Wow. I am very late to the party on this one. First off, I must say I was BLOWN AWAY by the Whigham cover!!! All I had seen was the Padilla cover, so when I was handed this issue it was a very nice surprise. I have been waiting for a Whigham cover to take me back to the my teenage years and this definitely did it. My next thought was hoping that the inside would too.

Normally I save my criticisms for the end of my post, but I cannot help it here. Padilla appears to be a good artist, but on something as iconic as ARAH he just doesn't fit. The cover didn't capture the essence of Destro (just compare it to Mr. Hama's sketch) and the first panel left a lot to be desired for me. Actually, throughout the isse I was put off by the art over anything else. The "Silent Castle" is a terrific example. Just wrong. I will say he is better than many of the artists that we have seen so far, but just not here. I look forward to seeing what he can do on the Snake-Eyes title.

Back to the issue. We are thrown right into the action from the first panel and rarely does it ever let up. I do agree with the sentiment that Duke took down Zartan too quickly, but I will defend it by saying I don't think Zartan would have expected to get clocked like that. Still, it totally took the wind out of the sails. From the previous issue I was wondering just how Zartan could cause trouble during the raid. Alas, we will never know.

The fighting between Red/Snake-Eyes and the COBRA heirarchy was great, although I still don't care for the Battle Armor or Baroness' outfit. If Shannon does one thing when he takes over in #161, I would hope we see a change to both. Baroness and black leather go together like chocolate and peanut butter or unicorns and glitter. This is the Snake-Eyes that I really enjoy. He is still full of badassery, but he isn't invincible or bullet-proof. He is human, and it shows. Loved seeing the wrist rockets and CC wanting to get into the forray. Very typical of him. It was also good to see Billy still not quite good enough to handle the resident mute Joe.

The battle with the rest of the Joes flowed pretty well, although Stalker's disappearing/reappearing act was curious. Totally reminded me of back in the Marvel run where Footloose would do the same thing. Seeing the real purpose of the mission was one of those "ah ha" moments for me. Suddenly it made sense. I let my joy of seeing Mainframe included in the team mask why he would be included in the beginning anyway. After how DDP destroyed the character, both figuratively and literally, seeing him back to his credible self here (and in the IDWverse) was much appreciated.

My "uh oh" moment came when Tommy appeared and headed towards the throne room. Then he mashes Zartan's face into the floor. Poor Zartan. Never had a chance in this issue. I admit that I did find that curious as to why he would do that. I didn't have time to wonder too long as the Joes perform their exit strategy and then Snake-Eyes gets taken down. Again, for all the times Snake-Eyes has been able to "save the day", it is good to see him fail. Then Tommy shows up and escapes with Red, making it pretty obvious he has been freed of the brainwashing, but at what point did it happen? During his battle with Snake-Eyes? The blow by Scarlett? It was just like the Stalker situation. Not Mr. Hama's best work, but the fact that Tommy is free of the crappy brainwashing overshadowed it. Happy thoughts until CC decides to hook up Snake-Eyes to the BWS. Ugh. I know we are getting Venom back, but I am pretty sick of the BWS and just wish it would be over. I just hope it doesn't drag out as long as the MASS device crap has.

The ending gave me mixed feelings. It was nice to see the COBRA Troopers get taken into custody, but I have to wonder if it would really be that peaceful? I mean we have these guys littered all over the country. Hopefully we will see some fallout over this.

Overall this was a very enjoyable issue to read. The art and the bantering during the fighting left a bit to be desired, but the overall action and progression of the story more than made up for it. I am surprised about how some have not liked how COBRA is being portrayed so far in ARAH and I admit I must agree. The latter part of the Marvel run turned me off with how ridiculous they got and it is pretty much the same here. It also doesn't help that the COBRA title is making the organization look so deadly in the IDWverse either. Saying this is worse than anything of the DDPverse though is laughable. Serpentor clone babies anyone? Even the lowest parts of this story is better than 90% of what I suffered through during those years, hoping it would eventually get better.

As for the return of ARAH, I agree with the consensus that #156 has been the top of the run so far and the banter of the COBRA heirarchy really needs to be toned down and we get a better representation of a terrorist organization than what we have seen the past few issues. I am interested to see how Tommy will act now that he is free and I am hoping that Snake-Eyes will be the catalyst that destroys the BWS once and for all, sacrificing a Billy for Venom exchange in the process. Just PLEASE get rid of the BWS! A very BIG thanks to Mr. Hama and everyone at IDW for bringing back the ARAHverse and here is to hoping we have this title around for another 150 issues!