G.I. JOE #47
Sea Duel 

Cover Date: May, 1986
Script: Larry Hama
Pencils: Rod Whigham
Inks: Andy Mushynsky
Lettering: Joe Rosen
Colors: George Roussos
Editor: Denny O'Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Summary:  Just off the coast of Cobra Island, a G.I. Joe Whale hovercraft is picking up the Joe rescue team, who have just rescued Ripcord from the island. Little do the Joes know, "Ripcord" is actually Zartan in disguise. As the team gets onboard the Whale, a Cobra transport helicopter approaches the island. Realizing that the Cobra 'copter will give away the Whale's position, Cutter fires a barrage of missles at 'copter, which is carrying the Baroness, Destro, Dr. Mindbender and Buzzer. The missles find their target and the Cobras fight the fire that's broke out onboard. Cutter orders the Whale to leave until Shipwreck hears what sounds like a firefight on the island. Through his binoculars, Cutter sees that Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow are fighting their way to the airfield, trying to escape after their failed attempt to exact revenge on Zartan for killing the Hard Master.

On the Whale, Doc tells Cutter that "Ripcord" needs a medevac and that he's delirious. Cutter spots the C-130 approaching, along with a Dragonfly 'copter carrying Wild Bill and Hawk. Meanwhile, Cutter is watching Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow's progress, cheering them on. Inside the Whale, Doc catches a glimpse of Zartan when his Ripcord hologram falters for a second. Doc isn't sure what he saw.

The Cobra 'copter is coming in for a crash landing at the airfield. The Baroness desparately tries to keep control, but the 'copter only stops after it wipes out all the Rattlers and FANGs on the runway. The passengers survive, but Storm Shadow watches, upset that they've fought their way to the airfield only to have all the aircraft destroyed. He decides they'll have to get down to the beach and commandeer a boat.

Back at the Whale, Hawk gives up his seat in the Dragonfly to "Ripcord". Doc starts to tell Hawk there's something not quite right about Ripcord, but he's interrupted when Cutter spots Storm Shadow and Snake-Eyes heading for the beach. At the airfield, the Cobras are offloading Dr. Mindbender's precious crates from the crashed 'copter. Cobra Commander arrives in a HISS tank and reports on Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow's attack. The Commander is afraid that they'll escape by sea. But Mindbender isn't worried. His cargo will prevent that. As he speaks, the two ninjas arrive at the hydrofoil base, taking out the Cobras guarding it. Out in the water, the C-130 drops two Devil Fish (the Joes' new fast attack boats) into the water. Hawk gets ready to pilot one of the Devil Fish and takes two new Joes -- Beach Head and Wet-Suit -- along with him. "With all due respect, Hawk," Cutter asks, "Is it wise for the commanding general to stick his neck out this far? After all, Snake-Eyes is on that island against orders..." Hawk disagrees: "The Joes take care of their own. If it was me on that island, Snake-Eyes would do the same..."

On another side of the island, the Cobra commanders arrive at the docks. The Commander orders two Cobra Eels (divers) to go with Dr. Mindbender and man his torpedo transports (aka Hydro-sleds). As Mindbender goes on about the certainty of success due to his superior craft, an annoyed Destro notes that "This Dr. Mindbender thinks more highly of himself than Major Bludd does." The Commander and the Baroness have a brief disagreement over Bludd's poetry, as Mindbender and the Eels head for the hydrofoil base. At that very base, Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow finish off the guards and steal a hydrofoil. Meanwhile, the Joes approach the island in the two Devil Fish. Hawk spots the Hydro-sleds, while Beach Head sees the hydrofoil. The Hydro-sled carrying Mindbender fires on the hydrofoil, knocking out one of its skis. Storm Shadow has too much trouble maintaining control to notice the two Eels that were hiding onboard the hydrofoil. At the same time, Hawk and Beach Head's Devil Fish is destroyed by the other Hydro-sled after they "abandon ship". On the hydrofoil, the Eels fire on Storm Shadow, but he's too fast for them. He knocks their weapons away and pulls out his swords. The out-of-control hydrofoil crashes into the rocks, throwing the passengers overboard. The Eels grab onto Storm Shadow's wrists, trying to keep him from using the swords. Wet-Suit picks up Hawk and Beach Head in his Devil Fish, and they circle around to go after the Hydro-sleds. The attack boat's torpedo launchers were damaged in the fall from the C-130's and won't fire. The Cobra sleds fire their torpedoes, but the Joes detonate them with their firearms and plow right between the Hydro-sleds, capsizing them.

Meanwhile, Storm Shadow and the Eels fight, but blood from their wounds attract some nearby sharks. A short distance away, Snake-Eyes has to start fighting off the sharks. The Devil Fish reaches him and Hawk helps him onboard the small craft. They can spot Storm Shadow and the Eels getting attacked by the sharks, and Hawk tries to tell Snake-Eyes that there are two many sharks and there's no hope for Storm Shadow. But Wet-Suit spots someone walking out of the surf -- it's Storm Shadow! As the exhausted ninja walks up onto the beach, the Baroness pulls up in a HISS tank. "You've betrayed Cobra once too often," he says. "And I intend that you never betray us again." With that, she pulls out a machine pistol and fires three rounds into Storm Shadow. Snake-Eyes can only watch in horror as his friend is gunned down on the beach.

At Springfield Municipal Airport, the Firebat carrying Ripcord disguised as Zartan arrives. The computer controlled jet flew all the way from Cobra Island, with an unconscious Ripcord onboard. The unauthorized landing is checked out by Firefly and the Dreadnoks, Ripper and Torch. Believing the passenger is Zartan, they take the wounded man to the hospital.

At McGuire AFB in New Jersey, Zartan -- disguised as a wounded Ripcord -- arrives in the C-130. As he's off-loaded and put into a jeep, Wild Bill, Ace and Lady Jaye discuss the trip from Cobra Island. "Ripcord's in pretty bad shape," Ace says. Lady Jaye agrees. "It's a good thing Doc gave him something to knock him out...he won't regain consciousness until he's deep inside the Pit!"

TO BE CONTINUED.

Commentary: Following the Joes rescue mission in the last issue, "Sea Duel" is a action-filled story, portraying Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow's attempts to get off of Cobra Island, after Storm Shadow fails to exact his revenge on Zartan. The story seems to chronicle the two ninjas unbelievably bad luck. After fighting their way to the airfield, they watch as the crashing Cobra transport 'copter manages to wipe out every piece of aircraft on the field, but all passengers escape without a crash. Did I already say "unbelievable"?

The issue also shows some interesting aspects of Hawk's character. He seems genuinely concerned for Ripcord and decides to rescue Snake-Eyes despite the fact that he and Storm Shadow are on the island illegally and Snake-Eyes is there against orders. It seems that Hawk is taking full advantage of his status as General, taking matters into his own hands. He seems concerned about Snake-Eyes as he thinks Storm Shadow is dead. We also see the darkest side of the Baroness, as she guns down Storm Shadow, determined to keep him from betraying Cobra once again. She may have her reasons, but she still shoots an exhausted man, only armed with a sword, which even Destro will question at the start of the next issue. Mindbender is again seen as an arrogant man, believing he will prevail even as he continues to fail.

Destro, Mindbender and the Baroness' arrival on the island by helicopter is a nice bit of continuity, as they are presumably returning from the events of issue #44. Buzzer also joins them, finally returning to Cobra after his capture by the Joes many issues back.

Aside from Storm Shadow's surviving a fight with half a dozen sharks or more, there are a few other criticisms of the issue. At the end of issue #46, Spirit notices that Ripcord -- actually the disguised Zartan -- has a wound that doesn't match with the hole in his shirt. Yet, as the rescue team is picked up by the WHALE, he doesn't even mention it. Spirit seems a lot more conscientious than to simply ignore or forget something like that. In this issue, Doc glimpses Zartan as his Ripcord hologram fails for half a second. Doc doesn't ignore this, but as he starts to tell Hawk something's strange about Ripcord, they are interrupted, and nothing more is said about it. It's a bit frustrating and also one of those annoying fictional "cop-outs", where a character just can't tell someone what he has to explain.

Though the plot doesn't suffer because of it, this issue is obviously one of the mandated-by-Hasbro toy introduction issues, with the first appearances of two Joes, two Cobra troopers and two vehicles (listed below).
First appearances:
  • G.I. Joe team: Beach Head, Wet-Suit
  • Cobra: Eels (frogmen), Tele-Viper (communications)
  • G.I. Joe vehicles: Devilfish attack boat
  • Cobra vehicles: Hydro-Sled
Reprinted in:
  • Action Force #49 & 50 (February 6th & 13th, 1988). A Marvel UK series featuring the UK's version of G.I. Joe reprints this story in two parts, alongside an original story. All references to "G.I. Joe" were changed to "Action Force".
  • G.I. JOE: Volume 5 (2002). A trade paperback collection from Marvel. Includes issues #42-50.
  • Classic G.I. JOE: Volume 5 (November 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 #42-50.