Daily Comic Book Mission #031: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #8

Beneath the glow of an Iron City beer sign in a subterranean lair, that’s not actually all that far underground, it’s the ComicBook.beer Daily Comic Book Mission.

And your daily mandatory required reading… mandatory suggested reading. It’s a mandatory suggestion. You have to do this.

I've got G.I. Joe issue number eight from February of 1983, I totally forgot how great this issue is. I’m on a G.I. Joe kick right now as I’m preparing for a full-length podcast, and I’m reading through the first 21 issues again.

You don’t really need to read issue 21 since there’s no dialogue, but the others do have dialogue. So the podcast is going to be on the first 21 issues of G.I. Joe.

But what’s the beer that we’re going to pair with G.I. Joe today? Well, if you’ve been listening, you already know, because one of the most awesome members of the G.I. Joe team… who drives the tank?

Steeler. From Pittsburgh.

And to honor Steeler and his Yinzer heritage, today I’m enjoying an Iron City draft beer. It’s in the gold can.

That is a sloppy pour, man. Gotta go back to school. I’ve only poured about a billion beers in my life, how’d I screw this one up? It’s like foam all the way from Godzilla’s knee up to his eyeballs on my Godzilla glass.

But this is the… uh…

I made a video on this one too, so you can see what the gold Iron City beer can looks like with draft beer. I guess in honor of not just draft beer, but also the draft, which is funny because the guy’s name is Steeler, not Steelers. I suspect the NFL might take offense to that, but Steeler is totally cool. Or at least it was in 1983.

Now that the Godzilla foam has settled down a bit, I’m going to pour some more of my 1970s golden beer can into this glass. Love the can. I like anything that’s like a 70s throwback. They should serve this in an El Camino. It’s got some wood grain on it.

Alright, here we go. Mmm. That smells like beer, which is a good thing. I’d be concerned if it didn’t.

Before I get into this issue, which has a weird cover, let the foam die down just a little bit. Now it’s going from Godzilla’s eyeball up to the top of the glass.

I think the cover of issue eight is kind of weird because if you look at it quickly, I don’t think you really know what you’re looking at. It looks like Scarlett and Stalker fighting something, but it’s not clear what that thing is. It’s just this weird machine. It’s got this… well… kind of like a metal dick hanging over the G.I. Joe logo. There’s really no better way to explain that.

But upon closer inspection, it’s actually a walking thing, kind of like an AT-ST, but not really. The design is just really odd.

And when you read the issue, you’ll know that it’s a Sea Legs, a Cobra Sea Legs.

So they’ve got these cool vehicles in this one that they never actually made toys out of, I don’t think. I don’t recall seeing any Cobra Sea Legs.

Now that I’ve talked for a bit, the foam has died down enough to take the first sip of Iron City draft beer.

Goddamn, that’s good. Yes. I approve of this magic liquid called beer.

I’m not sure if it tastes any different than the regular Iron City beer, but the can looks cool, so there’s that. And Godzilla is still smiling on the glass.

If Godzilla likes it, you know it’s gotta be good. Although I hear he’s more of a PBR guy.

Alright, anyway…

G.I. Joe issue number eight, code name Sea Strike.

This issue combines G.I. Joe, James Bond, and The Empire Strikes Back all in one issue. There’s so much happening.

This is Herb Trimpe at his best. I mean, he’s always at his best, but this is like his even better best. His bestest best ever.

As the issue opens, Cobra Commander is about to launch an attack on the Space Shuttle. Remember when people loved the Space Shuttle? It was a big deal. And Cobra is going to destroy it. No expenses are spared here. He’s got a James Bond villain base straight out of The Spy Who Loved Me. He’s got intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The plan is to blow up the Space Shuttle, gain space superiority, and basically shower Earth with nukes or whatever. So it’s like The Spy Who Loved Me, but with Cobra Commander.

And the Joes are assigned to defend the Space Shuttle. We get all the old-school Joes, Flash, Zap, Grand Slam, Grunt, Breaker, Stalker, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Hawk, and Steeler driving the tank.

They’re all using their classic weapons, like the ones that came in the action figure boxes.

Cobra launches walking sea legs that look like AT-STs but more flimsy. Rock and Roll just machine guns them down, the MOBAT blows a few up, and Cobra Commander launches land torpedoes and super tanks.

Then he launches a guided missile at the Space Shuttle.

Grunt shoots it down. Snake Eyes karate-chops somebody. Short-Fuse launches mortars. It’s just nonstop action. Awesome.

Classic 1970s vibes. Reminds me of shaking Willie Stargell’s hand back in the day, or something like that.

The issue just keeps getting better.

Now we’ve got elements of Moonraker going on, but better, because Moonraker sucks.

The Space Shuttle is in orbit but defenseless because of this missile. Cobra launches it. Thankfully, Breaker and Flash are on board.

Flash saves the day by directing the missile away from the shuttle.

The Joes are in a huge firefight, mowing down Cobra soldiers, who, being fanatical zealots, just go down with the ship.

It’s so good.

This is a great issue. I’m not sure if I like it more than issue three, but it’s right up there. It’s just wild. And if you want to see a G.I. Joe issue that uses all the characters, not just Snake Eyes, this is it.

It’s really fun. Extremely well illustrated. And it pairs perfectly with Iron City draft beer.

See, if I was drafting football players, I’d draft Flash, just so I could hang out with Dale and Topol… you know… from that Roger Moore one… For Your Eyes Only. That’s it.

Okay, it’s a good thing I don’t know anything useful.

See you next time on ComicBook.beer.

Beer tested. Godzilla approved.