REVIEW: G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #266

It all started with a storyline appropriately titled “The Death of Snake Eyes.” Snake Eyes sacrificed his life to defeat a resurrected Serpentor in G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #213, The original Snake Eyes sacrificed himself by rushing the GI Joe’s giant mech, controlled by Serpentor with a grenade in each hand, just as the disabled mech (piloted by Sean Collins aka Throwdown) comes crashing down. The Arashikage-ninja trained Throwdown — comes out of the mech, picks up Snake Eyes’ mask, and puts it on. The Joes decide that if COBRA finds out that Snake Eyes is dead or he might think it“s the perfect time to strike because the defenses are compromised, so they vote to make Sean Collins the new Snake Eyes.

The citizens of Springfield were routinely given treatments in the Brainwave Scanner, a machine invented by early Cobra operative, Doctor Venom to interrogate people and also brainwash them. In the past, Venom had used it to interrogate Snake Eyes.

In G.I. Joe #229, Baroness decided to use the brainwave scanner to re-affirm Dawn’s allegiance to Cobra. However, something went wrong. As it turned out, when Venom had put it ended up putting the old memories of Snake Eyes into Dawn’s mind. In G.I. Joe #244, she finally gained her new ninja attire and she more or less officially became the new Snake Eyes (which makes her the second Snake Eyes in the series at the moment). In the previous issue of G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #265 The Dreadnoks figure out Cobra Commander and Dr. Mindbender’s plans to kidnap Sean Collins and plan to usurp those plans.

In the current issue of G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #266 Cobra Commander and Dr. Mindbender’s continue the reconnaissance part of their plan using the new MX-005 drone(1st appearance, to kidnap Sean Collins who they still believe to be the original Snake Eyes so that they can use the Brain Wave Machine on him and make him a Cobra Asset. The Joes still not wanting Cobra to find out that Snake Eyes is dead or he might think it“s the perfect time to strike because the defenses are weakened.

At the end of the day nothing huge happened in this issue. By that I mean, there wasn’t any big Good Guy versus Bad Guy action here. In fact it seems more like a prelude to something else possibly the kidnapping operation will start soon now the Cobra Strike team is in place,. And it goes out of its way to explain the situation which is fine by me.

In the meantime the buzz that surrounds this issue isn’t the story but the fact that there are a plethora of covers;

GI Joe A Real American Hero #266 Cover A Regular Robert Atkins [3.99]
GI Joe A Real American Hero #266 Cover B Variant Jamie Sullivan [$3.39]
GI Joe A Real American Hero #266 Cover C Incentive Netho Diaz [$15.00]
GI Joe A Real American Hero #266 Cover D Incentive John Royle [$20.00]

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #266 -Wraparound Variant – Limited to 900 Copies (Snake Eyes on Front, Storm Shadow on Back) Sketch Variant – Limited to 350 copies (printed on blank cover stock). The Sketch Variant is ONLY available as part of the 2 pack set.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written by: Larry Hama
Art by: Netho Diaz
Inks by: Jagdish Kumar and Maria Keane
Colors by: J Brown
Letters by: Neil Uyetake
Published By: IDW Publishing