"COBRA COMMAND" CONCLUDES! This is it-the final battle as the JOEs struggle to survive. Everything changes here! Who lives-who dies-who wins? The answers aren't what you expect, and the foundation for the future of G.I. Joe starts here!

FC 32 pages $3.99

*Variant covers:
David Williams interconnected cover!

Bullet points:
The G.I. JOE status is irrevocably changed!
The Future of the JOEs and COBRA starts here!

Out March 28:

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䷾ scryptic
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"The only way to bear the snakes is to become one." - Cobra Commander, Cobra Reborn

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

Okay. I just downloaded and read the final storyline of Part 9.

**SPOILER WARNING****

(major face palm)

WTH was IDW thinking?

The ending is'nt a bit of a surprise because I knew it was about to occur that way and that status quo of GIJoe is going to be obvious in how things will play out next month. But the part with the Baroness going global killing off the Council just defies logic here.

First she finally ends up in South America where 'consul prime' is at. Is'nt this where Krake is funnelling off the drug business there and taking out Nanzhao under Consul Prime's nose? Just how many council members were there that she had to kill?

All this in one week? Did'nt Cobra nuke Nanzhao 24 hours after warning the citizens? IF they went off, should'nt GIjoe and the other occupation forces be leaving ASAP to avoid radiation all the while CC is standing there with his forces?

Even more bizarre, Baroness returns to an irradiated Nanzhao just in time to weed out the 'inssurection'? So, is 'so and so' the one manipulating the other two people faking the Krake 'evidence', or is he merely covering his a$$ knowing Baroness would hear the truth from the 'Incorrigable Poet with an Eye Patch'? The timing and pacing is all wrong here. It seems as if IDW is losing track of time jumping from one point to another without clarity.

But I think I know why the writers wanted CC to destroy Nanzhao. He did this to erase his own nationality because he no longer has one, becoming something else.

I expect Krake to get 'popped' later this year and replaced by a new person. And it ain't gonna be one of those famous Cobra agents.

By the way, I'm not saying that COBRA COMMAND is perfect. It had its moments in which IDW got some parts right, but the whole thing falls short in pacing and execution, wasting good opportunities for dramatic resolution or conclusions. For example, the banter between Major Bludd and Baroness was dead on character. Or the banter between Major Bludd and Tomax which was priceless.

I like how Tomax left a note for the good major to give him a 'fighting chance' and I think this signifies a level of respect for the guy.

Parts of the story's lack of execution bothers me greatly. I hope IDW learns their lesson to NEVER do this again because COBRA COMMAND's story reminds me a little bit of the infamous WW3 debacle at DDP with 'off panel' excuses.

I understand exactly what they were trying to do with the story but I believe they had too many characters going on in there. I can see why IDW wanted Krake to nuke Nanzhao for strategic purposes by 'erasing' his past to cover his identity, but also to create an irradiated 'wall' so opposing forces can't come in.

But the problem is, Cobra stayed in there after the nuclear blasts for over. a. week. What's wrong with the picture here? Why would CC steal the gold and then order his assistant to 'burn it all'? I'm going to assume he's going to melt all the gold for more currency to "survive" without Tomax's financial empire pay Destro off and finance more new operations.

In a way, I'm a bit surprised IDW did not kill off Serpentor. I would have thought Krake would be smart enough to get rid of this guy because he's manipulative and that he can see through him. I believe the Baroness, in a new sub plot, will start to investigate what was going on between MB and Serpentor and figure out what the 'evidence' was all about. I believe what Serpentor showed to MB and Tomax was real but he kept it to himself and decided to save his own hide.

Because sooner or later, Krake will run out of funds and when that happens, more sedition will occur and only one man. Only one man will kick his a$$. A man with a death wish. A man who cheats death. And you know who I'm referring to.

The next, REAL CC.

Oh, and another thing. It's not going to matter because GIJoe, probably for the first time, will learn of CC's real name and his origin when MB spill the beans. Maybe Tomax.

Come to think of it. This can get VERY interesting if Tomax/MB sees Chameleon again in the Intelligence department, for the first time in ages. That is, if they get sequestered there. Otherwise, I believe T will rebuild his own forces and create a new Crimson Guard unit on his own and probably help SS/SE, or ironically fund GIJoe.

The other problem with the details is that no one knows Krake's new face after his surgery. Not until he took off his helmet privately in his room where SS was conversing with him. That means, SS is now the only person that knows what he looks and sounds like. Even in shadows, a trained ninja like him would know. He remembers Krake in the old days before his face surgery. I think Tomax/Destro/Mindbender are the only ones that don't know Krake's origin whereas Baroness, MB and SS are the only ones that do when they met him for the first time.

And Pythona is mentioned in there. I THINK I know who she is now. She's another mole and I still stand by my theory who she is .

I also believe the next storyline will focus on Cobra's new home and I suspect they're gonna pull the infamous 'Rise of Cobra Island' that was birthed in the Marvel run in the 1980s as some of you may remember. My theory is that they may do this near South America OR attempt to destroy another country, most likely in South America.

I still think parts of Cobra Command had good moments but something is definitely missing.

Questions about the time frame aside, I'm really enjoying this book. So far, the use of all the major players has been excellent (especially Serpentor) and I'm really looking forward to this whole thing blowing wide open.

As a fan, IDW has really delivered to me what I've been looking for - reimagined characters. From Croc Master to Slice & Dice, I'm a 100% satisfied customer.

Thanks IDW!

Yeah, I still think the story is great, but there are questions. The new C.C. doesn't mind burning bridges, but I think that's going to bite him in the end. Also, I'm not sure how close I'd want to be to a radiation zone. I have no plans on visiting the site of Chernobyl anytime soon, so I'd think that the Cobra agents in question would be very careful, especially since Nanzhao wasn't depicted as a large country, by any means.
But, at the end of the day, no Joe story will be perfect, just because of the premise of the whole thing. It's fantasy-based, and that leaves a lot of room for "unrealistic" scenarios; but those same scenarios are what makes the title "fun", in my opinion...

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

That radiation tidbit in the story was a bit disturbing that everyone would get sick from it, even CC and his cronies. Why did'nt they just have all the Cobra soldiers be wearing radioactive hazmat suits knowing nukes would start to fly? It would've been more realistic for CC to order his forces to leave Nanzhao and then nuke it to entrap the opposition forces.

Sending just Baroness to kill the council was a bit 'boneheaded'. If Krake was that smart, he should've sent both Zartan and Baroness so they both can have their own chaotic fun. But I think he wants to keep her away from Z, knowing how ticked she is at him for working under Krake.

It's a huge problem to me because she told MB personally that if Krake 'slips', she would kill him and yet she acts like she is Krake's pawn. Now she 'kowtows' to him? That makes NO sense and is out of character. How can she refer Krake as a 'liberator' (she said this to a council member) when she knows he's a real backstabbing son of a gun. What's wrong with the IDW writers?

Have they lost track of characterization or did some editor EFF it up? The editors need to tighten it up and stop letting mistakes slip by.

And lastly, no way would Krake survive against SE or SS. He knows this and I think he's going to use Z against them. Otherwise, what I see may happen is the 'underground' Cobra defectors are going to recruit a certain "Mad Monk" and groom him to be the new leader AFTER he takes out Krake. There's no way any of the established 'famous' Cobra agents are going to be CC.

Think about it. CC is just a title and IDW can keep killing the person off, but the name and identity of the person always changes within. It's like Joe Schmo aka CC dies, next Joe Schmo is CC. And so on.

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

Even if IDW forgot about the Mad Monk, they even forgot the fact that Krake recruited him to his side. He even had the Mad Monk's family sequestered away in secret in Section 10, by Dr. Horvath's suggestion Monk should look into it, which is now shut down. Krake went to huge lengths to manipulate scenarios to get Michael Monk to join in.

EDIT: Although, Monk knows Krake is full of s--t. Second, I think the reason Krake wanted him on his side was because Monk is another 'fearless' kin who is like him, having no fear of death and when backed in a corner, he'll push back and believing Monk is a 7 when he's really a 1.

The other thing is Serpentor showing 'evidence' MB and Tomax. It can't be fake because Serpy got nervous when MB asked about the secret information in the hangar in front of the Baroness. He knows something and wants to get rid of MB and T so that he can continue to manipulate Krake. Remember, Serpy has "Pythona" as his ace in the sleeve and have strong suspicions on who she is.

Now the Baroness wants MB alive (not dead) because she overheard him questioning Serpentor on the 'evidence'. She's going to want to know what's going on.

I'm assuming Pythona is that weird girl that Krake keeps talking to. I'm too lazy to try to remember the name she's going by right now. I could be wrong, since this is the least interesting character I'm reading about within these pages, as she seems to be a Zanya rip-off... Heh...

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

Pythona was the girl in the doorway who oversaw all the mayhem when Baroness took down the last council member. I took all that to mean she was just a mole in that last council members 'circle' reporting in on what was happening.

I know of the scene you're talking about and it's possible, BUT, I do question the idea behind it.

Why would the Baroness, a highly skilled intelligence and sniper officer, overlook her presence when she cleaned house completely there? She completely cleaned house on every Council member's residence or 'safe house' but only that one girl. What gives? All of a sudden she overlooks a housemaid from South America? How can someone like Serpentor have a spy within the house of the council member when, if memory serves me correctly, Pythona was conversing with the late Breaker on The Coil philosophy and his personal issues.

A phone call all the way from South America straight to Breaker's extension line??? Not very bright.

That's why I think Pythona is NOT that housemaid we're looking at. She probably made a call to local authorities and for some reason, word spread out where Pythona picked up the news and told Serpy.

The most interesting thing to me is that Serpentor, so far, had the most moles at his beck and call. Yes, Pythona is a mole but not from South America. I suspect she's far more capable than doing just intelligence and a woman in a position of power to make certain calls.

The other last possibility is that Pythona may not be a person but rather a code name for a spy network for Serpentor. So when they say Pythona, it's a code name for his underground moles. Kind of like a Pythona "hotline" aka 1-800-CALL-PYTHONA.

Intriguing ideas, but I want to throw one out there: Pythona is (the new) Firewall. She seems to be disgruntled enough with the Joes to be another mole. Not saying this is a fact, but it could be why IDW took a close look at her life recently...

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

Firewall? The one woman with short white hair working with "Chameleon" in the Intelligence Department and injured from a fight with "Steeler"?

Yes, that's exactly who I'm thinking of. If she is a mole, then Serpentor would know about Chammy's work location already. My feeling is that once Krake finds out that Serpentor has moles working for him, he's going to want to 'off' him and replace him with a new Serpentor. Krake would not tolerate people sneaking around behind his back, even withholding info from him. He even told Tomax that all communications go through him directly and no one else.

What I could see happening is later on if Krake wants to make amends with the good Major, he could strike a deal and say "Okay, if you want back in Cobra with us, all you have to do is off this phony backstabber". Krake might order Firewall assassinated to nullify Serpy's 'mole network'.

Somehow I don't think it may go down that way in the future. Rest assured, MB and T will return back to the Cobra fold eventually, but that can only happen if 2 to 3 people die. And they are:

1. Krake
2. Serpentor (everyone can't stand him)
3. Savane (maybe)
4. Firewall


EDIT: One more thing. If IDW does'nt focus back on Michael Monk, then there's a chance they may have Major Bludd be the 'hero' that kills Krake down the road as a form of retribution and redemption, and wine/dine with Baroness just to see Destro seethe in jealousy.

Boy, would I love to see that. It'd be a 'bwa hahaha' moment.