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Awesome - I love that there is no info as spoilers, other than the "One Shall Surely Die" on the cover.

This issue comes out next week. YOU WANT TO PICK UP THIS ISSUE!

Let me say that again. GO OUT AND BUY THIS ISSUE!

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woot! spoilers pleazzze!!

I was coming in to post that usually when there's hype like this in comics, it turns out it's absolute garbage. And voila, we get a character death issue!

"In this issue, your favorite character is killed off so we got a few thousand more sales. Come back next year for the resurrection." YAWN! At least we've got Hama...

Yeah....not so much this time.

And trust me, I would take this issue over anything that has been produced for the ARAH title thus far. The Cobra title has been for me the best GI Joe series IDW has published so far and this issue raises the bar even higher.

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Phil, you have inruiged me. Luckily, I get this title pulled for my anyway, but now I am very anxious to read it!

I usually flip through before reading, I am guessing I shouldn't this time?

Not unless you want everyone in your comic shop to stare at you when you yell "Holy Crap". Of course that might be a great conversation starter.

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My best guess for the "shocking moment"

Chuckles puts a bullet through the Commander's head and assumes the position of head snake in charge.

Now that would be a total shock!

Its the first thing that went through my mind when Phil said we had to read it.

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"The scriveners and scribblers are not the keepers of the canon, the audience is. If the public doesn't like it, they blot it out of the collective consciousness, and make it go away"

Larry Hama, Snake Eyes Deconstructed (March, 2006)

I wish I had come here yesterday...

ICV2 (the site that gives out sales for comics each month) had an interesting article about this issue and what happens.

SO interesting that it's removed from the site...

This place needs some spoiler tags. lol








**********************SPOILERS BELOW********************





























Cobra Commander is killed. Yep. The image shown at the ICV2 site had a pic with the word "BAM" in the background with Cobra Commanders head tilted like he's been shot (from the underside of his chin, since the exit wound is near the upper top of his head). I don't read this comic, so to see a bubble headed commander (with fangs near the bottom of the bubble mask) was weird to me. I wish that I had saved the damn picture now! Oh well, I guess it will be seen by all on Wednesday.

This apparently starts a Cobra Civil War, and they search for a new Cobra Commander. Covers for other comics connected to this story show the bullet damaged mask of the Commander as others are carrying it around for some reason.




















************************END SPOILERS******************************

Spoilers Ahead !!!!...


If you haven't read it yet or don't want to know, then go away.







You've been warned!!!



















I think this is great!
I can see this as all part of a grand scheme by the head snake himself.
Here's my take on what has happened...

CC was tired of Cobra's Consuls getting in the way of running the organization. One way to get rid of them is to let them wipe each other out and then consolidate power to himself.

But How to do that?

Have a GIJoe spy kill him (CC), creating a power vaccuum that each consul hungry for power will attempt to fill.

How to Survive this?

Have a body double pose as you while you run things from behind the scenes. (The original CC used this ploy before)

Chuckles has been manipulated from the beginning and he has performed exactly as predicted.

Why not now?

I could see this as a perfect plot device to create conflict for the upcoming "Cobra Civil War" and leave a door open to bring him back later.

Good thinkin Lincoln! Can't wait to to see how this plays out - especially wit the likes of Serpentor involved.

Pretty crazy issue.

It occurred to me immediately that the IDW Cobra Commander has shared very little in common with the ARAH Cobra Commander we know and love. The costume change - he wore a suit and had a much more businessman look, with an aristocratic helmet. He's more shadowy, and is pretty much the administrator of all evil. And to top it off, he felt kind of cynical and detached.

(Contrast that to ARAH Cobra Commander, who is personally invested, emotional, and has a real philosophical/political/greed-based motivation, is far more of a casual killer, gets his hands dirty, and is far from detached.)

The twist on the "civil war" idea is a nice play on a classic Cobra story that couldn't be any more different if it tried. There are nine candidates, and Serpentor isn't one of them, because he's already pretty much one of the highest ranking Cobras.

Do we know all of the players? I don't think so. But it would be kind of funny if the new Cobra Commander bears more similarities to the original ARAH maniac. It would certainly cement his reputation if in a more secret society structured Cobra, the "Old Cobra Commander" was killed, and the New Cobra Commander who is the one we all know and love got his job by killing G.I. Joes. That would be hardcore, would build his reputation. The only thing I wonder is just where the hell he would start out from - some insane guy like Skull Buster or Big Boa? Crystal Ball? (Now that would be cool and new!) Anyway, I'm curious but semi-expecting the New Cobra Commander to debut a more traditional uniform fit for battle or field command, with the old helmet incorporated so that headshots don't happen again.

But obviously one of the more classic Cobra players - a Destro, a Baroness, a Storm Shadow - the storytelling possibilities of one of them earning the rank of Cobra Commander is certainly intriguing. Destro as Cobra Commander? It'd be weird. I mean, A. We've seen Destro lead Cobra and B. Destro is typically better in stories where he's an arms dealer caught in the middle of something bigger and scarier than the usual militants he sells to, rather than a Cobra security chief.

Anyway, this issue was fun. Frankly, Tomax and Xamot are likable - particularly Tomax - and his ambition is just too good to waste. But even though every move was made to make you think he was the expected death, I figured it'd be the switch - Cobra Commander LIKES Tomax's audacity and has Xamot executed as the punishment for it, now get back to work and put some of that new craziness into it.

I was at any rate, VERY glad to see Chuckles make his unexpected "undercover agent" move after all this time. I guess THAT particular Old Cobra Commander didn't have the best instincts. Now, killing everyone in the place is a lofty goal, I'm more curious how Chuckles is going to get out of their with his skin.

Finally ... I read the interviews on both ComicBookResources, and Newsarama, and I like the new structuring. A lot more, actually. Slightly more interconnected ... a Snake Eyes solo ... Cobra just being changed to being called "Cobra". I'll certainly be reading all of them. I wonder who'll take the spotlight in "Cobra" now that Chuckles is persona non grata. Xamot would be my ideal choice, I think. Although Chameleon is primed and ready to go as well.

And of course, as with anything, those verifiable "Larry Hama's ARAH is unaffected" made me smile. Can't wait until his first twelve or so issues have built toward his own idea for a big shake-up ... it'll be lovely. Self-contained, classic, and with the old favorites.

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2013, NEW SPRITES!