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M.A.S.K.: First Strike

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MASKFS cvrB.jpg
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published November 1, 2017
Cover date October 2017
Written by Aubrey Sitterson
Art by Ilias Kyriazis
Colors by Mark Roberts
Letters by Gilberto Lazcano
Editor Carlos Guzman
Continuity 2005 IDW continuity
Chronology Current era

G.I. Joe struggles to take down V.E.N.O.M.'s "King Cobra" mecha.

Contents

Synopsis

The "King Cobra" mecha created by the fusion of Vanessa Warfield, Bruno Sheppard, and Sly Rax's vehicles initially proves a challenge for the Joes: the airbone Spitfire and Skywarp can't get close enough to it; Gung-Ho can't penetrate its armored hide even with his new gauntlets and is flung away when he tries; and even a hail of fire from Salvo's massive guns can't put a dent in it. It soon becomes apparent, however, that the robot's three-man control system is not the best fit for the trio of squabbling V.E.N.O.M. agents, and its movements start becoming erratic. Unfortunately, without Scarlett to lead them, the Joes are so scattered and unfocused themselves, each trying to launch solo attacks and getting under each other's feet, that it doesn't look like they'll able to take advantage of their opponents' lack of co-ordination—until acting commander Shipwreck finally pauses to carefully think things through and manages to put together a genuine attack plan. Spitfire distracts King Cobra, allowing Skywarp to grab it from behind, holding it in place for a precision laser-shot from Salvo to sear open a hole in its belly, through which Gung-Ho clambers. The mecha-beast flails as Gung-Ho smashes its innards, successfully disabling it, whereupon Skywarp—ever the complainer—carelessly dumps it on the street, much to Rock 'n Roll's consternation. The V.E.N.O.M. agents are taken away by police, but are confident Cobra Commander will soon liberate them from prison. The Joes celebrate their victory, until Doc reminds Shipwreck of the reason for this battle: the artifact in the museum that Cobra were after...

Inside the museum, Quick Kick unleashes his meteor hammer on the Red Shadows who are swarming him. In addition to taking out multiple ninja, the weapon knocks over a statue, but Quick Kick saves it from shattering by tossing a few of his foes underneath it to give it a soft landing. As Firefly loads a fresh clip into his gun, Quick Kick switches out his meteor hammer for a pair of escrima sticks, which he uses to beat down the remaining ninja and disarm Firefly, all with incredible speed. Boasting that such "bargain basement" opponents could never defeat the man who beat Snake Eyes, Quick Kick advances on the fallen Firefly... but the Cobra saboteur gets the drop on him, managing to recover his gun and spin around just in time to jam it into Quick Kick's face. Amazingly, with only a fraction of a second in which to maneuver, Quick Kick jerks backward to evade Firefly's bullets, then kicks the gun from his hand and prepares to deliver a knockout blow. Unfortunately, he has failed to detect the emergence of one final foe, who blindsides him and knocks him out with a meteor hammer of his own—the long-thought-dead Storm Shadow! The Cobra ninja explains that he held back to watch Quick Kick in action, and deems him "remarkable." Firefly snatches the dagger they were sent to steal and is about to stab Quick Kick with it when Storm Shadow stops him—for Quick Kick must live if Storm Shadow is to meet him in fair combat in the future, that he may honorably defeat the man who bested his old sword-brother...

The Cobras escape with the dagger, and the Joes take the wounded Quick Kick back to Lemuria, where they celebrate their victory over V.E.N.O.M.. Shipwreck doesn't see any cause for celebration, though, since they failed in their primary objective... but the sadness he feels over that pales in comparison to his rage upon learning that Dial Tone has put real meat on the mess hall menu in his absence! Gung-Ho placates his acting commander with a pea-protein pattie, and Shipwreck tucks in.

At Cobra's new temple headquarters, Crystal Ball fervently clutches the dagger, and the previously-stolen bowl with which it goes—two key elements in a mysterious ritual that Cobra now only needs the proper location to perform, which Cobra Commander confirms will soon be uncovered by polar ice cap melting perpetrated by Cobra eco-terrorist Cesspool. Destro raises the topic of the V.E.N.O.M. agents, but accidentally refers to the Commander by her old codename of "Baroness," sending her into a rage; he quickly corrects himself, but the Commander is uninterested in what he has to say. She is unconcerned with springing V.E.N.O.M. from jail until such time as she may need them... after all, she already has two more new recruits for her growing incarnation of Cobra: animal handlers Croc Master and Raptor, who are already at each other's throats!

And back aboard Lemuria, Rock 'n Roll's nightmares continue... nightmares that portend the rise of the being known as Golobulus...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

G.I. Joe Cobra/V.E.N.O.M.

Quotes

"My maneuverability's crap with this dead weight!"
"Would you stop? You told me you get lonely."
"That was in confidence!"

—Skywarp pretends he doesn't want Rock 'n Roll to fly aboard him


"Why would you just drop it?!"
"Because it's heavy!"

—Rock 'n Roll reacts to Skywarp dumping the defeated King Cobra


"Why is he here?"
"[Crocodiles] are more bird than reptile!"
"Are you hearing this? It's crazy!"

—Read a book, Croc Master, because Raptor is right about this one!

Notes

Continuity notes

  • Storm Shadow lives? The original Storm Shadow has been believed dead since he was stabbed by Snake Eyes at the climax of 2015's Snake Eyes: Agent of Cobra, and another woman has even taken up his identity and been active in the pages of Action Man, Revolutionaries and First Strike. Is this the original, resurrected, or another successor? His fixation on Snake Eyes would certainly suggest the former...
  • Eco-villain Cesspool previously appeared in IDW continuity in the two-issue G.I. Joe tie-in to the Infestation 2 event, an inmate of Cobra's personal insane asylum. Beyond being a chemical plant owner, that version of the character had very little to do with the classic incarnation of Cesspool (from 1991's environmentally-conscious "Eco-Warriors" range of Joe toys), and died during the course of the story when he was possessed by an Elder God. Presumably the character appearing in this issue, who is a much closer match for the original, must be a second holder of the name; in fact, a spot-on classic-looking Cesspool was briefly glimpsed in a flashback to the 1990s in Revolutionaries #7, who we'd logically assume is the same as this guy, which thereby might even mean he predates the Infestation character in-universe.
  • Croc Master has appeared occasionally throughout IDW continuity, but has been redesigned for this issue to have an appearance based more on his classic 1987 action figure. Throughout the rest of his IDW appearances, he's been a gangly ghoul of a man who speaks in clipped sentences with a creepy, inhuman font; here's, he's a beefy brawler with normal speech patterns and font.
  • Cobra bird-fancier Raptor debuted in IDW continuity in the G.I. Joe tie-in to the original Infestation event, in which he was a doctor of robotics, in contrast to his classic, humorous characterization as Cobra's accountant. He returned in the Infestation 2 tie-in, having lost his mind following the events of the earlier story and been consigned to the same asylum as Cesspool, where he adopted the "Raptor" identity. As with Croc Master, he's been redesigned into an appearance based more on his 1987 action figure.
  • Following up last issue's inference, this story's closing page confirms that Rock 'n Roll is dreaming of Golobulus. The silhouetted figure that rises from the mist in Rock's dream has Golobulus's classic "human torso on a snake tail" appearance, but with the addition of a cobra's hood around his head, which is a change from both his classic appearance, and the image of him which has appeared in past IDW G.I. Joe comics, like Cobra II #5-6.

G.I. Joe references

  • When Storm Shadow makes his appearance, the same artistic flourish from last issue is used, as a red and yellow "flare" effect based on the "explosion" effect from classic G.I. Joe toy packaging appears behind him. This time, it's the original effect used from 1982 to 1985.
  • Storm Shadow switching the focus of his rivalry from Snake Eyes to Quick Kick might seem like a weird bit of author favoritism, but it's actually another of Sitterson's signature homages to the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon; in contrast to his prominent role in the comics, Snake Eyes wasn't used much in the cartoon thanks to difficulty in using a character who can't talk in an audio-visual medium, and so Storm Shadow tended to pair off against Quick Kick for most martial arts duels.

Errors

  • No getting around this huge, giant honking error: it's impossible for Destro to be on Earth with Cobra Commander in this issue, because he's on Cybertron with the rest of Baron Ironblood's supervillain alliance over in the main First Strike mini-series, which has been established to already be underway at the time this two-part story takes place. He and the other villains even get arrested and thrown in Cybertronian jail in the final issue, so we can't even pretend it takes place afterward.

Other trivia

  • Not for nothin', but this is a "M.A.S.K." comic in name only. It's a G.I. Joe story through and through, written by the regular Joe writer and continuing sub-plots from the regular Joe series; no members of M.A.S.K. even appear in the story, with only the three V.E.N.O.M. characters giving the title a token sense of relevance. Solicitations for this issue and G.I. Joe: First Strike suggested that the Joes would be teaming up with an ex-M.A.S.K. member to beat V.E.N.O.M., but... well, that didn't happen.
  • Originally solicited for release in October, this issue arrives just a pinch late, on the first of November.
  • Crocodiles are classified as archosaurs, a group which also includes birds and dinosaurs but excludes all other modern reptiles. Croc Master got schooled.

Covers (3)

  • MASKFS cvrA.jpg
  • MASKFS cvrB.jpg
  • MASKFS cvrRI.jpg

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