G.I.Joe: Special Missions: The Enemy

Short Summary Special Missions: The Enemy Two Concurring stories. One follows GI Joe Grunt's path from high school to the Army to GI Joe and several of his missions to being retired from GI Joe, marriage, having a daughter and to rejoining the team. The second follows a Viper through his recruitment to Cobra, training, several battles with GI Joe, his disgrace and eviction from Cobra, a broken relationship, eventual reinstatement back to Cobra and his capture by Grunt at the Cobra Island #3 invasion. Both end up helping recruit people to their specific cause by saying "It was the best decision I ever made." The Grading Curve (A Prologue to World War III) Blackout leads a group of Cobra soldiers on a very deadly mission to capture the Baroness' baby. As he evaluates his team he discovers two that are inferior and executes them. He successful accomplishes two missions retrieve the baby and evaluates the team. Cobra Commander now has his complete team, the Plague.

Notes of Interest Two Stories, 48 pages, $5.50 cover price. Data Desk Dossier Files: Cobra: Rip It, Sky Creeper File Card: Grunt Special Missions: The Enemy Lola is Grunt's wife and he has a daughter. Source Guide & Where they are now? -- Confirmed that Xamot is in coma from bullets taken with his encounter with Dela Eden of the Red Shadow's (see DD #41) & Vance Wingfield is still alive and in custody (from source guide) The Grading Curve First Appearance of Guillotine (Cobra Eel), Munita, Sky Creeper, Interrogator, Rip It Reappearance of Night Creeper Aleph Death of Sky Creeper & Rip It
Major Players Special Missions: The Enemy Joe Team: Grunt Additional Joe Appearance: Stalker, Hawk, Duke --Cobra Island #1: Breaker, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, Short Fuze, Heavy Metal --Battle Of Springfield: Bazooka, Cover Girl, Flint, Lady Jaye, Heavy Metal, Roadblock, Snow Job, Shipwreck --Reinstatement: Rock 'n' Roll, Scarlett, Wild Bill, Zap Cobra: Viper Additional Cobra Appearances: Cobra Commander, Vance Wingfield, Zartan, Buzzer, Torch, Ripper, Tomax, Xamot, Overlord Additional Characters: -- Grunt: Grunt's Mother, Construction Manager, James the War Vet, Lola (Grunt's Girlfriend/Wife), Grunt's Daughter, Jimmy Wilcox -- Viper: Step Mother Sopia & Attorney, Old Man (Cobra Recruiter), Girlfriend The Grading Curve Cobra: Cobra Commander, Blackout, Guillotine (Cobra Eel), Aleph, Munita, Sky Creeper, Interrogator, Rip It Additional Cobra Appearances (PICTURED ONLY): The Plague team: Lt. Nick Bailey, Snow Serpent, SAW Viper (Gallows), Sand Viper (Grim Skull), Crimson Guard Immortal, Laser Viper, AVAC, Range Viper Additional Characters: Baroness' Baby
Creative Team Special Missions: The Enemy Script: Andrew Dabb, Lineart by Vincente Cifuentes, Color Art: Andrew Dalhouse, Lettering: Brian J. Crowley, Editor: Mike O'Sullivan, Cover: Kalman Andrasofszky & Jean-Francois Beaulieu The Grading Curve Writer/Editor: Mike O'Sullivan, Penciler: Mike Getty, Colorist: Bob Pedroza, Letterer: Brain J. Crowley, Military Advisor: Phil Kost, Thanks to Mark Powers
Long Summary Special Missions: The Enemy Two concurring stories: -- Grunt's father dies when he is in high school. Grunt is very poor and his father was a good man. Grunt gives a very appreciative memorial sermon. Later, Grunt's mother tells him that he will have to forgo college because it is too expensive and that he will need to find a job. He understands, gives up a high school football career and gets a job at a construction site. -- Viper's father also dies. But he comes from a very rich family and never liked his father. The Viper stands at the memorial service drunk and talks bad about his father. Later at the reading of the will by his father's Attorney everything is given to his step mother and Viper gets a simple admonition "be a better man than I was." -- Grunt's mother encourages her son to "be your own man, live your own life and follow your owns dreams." The next day at the construction site Grunt meets James a one armed war veteran. -- Viper sneaks into his parent's house to rob his step mother of his father's money, he sets off an alarm, is caught by the police, put in prison and sentenced to two years. -- Grunt talks to James about signing up for the Army as a way to go to college. James says "No one should join the military for the money. Do it out of sense of duty and to protect this great nation of ours and I promise you it will be the best decision you'll ever make." -- In jail, Viper is approached by an old man saying "Interested in making some real money? I ain't talking about shakedowns and con games, I'm talkin' about getting' rich. And it is in a little town called Springfield." -- At Fort Benning, Grunt is going through training, he helps an over weight recruit through the obstacle course. -- Viper, being trained by Vance Wingfield himself, fights hard and to avoid being last beats up a fellow recruit. -- As Grunt meets Stalker at his formal introduction to the Joe team, Stalker references the essay that caught Hawk's attention (see GI Joe Declassified #2). -- Viper is listening to Cobra Commander in his traditional hood give his first speech to his first foot soldiers of his new army. They all respond "Cobra". -- Cobra Island #1, (see Marvel #1) The Joe team is invading to rescue Dr. Adel Burkhart. Stalker along with Short Fuze and Grunt are tasked with controlling the airfield. -- At the airfield on Cobra Island #1, Viper is standing guard when he spots the Joes and raises the alarm. The Viper and several of his soldiers attack the Joes, Grunt and Stalker shoot down his fellow soldiers and the Viper turns and runs away just avoiding getting killed by Short Fuze. -- Back at the The Pit, Stalker congratulates Grunt on a mission accomplished. -- Viper avoids joining in on a card game and is very rude to his fellow soldiers. -- At the Battle of Springfield (see Marvel #50), Grunt and Snow Job are advancing on a Cobra building. Grunt knocks Snow Job to the ground to save him and is shoot in the chest. The bulletproof vest he is wearing saves him from serious injury. -- In another part of Springfield, Bazooka, Shipwreck, Flint and Lady Jaye have discovered Viper and his team. He orders his team to charge the Joes saying "We fight for Cobra Commander and our glorious mission." As the team charges and dies Viper escapes. -- Grunt is retiring from active service on the GI Joe team to finally go to college at Georgia Tech and to get an engineering degree. Hawk and Duke wish him a fond farewell. At Georgia Tech, Grunt meets Lola (See Marvel #56). -- Viper, passed out drunk, is woken up and kicked out of Cobra by Zartan and his Dreadnoks for being a disgrace. -- In his office, Grunt receives a phone call that his wife Lola is in premature labor. After a successful surgery on Lola and an extended stay in the hospital Grunt's daughter and wife are home safe and healthy. -- Viper is sitting home drunk watching TV as his girlfriend yells at him for being a fat drunk loser slob. He yells back at her "Get out of my face, you cow. Get to work and bring home some dinner" as she leaves. -- At the GI Joe reinstatement (see DD #1-4), Grunt has volunteer to rejoin the team even though he is now a family man. His reasoning is that it is his way of protecting his little girl. -- At a reenlistment celebration, Viper is accepted back into Cobra by Tomax & Xamot. They say "The past is the past. Let him in. Besides, we need bodies and he can catch a bullet as well as anyone else." During the Cobra Island #3 invasion, (see DD #22-25) Overlord orders his troops which includes Viper to advance on the Joe position, which Grunt is a part off. Grunt is separated from the rest of his team. Viper then gets the jump on him, knocking away his gun and pinning him to the ground. Before executing Grunt, Viper asks Grunt o beg for his life. Grunt gives him a kick and several punches that knock out Viper and says "You Cobra's never could take a punch." -- Outside a high school, Grunt has just dropped off his teenage daughter. When Jimmy Wilcox approaches him and asks "My family's not rich and I was thinking of joining the Army." Grunt response is "No one should join the military for the money. Do it out of sense of duty and to protect this great nation of ours and you will achieve things you never thought possible. It was the best decision I ever made." -- In jail, Viper is approached by several young men and he begins to recruit them "I ain't talking about shakedowns and con games, I'm talkin' about getting' rich, having some real power in this world. Join up and all that will be yours. Become a member of Cobra and you can live the life you've only dreamed about, I did. It was the best decision I ever made." The Grading Curve (A Prologue to World War III) (This story takes place before the events of America's Elite #18) At a Lincoln, Nebraska hospital several attendees are talking when an explosion goes off killing most of them, in rushes a variety of Cobra Soldiers lead by Blackout. He divides the 7 member team and assigns a Cobra Eel to lead the other half. As they make their way to the objective they indiscriminately kill everyone, man, woman and child. Blackout's team reaches the objective first. The objective is a baby, specifically the Baroness and Destro's baby. One of the team members, Sky Creeper completely questions the mission, the orders and Cobra Commander himself. Blackout moves the team away from the hospital. On the plane ride home, another member of the team Rip It also questions the mission. Blackout and the Eel take swift action and eliminate them. Back at the Cobra base, Cobra Commander is being debriefed by Blackout and the Cobra Eel. They had accomplished both their missions successfully; one to locate and capture the baby and the second was to evaluate the team. The following is Blackout's report on the team. Candidate#1 Munitia - A former H.I.S.S. tank operator turned Cobra bounty hunter. With deadly precision, swiftness and no inhibitions she executed many of the civilians and perform as expected. Candidate #2 Sky Creeper - An international thief and expect glider pilot has excellent awareness of trajectory but doesn't seem to have the killer instinct that is needed for the team, a capable operative but with a conscience. Candidate #3 Interrogator - An excellent interrogator, his abilities in the area of information extraction are unparalleled. When given the opportunity to commit violence he becomes very violent. And is someone not to turn your back on. Candidate #4 Rip It -- Had the highest kill count of any other H.I.S.S. Commander other then Munitia. Has a highly destructive and short temper but has many hesitations after his destructive nature subsides. Candidate #5 Aleph - A former commander of the Night Creepers, who was excommunicated due to undisclosed trespasses. He is extremely talkative, self centered, very deadly and as long as paid well his loyalty will be without question. The Commander is pleased with Blackout and the Eel's report and how the handled Sky Creeper and Rip It. By now adding these three new team members plus the continued recruitment of Lt. Nick Bailey, this makes the team a total of 13 specialists from numerous Viper ranks and the he is ready to move into the next stage of operations. On the spot, Cobra Commander promotes the Eel and gives him a new codename: Guillotine. And the Plague operation is started. Summary by Josh Eggebeen
One-Shot, September 2007