As some may know, I’ve started my reread of the the G.I. Joe run first published by Marvel, via the collected TPBs recently published by IDW. Recently, I started reading the Special Missions (also published by Marvel, 28 issues – ’86-’89) and I figured I’d sprinkle in an issue of Special Missions coverage after every third issue I go over of the main series. Before getting its own series, the first Special Mission can be found as an extra in issue 50 of the main G.I. Joe.
There are some missions so secret, so sensitive that even the Joes who go on them are told the bare minimum, on a strictly need to know basis. As far as the other Joes are concerned, these missions never existed. These are: G.I. Joe Special Missions.
When I interviewed Chuck Dixon he expressed a shared affection for the G.I. Joe: Special Missions titles that Marvel published. I can’t speak on the motivation behind a second Joe title beyond the obvious and sensible idea of pushing out another title that a very large and dedicated fan base couldn’t help to pick up, but I do hope this little mini-feature within a feature will be able to both bring back some memories for those who were reading Special Missions off the rack, and highlight some of the very cool thing that the second title was able to do, which allowed the flagship title to not have to deviate from its popular and already developing storyline.
That aside, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Special Missions provided another marketing avenue for more characters (figures) and vehicle that could be highlighted without stunting the aforementioned existing, central storyline. You’re either offended by this (for reasons I can’t quite understand) or look at it like I did—a chance to see more of the post 84-85 characters get some action in a way that wasn’t really wonky like the European Missions (what UK’s Action Force was printed as in the U.S. which seemed to attempt to make Sci Fi work—and largely, failed). Special Missions had a much more straight ‘military fiction’ feel, where G.I. Joe itself had become a bit of its own entity due to its success. While I’d admit that G.I. Joe was not a ‘war book’ in the way we view titles like DC’s Big Five, Special Missions was something a step closer. It showed that the team had more to do than battle Cobra, and deployed in backdrops that took advantage of a Cold War setting. Again, this gave G.I. Joe more of a ‘real world’ plausibility, and essentially made Cobra the only fictitious element in the mythos. It also allows the specialists of the team to have relevant appearances. With that came an opportunity for the use of arctic, deep sea, desert, and jungle focused theaters, along with aerial dogfights that could now be spotlighted with greater frequency. As a I reader now I like to think them stories to be told in the midst of the story that had to be told. The reader then couldn’t think of anything cooler than a G.I. Joe comic, except 2 G.I. Joe Comics.
This may shock some now, but one thing that Marvel was exceedingly accomplished at in the ’80s was marketing. Nothing fantastic, but very commonsense, easy decisions were made. How do you market a a spin-off title? Put the first story in not only a very popular title, but one within a storyline that everybody was tuned in to. The Battle of Springfield was an event, in series that was already an event in itself, so placing our first taste of the new title within an issue of that storyline was a perfect launching point. Our first taste is a pretty standard situation for readers—a plane hijacked by terrorists, one of which has the very familiar dead-man’s switch.
“Drop it Meryl, I’m not gentlemen and have no compunctions” – Beachhead
A cast that includes Hawk and Stalker getting intel, and Lady Jaye, Beachhead and Flint infiltrating the plane and taking down the terrorists in what was a rather straightforward plot works. Throw in some Russian MIGS, and we have what’s really a serialized action/thriller with cool characters that we actually have in our toy boxes Most important, it feels like G.I. Joe, having been written by Hama and illustrated by Trimpe. There is nothing new to buy into, just more of what we liked in the other title, but not exclusively dealing with Cobra (I say exclusively, because there are some –what I’d call ‘classic’- issues involving Cobra). We also see that the holds no punches as we get a flight attendant executed via bullet-to-dome, unceremoniously dropped to the tarmac. I remember that scene/panel vividly from my childhood, for the very reasons it jumped out to me now. It’s even more beautiful now because the act is unnecessary, and residing in a world now that almost always asks us requires some sort of compassion for another side, Hama reminds us that some shit was (is still) black and white and makes this clear to our readers. When Lady Jaye tosses one of them out a plane, we cheer, we feel righteous, and we’re having a blast—qualities personified by the term Yo Joe!
Next time, we head to the Baltics, where not just two elite units clash, but three, as the October Guard helps kick off the first issue of Special Missions “That Sinking Feeling”…
