IDW - First Strike - G.I. Joe

Written by: Aubrey Sitterson

Art by: Ilias Kyriazis

Colours by: Mark Roberts

Letters by: Tom B. Long

Editor: Carlos Guzman

Publisher: Ted Adams

Plot

The members of VENOM have been absorbed into Cobra since Miles Mayhem is now on Cybertron for the mission to destroy the planet, and so the VENOM team are gifted with newly repaired vehicles to replace the ones that were recently destroyed.

Soon, Firefly, a member of Cobra, starts attacking and looting several museums around the world stealing some serpent-themed artefacts for the new Cobra Commander, Baroness.

At the Joe's base, the Lemuria, Rock 'n Roll wakes up from an apocalyptic dream, and Shipwreck, who is currently in charge of the team since Scarlett is off world, and learns of Firefly's attacks. Soon the team are deployed, but Cobra are able to escape easily using the VENOM vehicles.

Later, Shipwreck has changed up his strategy and gives all the Joes at his disposal appropriate jobs for whenever Cobra strikes again. Grand Slam gets in a huff when he is told that he is still not allowed on the field, likely due to his leg injuries.

VENOM and Cobra attack in New York, however the Joes are ready this time and actually manage to engage them, sending in all their heavy hitters. Quick Kick makes it inside the museum and confronts Firefly, along with a few dozen Red Shadow Ninjas on his own.

Outside again, the VENOM team use the new feature added to their vehicles, added by Scrap-Iron of Cobra and combines them into a giant snake robot, ready to take down the Joes....

Characters

GI Joe

Skywarp - Fighter Jet

Rock 'n Roll

Shipwreck

Polly

Dial Tone

Salvo

Lifeline

Doc

Quick Kick

Cover Girl

Gung-Ho

Spitfire

Grand Slam

Scarlett (Mentioned)

Roadblock (Mentioned)

Cobra/VENOM

Cobra Commander/Baroness

Scrap-Iron

Firefly

Vaness Warfield/Ice Queen

Sly Rax/Stiletto

Bruno Sheppard/Thunderflame

King Cobra - VENOM Vehicle Combiner

Red Shadow Ninjas

Cobranarchists

Miles Mayhem (Mentioned)

Other Human

New York Cops

Guys in Rock 'n Roll's Dream (Dream Only)

Notes

• This story is set following the finales of both GI Joe and MASK, leading into their upcoming crossover series "Scarlett's Strike Force", previously named "GI Joe: Unmasked" Neither of these series were actually completed before this comic was released, so their finales were spoiled for the readers. 
• This story is also set just after the deployment of Scarlett and her team to Cybertron for the First Strike main event.
• The Baroness is now the new Cobra Commander, during the terrible IDW GI Joe vs Transformers series she took on the "Serpentress" position in a similar manner.
• In case it isn't clear from his flirting around Shipwreck, his defence of his cooking being classed as "cute" and other gesture choices from the artwork, it's pretty clear that Gung-Ho is gay. I only note this because he is potentially the first homosexual human character in the Hasbroverse, or at least the first major, named character anyway.
• Grand Slam does have a point here, why haven't they developed some sort of device to allow him to join in on field-missions yet? Surely if they can make vehicles that can go from submarines to jets they can make either an exo-suit or leg braces for them?
• Despite being prominently on the cover of the comic, no one from MASK appears in this comic...hopefully they appear in the MASK issue of this story though...