 Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. It's time for another GI Joe comic quick review And we are picking it back up with issue number 29 in the previous issue GI Joe fought a Cobra robot army and Cobra rattlers in the Florida Everglades Destro's Cobra rattler attacked the GI Joe killer whale Destro was shot down and deep six was badly wounded a couple local cops joined The fight their vehicle was destroyed They attempted to take shelter in what they thought was an abandoned cabin But it was Zartan's cabin which firefly blew up before leaving issue 29 has a spectacular cover Destro fires a machine gun roadblock lifts some metal door for cover and Duke takes aim with a pistol on the splash page We have a title beached whale the creative team is Larry Hama script Frank Springer pencils and Andy Muschinski inks The GI Joe killer whale hovercraft is being towed to a fishing dock in Erlinger's Cove, Florida deep six is still badly wounded and sprawling on the deck of the killer whale the Joes are being mocked and ridiculed by bystanders because I guess there's a lot of Anti-military sentiment in the American South that's news to me the Joes begin repair on the killer whale roadblock removes a section of armor plate Some locals decide to play a prank on roadblock by holding on to some handles on the armor piece handles that were not present in Earlier panels, but roadblock is able to lift the armor plate with the three guys on it Roadblock is superhuman back in the Everglades Firefly and Destro talk about their plans to get even with Cobra commander for abandoning them back at the secret Cobra base in The town of Springfield Cobra commander has returned to cheering crowds There's one person in the crowd who is not cheering it is a boy with dark hair We will learn that this is Billy Cobra commander's son We don't know that yet though this character was first introduced in issue number 10 and we won't learn about his parentage until later Oh spoiler. This is Cobra commander's son Sorry if you hadn't read the 35 year old comic book yet Deep six gets airlifted on the GI Joe dragonfly helicopter to the USS Jane the freighter that serves as GI Joe's sea base get a panel with a doctor who is not doc and another Joe who is Maybe rock and roll with another guy who is maybe clutch These are all off model. So your guess is as good as mine back at Earlingers Cove The Joes are working through the night to repair the killer whale roadblock and Duke are using bicycle tube repair kits to repair the Flotation skirt and wait a minute roadblock is standing in the water to repair the skirt and the water doesn't even go up to his knees Must be low tide I guess back in the Everglades Destro and Firefly have captured an alligator poacher And they are threatening him to get information on how to get a bigger boat to make it back to Springfield Meanwhile in Springfield Cobra commander is holding a huge rally with tons of Cobra banners and uniform Cobra troops He's giving a speech here which both reveals and obfuse gays Cobra's political ideology Cobra seems to be Simultaneously both far left wing and far right wing regarding Cobra's ideology I think the writer Larry Hama was less interested in defining a coherent ideology Than warning against the extremes here We get the first introduction of the crimson guard a Cobra trooper in a red uniform the crimson guard uniform had not been finalized yet So here we just get a generic red jumpsuit under that jumpsuit The crimson guardsman is wearing a pinstriped suit You see the crimson guard is a deep cover Cobra agent meant to work as a fifth column within the United States He seemingly has a normal life with a normal family, but he is secretly a Cobra agent This agent's codename is Smith a very common name But in later issues he is known as Fred back at Erlinger's Cove Destro and Firefly Use darkness and silence to sneak up on the Joe's on the killer whale cutter says he wants a frosty bottle of yo-jo Cola this is probably a euphemism for beer kind of like the dread knocks Consuming grape soda and chocolate covered donuts was probably a euphemism for drugs and alcohol Destro kicks the poacher into the water still tied up But fortunately the water is only two feet deep so he'll be fine Destro jumps cutter cutter punches Destro in the face Destro reminds cutter that his face is covered with a steel mask So you won't do much good punching him in the face Destro explains all this while pounding cutter in the face Firefly man's one of the machine gun turrets on the killer whale and opens fire at the Joe's on the dock Duke and roadblock take cover behind a section of armor plate And this is as close as we get to the image on the cover This is almost what's shown on the cover But it is firefly at the machine gun not Destro Destro jumps behind the wheel of the killer whale and chucks cutter off and wait a minute That's not the driver's seat of the killer whale. That's the troop carrying compartment Anyway Destro and Firefly zoom away in the killer whale just as the dragonfly is returning Duke jumps into the dragonfly to pursue The bad guys roadblock and cutter stay behind because cutter is badly hurt cutter decides. He don't need no doctor and steals Borrow's a fishing boat in the meantime remember those two police officers chief and RL well They're back They have made their way through the alligator Infested swamp back to the interstate where they think they are going to hitch a ride But they are pushed back into the murky swamp waters by a very inconsiderate Destro driving the killer whale oh the indignity oh the comic relief the dragonfly catches up with and engages the killer whale I engaged the killer whale once it was beautiful cutter and roadblock return to the USS Jane and cutter takes command of the ship The USS Jane deploys its hydrofoils and goes to ludicrous speed on the gas turbine I assume this idea came from the James Bond movie Thunderball which had a hydrofoil similar to this It would have been well known to the author of this comic book in 1984 Chief and RL are walking along the middle of the interstate the very narrow interstate Florida has an interstate for bicycles I bet you didn't know that the Jane with her hydrofoils Straddling the interstate flies right over the two guys. Oh the indignity. Oh the comic relief Oh, I said that already yes It is possible to have a t-shaped hydrofoil Which you could theoretically straddle a roadway with as long as there was water on each side But how did the hydrofoils straddle the road in the first place cutter pushes the USS Jane over land or shallow water? I guess which causes the hydrofoils to break away sure fire warrants that they are now grinding away hull plates Cutters says don't bother me with details Never tell me the odds cutter successfully maneuvers the freighter across land and into the Gulf I'm not 100% sure this is possible. In fact, I'm 110% sure this is not possible Firefly and Destro are in a heap of trouble. Their machine guns are jammed and they are under attack by both sea and air Duke gives Destro the chance to surrender and Destro gives his answer in the form of wrist rocket Sprang the Dragonfly's engine is damaged and the helicopter is about to crash So while Bill steers the helicopter into the front of the freighter hoping the cushion of air will give him enough lift To land on the deck Duke is a little nervous. He and while Bill have this exchange where while Bill is like Hey, what's the matter? You don't think I can do it and Duke is like nah I'm just a little nervous because I'm in a flaming helicopter over the ocean. Just do it already The dragonfly crash lands on the deck of the Jane and Duke and while Bill barely make it out alive Tripwire says cutter's been acting weird ever since he came back aboard. I don't know why it's like he doesn't like me All I did was question every action He took two depths charges launched from the killer whale one on each side and yeah That's not how the toy works. It has depth charges on one side But we might as well overlook that we've already overlooked so much else the Jane opens its sea doors and swallows the whale It's like a reverse Jonah upon inspection of the killer whale It appears abandoned and the cabin is filled with plastic explosives, although it doesn't look like plastic explosives It looks like liquid, but what do I know tripwire finds a detonating device and there's only seven seconds left on a timer There's not enough time to get it up to the deck. There's only time to talk about it Tripwire dives on the explosive Steve Rogers style in a heroic moment of self-sacrifice Roadblock says get off that thing will ya roadblock throws it through a ventilation duct Which leads to a funnel on the main deck where the bomb explodes harmlessly the Joe's figure out that Destro and Firefly must have been in the depth charges They were bobbing right past us like two cans of cream of cobra soup roadblock chides tripwire for his attempt at self-sacrifice He's like hey, don't be so eager to die for your country, man The government paid a lot of money to train you and you do care about the public Fisk Don't you the Joe's want to turn around and find those two depth charges, but it's impossible the fishing fleet is out And there is no room to maneuver working in the shadows of a stolen fishing boat Destro and Firefly plan their return to Springfield next issue the dread knocks on a rampage Yes, that's what I'm here for from a technical standpoint. This is not a good issue I'm not a fan of Frank Springer's artwork his art always seems a bit sketchy and unfinished The characters are always a bit off-model which is not a big problem in itself But like on page 10 roadblock has straps on his uniform that appear and disappear in multiple panels on the same page The killer whale does not work that way. I'm pretty sure hydrofoil boats don't work that way Just nothing works that way despite all this as a young reader when I first got this issue I loved it the cover captivated me that flame burst looks like it was done with an airbrush And it looked really cool at the time I got this issue I did not have the killer whale yet, but I knew the killer whale did not work this way Nonetheless, I loved seeing it in action and the action is great through most of the issue It keeps the pace up very nicely the mystery of the crimson guard was introduced and that captivated me I had to keep reading to find out what happened with that there were good character moments for roadblock Which further cemented him as one of my favorite characters This was not my first GI Joe comic book by a long shot, but it refreshed and reinvigorated the series for me I read this comic so much the cover came off my childhood copy of issue number 29 looked like this I feel like I've seen this ad for Fig Newton's 10,000 times This is why you can't judge art by objective standards Subjectively it can be much more than a sum of its parts and that's what this issue was for me Do I recommend this issue despite its flaws? Yes, it's a lot of fun. That was my review of GI Joe issue number 29 I hope you enjoyed it. I will be doing more GI Joe comic book and toy reviews on this channel So please subscribe so you don't miss them I also have a huge back catalog of comic book and toy reviews Please check those out to support the channel on patreon to help me continue doing these videos I'll be back soon with another one and until then remember only GI Joe is GI Joe