Death in the Desert

The battle in Trucial Abysmia continues, and misinterpreted orders lead to tragedy.

Detailed summary

• Synopsis not yet written.

Appearances

Featured Characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Memorable quotes

"G.I. Joe prisoners? Are you crazy? Get rid of them immediately!"
"What? Did I hear you right, Commander? Exactly what do you mean by that?"
"What else can it mean? Just do it!"

--What Cobra Commander and Xamot have here is failure to communicate.

Other notes

Errors

• While Snake-Eyes is seen on the cover, he is not featured in the story.
• When the Viper pistol-whips Cross-Country, his faceplate is colored like skin.
• The Vipers are missing their gloves half the time.
• The coloring is incredibly messed-up on page 11. Hawk is either wearing a jacket, or a long-sleeved shirt, or a short-sleeved shirt, or his sleeves are ripped. Not even the artists can tell Hawk and Duke apart!
• On page 18, either we switch to the desert one panel sooner than the captions indicate, or there are suddenly an extra half-dozen people in the Mobile Battle Bunker.
• The dossier in this issue incorrectly lists Storm Shadow's first appearance as G.I. Joe #23.

Items of note

• First Appearances: S.A.W.-Viper, Countdown, Mobile Battle Bunker
• KIA: Doc, Crankcase, Heavy-Metal, Thunder, Breaker, Crazylegs, Quick-Kick
• Cobra Commander and the Crimson Twins allude to some ongoing plain for Trucial Abysmia and neighboring Benzheen.
• The letters page for this issue has a fan complaining about the lack of realism. Convenient timing!
• The letters page also explains the Arashikage I-Ching hexagram. Its meaning: fire over water, which indicates the need for perseverance and caution. Or: "thus, the superior man takes thought of misfortune and arms himself against it in advance."
  • They also mention that Prof. Onihashi's hexagram was different.

Dossiers

• The dossier in this issue features Storm Shadow.

Real-world references

• This issue came out as the first Gulf War was starting. Trucial Abysmia was quite clearly a standin for Iraq.

Footnotes and References