What's amusing is that Hama centered the whole joeverse around a few characters. I don't remember the interview where he actually stated that.

I never actually owned the single copy of this. I finally got to read this years later when the digests came out. And then, when the TPB showed up even more years later. I loved the training sequence at the beginning and then plopping them in the snow. I thought it was an excellent story and cool to see how Cobra wasn't the only enemy. And let's face it, the team by the end of the book, were ready to kick booty. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end!