker will be in charge of the "outer defense ring" that will be responsible for stopping any Cobra landings from reaching the shuttle. Grunt, Steeler, Rock & Roll and Grand Slam will defend the area with the VAMP, MOBAT tank, the Mobile Missle Launcher and the HAL laser cannon. The inner ring will be Hawk, Zap, Short Fuse, Scarlett and Snake-Eyes. Breaker isn't happy to learn that he and Flash will be onboard the shuttle for security. "Stock up on the air sick bags! Breaker's turning green!"

The next day, Breaker and Flash board the shuttle. On the coast, Stalker reports that they are under attack from Cobra S.E.A. legs: walking, amphibious vehicles and Cobra tanks. The Joes "advance to the rear" to stall the attack after the HAL is destroyed. Further into the swamps the battle begins between the Joes and their vehicles and the Cobra assault force. Eventually, the Joes have won, but Cobra Commander and the Baroness leave in a Cobra helicopter and fire a missle at the defenseless shuttle. Hawk shoots the missle just before it hits, and jumps into a blast shelter as it detonates. The shuttle launches into orbit, but Cobra Commander is not beaten yet. In the Joes' aqua-chopper, the team locates Cobra's sea base and lands on its surface. Suddenly a missle launches from the base and towards the shuttle in orbit. Breaker and Flash are outside of the shuttle in spacesuits and jetpacks. As the missle approaches, Flash gets a crazy idea. As the missle gets closer, he accelerates to match its speed and uses his backpack jets to push it so the missle just barely misses the shuttle, amazing everyone, even Flash.

Back at the Cobra sea base, the Joes are battling Cobra soldiers. They eventually defeat them and the Cobras surrender. The commander and the Baroness escape in the SRV and inform the Joes (over radio) that the base will self-destruct shortly. The Joes inflate their survival rafts to escape, but the Cobra soldiers refuse and vow to serve Cobra Commander to the end, even if it means their deaths. The base explodes, but the Joes spot the SRV trying to ram the rafts. All the Joes' weapons are soaking wet except for Zap's bazooka. He sinks the SRV, but soon after, the Cobra sea plane emerges from the water and the commander escapes. The Joes are upset, but they all survived the assault. As the rafts drift back to shore, the team speculates that their next assignment will be two weeks sea training, and then afterward they'll be sent to the Sahara.

Commentary: "Code Name: Sea-Strike!" is the first of a very few G.I. Joe comics written by someone other than Larry Hama. In this case it's Herb Trimpe, the regular G.I. Joe artist. In a few issues he shares a writing credit with Hama, but this issue is all his own. The issue is only the second sice #1 to have a story involving all the team members all the way through. The story is less military than Hama's style and seems to lean more towards science fiction. The Cobra underwater base strikes me as something more often seen in the cartoon series. The SEA legs, Cobra's walking tanks were most likely inspired by the Imperial walkers from The Empire Strikes Back. The Cobra invasion is a pretty good battle scene, as well.

In this issue, Cobra is the most fanatical than it has ever been, with Cobra's plans being literally to take over the world, and rather quickly. They have not yet been this ambitious. The Cobra soldiers are also a little too fanatical, staying loyal even too their deaths. But this early in the series, Trimpe didn't know how Cobra would turn out. In the space scenes, some laws of physics must have been broken, with Flash pushing the missle out of the way of the shuttle, but Breaker's reaction is kind of funny. He sings Flash a couple bars of "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" During the battle on the deck of the sea base, we see one of the few injuries of the series so far. Instead of the expected "it doesn't hurt" reaction when asked how his shoulder wound is, Grand Slam actually says, "You want honesty? It hurts real bad!" Since children would've read this book, it's good to see that the soldiers aren't superheroes who are invulnerable to pain.

Character-wise, the Baroness has more great terrorist lines like "capitalist lackeys." In what's probably a reference to the TV series from the early '80s, Hill Street Blues, Hawk tells the Joes at the end of the briefing, "And hey, one more thing! Be careful out there!" Zap's strange sense of humor shows up again, when he bets Short Fuze five bucks that he'll "outscore" him. Short Fuze isn't amused. Snake-Eyes shows more of his fighting skills when he takes out a Cobra tank driver with his bare hands.

In what may be another dialogue glitch, Hawk seems to refer to Stalker and "ranger" as two separate people. Also, Hawk mentions that he's been in uniform for thirty years. That would make him about fifty as of this issue. It's possible, but that would make him 60 by the end of the series, and he tends to be portrayed younger looking as the series goes on. But, ages have never been comic books' strong suit. One strange thing is the end of the story that says "FINIS?" with a question mark, as if there're some loose ends, but there really aren't.

So, this was an all right story, but not one of the best of the series so far. Trimpe writes a little more sci-fi than Larry Hama's more military style, but his battle scenes hold up pretty well.
Reprinted in:
  • G.I. JOE Comics Magazine #3 (April 1987). Digest format from Marvel Comics. Includes issues #6 and #7.
  • Tales of G.I. Joe #8 (August 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 comic-based action figures of Rock & Roll and Short Fuze, and Flash in an astronaut outfit as seen in the issue.
  • 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