Snake-Eyes faces a new future as he undergoes an operation to have his face repaired but it may turn out to be a bleak one as the Baroness comes after him for some unknown vendetta.
The Snake-Eyes Trilogy part 1: Warrior Reborn! Exterminating Circumstances (or Bern This) Snake-Eyes is still undergoing reconstructive surgery while Dr. Hundtkinder makes cryptic remarks and Scarlett frets in the corridor. Deeply anaesthetised, Snake-Eyes remembers an incident around the time of the Tet Offensive, when he was serving with Stalker and Storm Shadow. Their jeep was sniped at and their driver, Corky Barnett, was killed. With Storm Shadow wounded, Snake-Eyes pursued the assassins on his own into VietCong territory.
Hawk calls Scarlett, reminding her of the recent rescue of Clutch and Rock & Roll and how Baroness detonated a bomb in the Dreadnoks' van, leaving Zarana and Road Pig badly injured. Zarana has just come round, raving about a plot involving Baroness and Hundtkinder. As Baroness arrives on the roof with a group of Alley-Vipers and Night-Vipers, Scarlett bursts into the operating theatre and ends the procedure at gunpoint.
Baroness explains to a Toxo-Viper her reason for coming: She accompanied her brother, Eugen DeCobray, on a humanitarian mission to Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. They arrived to find the warehouse that should have contained medical supplies empty. The men Snake-Eyes was pursuing arrived and Baroness left them alone to talk. Bursting into the operating theatre, Baroness and the Vipers find Huntkinder and his staff tied up on the table.
Scarlett has the bandaged and still-ansesthetised Snake-Eyes in a wheelchair, trying to get him away. Snake-Eyes dreams about what really happened. He overheard Eugen telling the men that the medical supplies were meant to be distributed to any villages in need. Instead, the men sold them on the black market to buy weapons. When Eugen objected, they shot him. Snake-Eyes burst in through the window and killed both men. Baroness entered to find him standing over the three bodies and assumed he killed Eugen as well.
Scarlett tries to make a stand in an empty room, as Baroness tells the Vipers they must leave Snake-Eyes alive but can kill Scarlett. Alley-Vipers bursting through the window behind her distracts Scarlett and she is shot and wounded. Baroness tells them not to finish her...because she wants to do it herself. After shooting Scarlett, she tells the mostly-unconscious Snake-Eyes that she should have waited until he could appreciate it but will make up for it back in New York.
Billy is being seen off to college by his mother when he is knocked off his scooter by Raptor. He easily overpowers the man but is intrigued when Raptor says he knows where the real Cobra Commander is buried and who killed him.
In G.I. Joe #26, Stalker had to go through old military records to learn that Tommy's "unpronounceable last name" translated as "Storm Shadow," yet in this flashback, he casually refers to him by that name.
When Li'l Baroness opens the door to find her brother dead, her speech balloon is not colored in.
Items of note
Unused original cover.
Part one of the Snake-Eyes trilogy.
The cover of this issue is drastically different than the one previewed at the end of last issue.
The Baroness' brother Eugen is killed, and she assumes Snake-Eyes killed him.
The Baroness' name is first revealed, Anastastia DeCobray.[1]
Scarlett is shot in the head by the Baroness.
On the letters page, one writer explains the use of computer modems, BBS's and personal "handles." What a strange concept!
Real-world references
The Vietnam flashbacks take place during the Tet Offensive, and Snake-Eyes passes by real situations the soldiers faced.
"Uncle Sugar" is slang for the US, and the government unfortunately did indeed abandon many P.O.W.s when the military pulled out.
On the letters page, one writer signs off as "Duce," prompting the editor to quip, "weren't you last seen hanging around a gas station in Milan?" - a reference to the desecration of Mussolini's body, and his nickname (Il Duce).
Footnotes and References
↑"DeCobray" would later be revealed as an alias, and her real last name as "Cisarovna."
