Issue 49 is another of the very first issues I ever read, while Yearbook 2 is one of my most recent Marvel-era Joe comic purchases! Of course, "most recent" still means a couple of years ago.

I'll mention the Yearbook first. The story is pretty fun, but what really sells it for me is the artwork by Michael Golden. The man is a genius, and it's unfortunate that this was his only Joe work. His characters are so animated, you feel like you're reading a moving cartoon rather than a static comic book! I particularly love his depictions of the Cobra characters, and especially of Destro and the Baroness.

I believe Golden and Larry Hama are/were friends in real life. They also collaborated to create Bucky O'Hare. It should also be noted that this Yearbook is (I think) the first appearance of Daina's tank-top, shorts, and aviator cap, which pretty much became her standard uniform from this point on. So thanks to Michael Golden for getting her out of that stuffy Red Army uniform. I just wish Hasbro would make a figure of her dressed like that!

Now, on to issue 49. As was always the case in this era, the Mike Zeck cover knocks your socks off-- Except the colorist added about 30 years to Dr. Mindbender by forgetting to fill in his moustache! As soon as you open the issue, you learn that Destro apparently speaks Arabic. Then, right off the bat, you get some sweet wrist-rocket action, which is always a cool thing.

As the issue progresses, we get some mentions of Dr. Venom and the Brainwave Scanner, then Ripcord makes his daring escape attempt from the Dreadnoks-- Only to be foiled, in one of my all-time favorite scenes from the entire run, by a little girl with a .357 Magnum!

Seeing the breakdown of the Joes into a few groups with defined purposes for the invasion of Springfield was really cool, and fueled my ideas for how to play with Joes for a long time. It's also cool to see Firefly and Scrap-Iron working together (they really didn't do so all that much, but the brief occasions that they did are pretty memorable).

Then there was Serpentor. I know a lot of fans dislike the guy for his fantastical origin, but the fact of the matter is that it happened and he's here-- so deal with it. I think in his early appearances here he serves a pretty cool purpose as an agitator attempting to wrest control of Cobra from its commander. I feel that the problem lies in the fact that he does so way too quickly as we'll see in the next few issues. A power struggle over a year or so's worth of issues would've been a lot cooler (and eventually happened, but with Fred in the role of Cobra Commander).

Wow, I had a lot to say about this one. Hope I didn't ramble too much!

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