G.I. Joe #27 In Ten Panels Or Less

G.I. Joe #27 is a comic book written by Larry Hama with pencils by Frank Springer, published by Marvel Comics in 1984, which explores the origin of the popular Joe code-named Snake-Eyes. Let’s summarize the book… In 10 Screencaps Or Less!™

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Key plotpoints are pictured below. You have been warned!
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While construction continues on their new headquarters, the Joes code-named Scarlett, Hawk, and Stalker recount how they tracked down Snake-Eyes in the High Sierras years ago to recruit him to the G.I. Joe team.

In a flashback sequence, Hawk and Stalker find Snake-Eyes living with a wolf and hunting rabbits without a gun. They convince Snake-Eyes to return to civilization.

Scarlet picks up the story next, recounting how she grew to love Snake-Eyes, and how a tragic accident during a desert operation nearly killed the two of them.

“He spent six months in the hospital and all the best plastic surgeons tried every trick in the book,” Scarlett says, “but there was nothing in the world that could ever make Snake-Eyes look human again.” The explosion also damaged his vocal cords, making him mute.

In the present day, Snake-Eyes is in New York City hunting his estranged friend Storm Shadow, believed to have killed their ninja sensei years before. Storm Shadow breaks into a mutual friend’s deli and steals evidence preserved from the murder scene. Snake-Eyes gives chase.

The Joes intercept a police report about a fight between a masked man with an uzi and a ninja in white, and spring into action.

The chase leads to the top of a subway train–heading straight for a tunnel.

To save the life of the man he once considered a brother, Snake-Eyes throws his own weapon aside, entreating Storm Shadow to mount the attack. Storm Shadow leaps at Snake-Eyes, and the two fall to safety just as the train enters the tunnel.

Storm Shadow explains that he did not kill their sensei; an agent of the terrorist organization Cobra committed the murder. While the Joes draw closer, Storm Shadow reveals that he has spent years working his way up through the Cobra ranks in an attempt to ascertain the identity of the true killer and exact vengeance.

By the time Scarlet arrives, Storm Shadow is gone. And Snake-Eyes, as always, is not talking.

The End

(Actually, for those keeping score, the story continued in G.I. Joe #28,
part three of the origin of Snake-Eyes)

Tomorrow, we see what Snake-Eyes can teach us about product management and communicating with different personality types.

Personal Note: I am a comic book geek, and G.I. Joe #27 was the first comic book I ever got my grubby little hands on. For that reason, this particular issue holds much sentimental value to me–for the story, for the interior ads for the Olympic Sales Club, and even for the rather disturbing and unflattering Star Wars video game ad on the back cover…