 Hello everybody who did Cobra Commander 788 here and at last the comic book reviews are back. We took a long hiatus because of Joe Fest and Cobra Convergence but now that we're past those things I can get back to the GI Joe comic book series. We are picking up the comic book reviews with issue number 23 with a publishing date of May 1984. In issue number 22 we didn't have a lot of action. It was mostly a memorial issue for the characters that died. There were some new characters introduced in issue number 22. Duke and Roadblock first appeared as did the Cobra Rattler. Now in issue number 23 we get to see those new characters in action. On the cover we see Clutch and Roadblock guarding Cobra Commander and Cobra Commander is in handcuffs. I wonder if Cobra Commander will be captured in this issue. I like this cover. It doesn't exactly depict the events in the interior pages but the artwork is excellent. The cover artist is Michael Golden. He would go on to do more GI Joe artwork in the future. His style is sometimes criticized as being too cartoony and I admit I've made that criticism myself but in this case the artwork is very solid. The details are excellent. Great characterization. Great composition. It's perfect. On the opening splash page we have a title Cobra Commander captured at last. I wonder if Cobra Commander will be captured in this issue. The script is by Larry Hama, breakdowns by Mike Vosberg and finishes by Dagestino and Tartag. We open with Snowjob on a mountain side looking down at what looks like a small village. The caption says this is in the shadow of the Ober-Gabelhorn near the Italian border of Switzerland. Ober-Gabelhorn is a mountain in the Panin Alps in Switzerland south of Bern. Snowjob identifies this small cluster of buildings as a convalescent chalet of the Bern Institute of Reconstructive Surgery. Through his binoculars Snowjob sees the bareness with her face bandaged. She has apparently received reconstructive surgery. The dialogue helpfully reminds us that she was badly burned when her hiss tank blew up in issue number 16. In issue number 16 she wrecked her hiss tank to prevent major blood from assassinating Destro at the orders of Cobra Commander. Both the bareness and major blood were captured, but in the chaos during the Cobra assault on GI Joe headquarters, major blood murdered General Flag and escaped with the bareness. It's possible that the bareness has no memory of major blood attempting to kill Destro, or she could just be biding her time. Meanwhile in Bern, Roadblock and Duke are sitting outside Major Blood's hotel and monitoring the situation by radio. Snowjob says the chalet is near the Simplon Pass and this is another real place name. The Simplon Pass is a high mountain pass between the Panin and Lepatin Alps. Roadblock observes major blood exiting the hotel and getting in a cab, and major blood is dressed exactly as I would imagine him to be when he is not in uniform. Instead of pursuing, Duke signals Covergirl and Clutch to follow him in the Porsche. How can the Joes afford a Porsche Carrera? What's the budget on this mission? Your tax dollars at work. Since Duke and Roadblock are not pursuing, that gives Roadblock an opportunity to complain about the food in the cafe. I just can't imagine why anyone would think American tourists are obnoxious. Back at GI Joe headquarters the pit is being rebuilt and the rest of the Joes are committed to that effort, so Duke's team will have to handle the situation themselves without backup. They clear up something here that could have been a plot hole. How do they know to look for the bareness in Switzerland? They implanted a tracking device behind the bareness's ear while she was unconscious. That is incredibly unethical. They probably should have just left it as a plot hole. Back in Switzerland major blood has switched vehicles and has stopped to make a telephone call. Covergirl and Clutch in the Porsche are observing and trying not to be noticed. Of course Clutch hits on Covergirl, he can't help himself. Maybe in 1984 this was considered endearing. Covergirl is a tank driver and a damn good one. Is this the best use of her skills? Major blood places a phone call to Cobra Commander demanding ransom for the bareness. This is a problem for Cobra Commander because he doesn't want Destro to find out that the commander tried to kill him. Cobra Commander makes a crack here. If I really wanted to, I could hire that gorilla from the luggage commercial to jump up and down on your face wearing track shoes. This is a reference to an old television commercial from 1971. The American Tourist had a TV commercial where it showed a gorilla trying to smash the case to show how tough the suitcase was. Cobra Commander jumps in his limo and orders the driver to take him to the airfield, but before that stop at the bank and before that stop at the luggage store. So even Cobra limo drivers wear masks and goggles. Back in Switzerland Clutch and Covergirl climb up a mountainside without climbing equipment to meet up with Snowjob. Seems rather extreme since they could have communicated by radio. They observe Major blood walking up to the Bern Institute of Reconstructive Surgery carrying a gift. What could it be? Back at the cafe in Bern, Roadblock continues to complain about the food while Duke talks into his portable suitcase radio about the super secret mission in full view of everyone. Inside the chalet we see what Major Blood's gift to the Baroness was. It is a leather dominatrix outfit which matches the uniform she wore on her 1984 action figure. Look I have no doubt that Major Blood and the Baroness are getting it on here. They are adults and they can do that. But the gift of the Dominatrix gear tells me a lot more about Major Blood's preferences in the bedroom than I ever wanted to know. This is the first official appearance of the Baroness in the figure accurate uniform. This uniform appeared as a chess piece in issue number 21. The Baroness is the first character created for the comic book that became an action figure. More important than the leather outfit is the Baroness's face. The reconstructive surgery has repaired her face and she got some new glasses too. Through the binoculars Snowjob sees probably a lot more than he wanted to see but he also sees an Air Italia ticket to Luca. Luca is a city in Tuscany, central Italy. So it looks like our tour of Europe will continue to Italy. The next day we find Duke and Roadblock in a different cafe presumably in Luca and finally we found a place where Roadblock approves of the food. They spot someone who appears to be Cobra Commander but it just turns out to be a dude in a costume and he's met by a bunch of other people in costumes. Major Blood chose this location because it is the site of the International Fantasy Convention and all the costumed people will cover his meeting with Cobra Commander. I didn't find a reference to an International Fantasy Convention but I did find a reference to a World Fantasy Convention that's been going on since the 1970s. It was never hosted in Italy. It's only been in the USA, Canada, and the UK. Because of this Duke and Roadblock miss the real Cobra Commander stepping out of his limo. Major Blood and the Baroness drive to meet Cobra Commander and keeping with the idea of blending in with the cosplayers they have henchmen dressed as gangsters. They spot Clutch and Covergirl following in the Porsche and open fire. This is in full view of a crowd. The crowd thinks it's just a performance and applause. Covergirl and Clutch use this opportunity to switch into their regular uniforms to continue the pursuit. Duke and Roadblock spot Major Blood and finally decide to get in the action. Major Blood sees them and realizes it's a trap. Roadblock unleashes the browning 50 caliber and takes out the car. All but two of the henchmen jump Duke and Roadblock while Major Blood and the Baroness run away. Duke and Roadblock fight off the henchmen. Inside the hotel the Baroness and Major Blood are meeting up with Cobra Commander and his driver for the exchange of money. Major Blood insisted on two million dollars in a Gucci suitcase. Cobra Commander refuses to let go of the suitcase and the driver throws off his coat to reveal it is Storm Shadow. Storm Shadow takes out the two henchmen with his sword. So was Storm Shadow disguised as the driver back in Springfield or did he switch places with the driver? Was he just sitting in the limo waiting for Cobra Commander? That's not important. This is the second time Storm Shadow is named. He first appeared in issue number 21 but that was a silent issue so his name was not spoken. His name was mentioned in issue number 22. Storm Shadow is holding a sword to Major Blood's throat and it looks like Cobra Commander has the upper hand but the Baroness pulls a luger on Cobra Commander. Meantime Clutch and Cover Girl in the Porsche and Snow Job in the Vamp are just arriving in town. Roadblock bursts into the hotel to see the standoff between Major Blood and Storm Shadow and the Baroness and Cobra Commander. Roadblock's civilian clothes have been mostly torn off revealing sort of his uniform. He has a couple yellow straps and some yellow trousers with a knife. These early issues took some liberties with the character's uniforms both in design and color. This four-way standoff is like something you would see in a Quentin Tarantino movie. The Baroness uses this moment of distraction to lead Cobra Commander to the exit. Roadblock and Duke attack Storm Shadow and Major Blood and one thing I like about Roadblock is he is not intimidated by ninjas. He will go right at them. The Baroness tells Cobra Commander to put on his battle mask. He had been wearing his hood and it's the hood that appears on the front cover so this is where the story departs from the cover image. Why does the Baroness ask Cobra Commander to put on his battle mask? Because we know he's going to be captured. That's the title of the issue. He was wearing his hood and if he's captured wearing his hood the hood could be easily removed and it would reveal his identity. The battle mask has safeguards against removal. At an alleyway door we get sound effects which is maybe a little silly. Storm Shadow kicks the door open and escapes with Major Blood so I guess they're on the same side now. Cobra Commander and the Baroness flee in the limo. Clutch and Covergirl pursue in the Porsche. Storm Shadow and Major Blood pursue them on a dragon float. Snowjob picks up Duke and Roadblock in the vamp so they can pursue everyone else. Duke's hair is miscolored on this page but a lot of things are miscolored in this issue so who's keeping track really. The car chase leads up a narrow mountain path. Storm Shadow punctures one of the tires on the Porsche with an arrow. Clutch attempts to block the dragon float but only succeeds in tearing off the dragon facade. Major Blood and Storm Shadow continue to pursue in the motorized chassis. Snowjob, Duke and Roadblock in the vamp pass Clutch and Covergirl on the roadway but they can't stop because they are in hot pursuit. Clutch and Covergirl don't want to be out of the fight so they steal a motorcycle at gunpoint. The Italian government may have something to say about this operation when it's over. Did the Italian government even authorize this? As the chase winds around the mountain road, the limo and the float barely miss an oncoming cement truck. The vamp is unable to avoid the cement truck and collides with it. This gives the Joes a chance to regroup. Clutch and Roadblock continue the chase in the vamp. The other Joes are not going to be left behind. They steal the cement truck. Another vehicle theft. This is Grand Theft Auto 1984. Clutch decides the only way they will catch up with the limo is to go straight down the mountain side with the vamp which tears up the vamp but it does allow them to cut off the limo so Roadblock can open fire with his 50 cal. The Baroness jumps out of the limo and leaps onto the float and escapes with Major Blood and Storm Shadow and she has the Gucci case she escaped with the two million dollars. Cobra Commander does not escape. The last panel shows him captured by Roadblock and Clutch. So the last panel shows the thing happening that we knew was going to happen from the first page. Really from the cover. I like this issue. I like that it took place in Europe. It gives us a little different scenery. I like that it used real place names and locales. It feels like we are back into the swing of the story. We have followed up with Major Blood and the Baroness and we've seen a bit more of our new characters Duke and Roadblock. Of the two, Roadblock clearly has the most personality. It will take some time for Duke's character to develop. In this issue, we see one of the criticisms of Duke and it's a legitimate one. He looks exactly like Hawk. He has the same hair color. He has the same hairstyle. He has the same basic facial features. If they weren't wearing different uniforms, you could believe they're the same guy. One thing I don't like as much is we don't see Duke and Roadblock in their figure accurate uniforms very much. They spend most of the issue undercover, which is fine, but it's kind of an unexpected choice for characters that have just been introduced. It maybe doesn't play to their strengths. We do get to see the Baroness in her figure accurate uniform. She is fully back in the story and is great to have her back. This issue establishes storm shadow as Cobra Commander's loyal body guard. But in this case, he failed. His charge was captured by the enemy. I guess he'll have to do something about that. I think that wraps up everything I want to say about this issue. It's good. I think we will have better in the near future, but this is not bad at all. For the next issue, we will see if the Joes can keep Cobra Commander or if Cobra can rescue him. That was my review of issue number 23. I hope you enjoyed it. I will try to keep up with these comic book issues every month, and it doesn't always work out, but I will try to do them every month. This channel does vintage G.I. Joe toy reviews every Sunday, so please check those out. I am on social media, on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, HCC788.com. 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