Creators: Larry Hama (writer), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Tony Kordos (inks), Francesco Segala (colorist), Sabrina Del Grosso (Flatter), Pat Brosseau (letterer).
Story: Serpentor's mutated, cyborg forces are attacking Cobra forces in Springfield, with Cobra Commander in his battle armor taking the lead and doing very well, inspiring his troops. The G.I. Joe Ninja team (Snake Eyes, Dawn, Storm Shadow, Jinx, and Scarlett) encounter a police officer who is injured but was involved with the death of Dawn's parents. The Baroness, along with Zartan and his Dreadnoks, fight off Cobra troops as well with the Thunder Machine. Back at Cobra Island, the Infiltration team escapes with Dr. Mindbender as their captive and his frozen specimen to their zodiac craft. Serpentor is not happy with how things are going in Springfield and when the stealth bombers return, he joins the fray. In Springfield, it ends up Cobra Commander is not in his battle armor, it's just a Crimson Guardsman pretending to be him to rally the forces and he is quite pleased. Meanwhile, Dawn heads back to the police officer after the rest of the ninja team headed out and has a decision to make.
Writing: Not a whole lot of plot here. This is the big action issue. We just get a bit of what each different group is doing as their fighting off enemy forces. And it works, as we've been building to this issue for a while now. I do like that Hama has given Dawn that moral choice of what to do with the person responsible for her parents' death.
Art: Art is fantastic. It's not only nice to see Cobra Commander's battle armor again but to see "Cobra Commander" actually using it in battle! We get some good looks at the different types of mutations that Serpentor's forces have (from sharp teeth, mutated muscles and really funky looking heads).
Overall: I'm glad that the past few issues are finally resolving and we're getting a big action issue here. While not a lot of story is going on compared to the previous issues, the plot is still slowly moving forward. Giving Dawn the moral choice (as the cliffhanger) is interesting as well as we get the sense that she's always been an "outsider" to the Joe team and this could be a "break it or make it" moment for her. The only thing that we didn't get to see is what Duke and the Pit command staff are planning.
