My thoughts exactly.

We've seen characters know who others were "on paper" by reading their files many many times before. And it makes sense in a military world. In this particular case, we knew that Mindbender knew who Venom was when he took his place (he has stated before that he had been perfecting Venom's BWS). It would only make sense that he would know Kwinn killed him. At the very least, Kwinn's name would pop up in the files from that time period, and Mindbender probably went through them searching for this or that element of Venom's research.

Nothing I expect to be explained on panel, for sure.

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䷾ scryptic
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"The only way to bear the snakes is to become one." - Cobra Commander, Cobra Reborn

Scryptic, that's a crazy thought about the ninja prisoner being Storm Shadow's father! No matter who this prisoner turns out to be I imagine that SE and friends would be very curious about who this is.

HaHa, thanks. Assuming you meant the good version of "crazy", you will enjoy reading this old post:

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2573

In short, Hama once filled in the "S" in Thomas S Arashikage. Looks like it's an Americanization of Tomisaburo Arashikage, which could be interpreted either as:

1) Fortunate Third Son
or
2) Third Son's Fortune

Meaning Storm Shadow (Tommy) himself could have two older brothers (dead?) or be the son of the youngest of three brothers (Hard Master, Soft Master, SS's dad).

(Thank you and thank you Hebime -- where the heck are you, man?)

So, ya, while I'll take some credit, while I read the story this old thread about us wondering who was Stormy's father came back to me partially and sparked this idea.

Overlord states somewhere in the thread that SS grew up in SF with his parents. I remember SF, but not sure if a reference to both parents being in the US was ever made, I'd have to check. If so, it kinda handicaps my theory, cause then SS would know about his dad's time in the gulags.

Anyway, I think such a reveal (whatever it turns out to be) about the Arashikage family would be great after all those years!!! It could be anybody, but at first glance, his dad would be a perfect fit.

Of course, JMM or Overlord or another Joe nut will surely find a flaw in my theory

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䷾ scryptic
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"The only way to bear the snakes is to become one." - Cobra Commander, Cobra Reborn

OK, wait, there's a post in there by Cerebro who reminds us the Soft Master's description of the situation:



So Stormy's father was the youngest, he died and Stormy has no brothers. Hence, Tomisaburo must mean "Third Son's Fortune".

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䷾ scryptic
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"The only way to bear the snakes is to become one." - Cobra Commander, Cobra Reborn

Quite explicit in the action figure comic pack "G.I. Joe # 32 1/2" by Larry Hama - "A Day in the Life of Springfield", was that Mindbender was working under alias of "Dr. Binder", his office located in the Springfield dentist office (Suitable cover, since he "presumably" has a real background in dentistry.)

Mindbender's debut was all the way in # 44, a good retroactive 12 issues later, and 13 issues after Venom's death in # 19. "Day in the Life" also indicates that after Venom's death, it was Professor Appel who took over as chief evil scientist (working in Venom's old Arcade basement), and of course once Appel died in # 46, and Mindbender arrived on the island after having been "reviewed" by Destro and Baroness, Mindbender got the job and began upgrading the Brainwave Scanner.

"Day in the Life" is of course a Hama-written issue, and somehow the Hama-verse seems to transcend publishers (Which I believe is a good thing, since he keeps most of this stuff in his head.) And there's what I find to be vital links - that kid, "Adam" was clearly supposed to be the same kid Storm Shadow visits years later in the Storm Shadow solo title. And the 1/2 issues also reveal that it was the very same Dr. Hundtkinder who designed the Fred Series.

Anyway if Mindbender was situated in Springfield, "not yet full-Mindbender", but a Cobra scientist, it stands to reason that he and Venom had been colleagues in the sort of "Cobra science project department", whether there was any kind of overlap, collaboration or hierarchy of command (Venom being his direct superior or something) is still totally unanswered.

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

That's fantastic stuff.

I may have off-handedly said something about Tommy growing up in SF with his parents, but actually didn't that Storm Shadow vs. Firefly issue from the comic pack indicate that Storm Shadow was raised by his Aunt in Fresno?

We "later" see him meet with his Aunt (Monster Auntie, Goblin Granny) in Japan, and she's clearly the wife of the Hard Master. So either his Fresno Aunt is his maternal aunt (Jinx's mom?) or she's the wife of the Soft Master. The Arashikages certainly have holdings in San Francisco (and Denver, and NYC), Tommy is an American citizen, served in Vietnam, it stands to reason that they've got the "Old Family Stronghold" in Japan but also have a spot in SF - a must for any assassin clan. In fact we've seen it! The San Fran "Arashikage Dojo". And the Soft Master had come to America. Of course we met him in New York City. But who knows what his relationship with his wife would've become after the assassination, Storm Shadow (who they probably raised as a boy) fleeing, suspicions that their own nephew was the killer, Soft Master's obligations to avenge yet another brother's death. Still, it was the Soft Master that put Snake Eyes onto Storm Shadow in NYC which eventually revealed the truth that Stormy was framed - Tommy and Soft Master possibly colluded the only way possible to relay that information to Snake Eyes without COBRA finding out.

Storm Shadow has been stated to have "trained all his life", even his Vietnam experience was "part of his training". But he's an American citizen and only went to Japan AFTER his "graduation" from Vietnam. So it's yet even more probable that he began his training in the Arashikage holdings in San Francisco and that the Fresno aunt is Arashikage, and the wife of the Soft Master.

So that's my two cents.

I'd say his parents died. Or at least that their M.I.A. status is notable and the possibility of a long-lost father returning in some strange, insidious form is at least plausible.

I doubt it, mainly because I believe that both having dead families is a prime motivator for the bond between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. But it would certainly be a huge up in the stakes. Especially with Firefly and Zartan still kicking around. Zartan, the dupe who killed the Hard Master AND the Blind Master. Firefly ... well, a seedy bastard in general, but who is affiliated with the Koga. For all we know the rival Koga clan could've been the ones who assassinated Storm Shadow's parents.

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

All of this backstory you guys are spewing is completely blowing my mind. I consider myself a casual reader of G.I. Joe. There are some issue that I've missed in my collection, obviously. Thanks, all, for sharing your wisdom. It's all very interesting. For me, reading issue #169 put me in a total fog. I didn't understand the point of them visiting these Russian ninjas. But after reading all your comments, it inspires me to continue reading G.I. Joe to see where this all goes.

scryptic, thanks for the link - AMAZING thread and discussion! Wow... I no longer think of myself as a G.I. Joe expert

And good to remember the quote from #26 about SS's father - sheesh, how could I have forgotten about that?

Change of subject... but why is Snake-Eyes wearing a rubber mask again? His face is completely restored thanks to plastic surgery (except for some scars).
Another thing: Castle Darklon was destroyed by Destro only "days / weeks ago" as far as the time-line goes; but Sneak-Peek "died" years earlier in Benzheen. Where was Sneak-Peek before he was called to spy on Darklon's shattered home?
And, I really hope the artist remembers to give Joe Colton his famous scar back. It's been kind'a iconic since 1964...

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

Some of us on the IDW board were wondering about SE using the face-mask as well. Following #93 he never used it again until #169. All that time he was fine with making his slightly scarred face public. One theory is that he still wears the face-mask from time to time just for security purposes so that he's not as easily recognized by enemies.

Regarding Sneak-Peek, yeah, there would be some time between him being presumed dead and the Darklon assignment. Maybe he was up to some other top-secret things before the Darklon mission? I don't know. We'll have to get more of his story before being able to put all the pieces together probably.

Everything aside, will the artists please realize that Joe Colton has a scar on his face? If you're not up to date on what makes G.I. Joe be "G.I. Joe", then perhaps you're not ready to draw for this comic yet...

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

I thought the Paine brothers messed it up again (with coal in his face).



Coma?



And the orientation of the arashikage symbol:!: Sheesh... They got it wrong three times in a year!

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䷾ scryptic
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"The only way to bear the snakes is to become one." - Cobra Commander, Cobra Reborn

As seen in Phil's new forum banner, in those Cobra Renewed issues, Snake Eyes scars (from the Paines) were quite bad. His face is still apparently A LOT better than it used to be, but a rubber mask could prevent his identity from being spotted based on the scars ... or perhaps he's had another plastic surgery and as good as it looks, his skin just isn't as lifelike as if it wasn't crammed full of cosmetic products.

At any rate, rubber masks are common in Snake Eyes repertoire.

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2013, NEW SPRITES!

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"The first rule about Punisher Club:
nobody talks about Punisher Club..."

I really like that Hama is bringing a new brand of the Arashikage Clan and that he is "fixing" the Sneak Peek mess but he is also wading into dark deep water that could real piss all the hardcore fans off AGAIN.

The timeline issue is probably something Hama doesn't pay attention to and Carlos Guzman probably doesn't research or ask a knowledgeable fan.


I think this new ninja and branch can be cool, but I am scared. Cause there is really no one manning the ship. It is just sailing on its own. (ie Hama has free reign)

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GI Joe comic fan since 1982

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