G.I. JOE #21
Silent Interlude

Cover Date: March, 1984
Story and Breakdowns: Larry Hama
Finishes: Steve Leialoha
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Denny O'Neil
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Summary:  A Cobra CLAW jet pack lands at Destro's mountain castle flown by a ninja in white, carrying an unseen, wrapped up prisoner. The ninja brings the prisoner to Cobra Commander in the castle's throne room, revealing it to be a bound Scarlett. High above, Snake-Eyes parachutes out of a C-130 to the castle below, where a brooding Destro detects the transport plane. In the castle dungeon, Scarlett reacts angrily to the white ninja's attempts to be kind to her, and he leaves her there.

Once he reaches the castle, Snake-Eyes fights his way through surprised Cobra troopers. After Destro sees a soldier fall by his window, he rallies the troops to investigate. Scarlett escapes the castle dungeon in the confusion after surprising the ninja by freeing herself.

Snake-Eyes evades more troopers by disguising himself as one of them and indicating the intruder is on the other side of the castle. The ninja in white sends a group of red ninjas after Snake-Eyes but he easily beats them. Scarlett, meanwhile, steals a Cobra CLAW from a group of Cobra troopers and flies off to rescue Snake-Eyes. The white ninja then confronts Snake-Eyes and throws a sword at him. Scarlett jumps in front of it, but Snake-Eyes reaches in front of her to catch it. The Joes escape via the stolen CLAW as the ninja looks on. Neither ninja recognizes the other, but we see that they wear matching tattoos on their arms.

Commentary (by Christopher Edwards): A straightforward rescue mission, less plotted than even issue #1, this is the one that raised the stakes, and set G.I. Joe apart from every other toy tie-in and war comic. For one thing, it's all silent-no dialogue, no exposition, just Larry Hama's own artwork to tell the tale. It was like nothing American comics had tried before--and it works marvellously. The action is fluid and dynamic, the situations and characters rendered in perfect detail without a word. The silent device was repeated occasionally later in the series, but it never worked nearly as well as it does here. And Hama's artwork is probably the best the series has ever seen. His knowing, intuitve presentation of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow makes them seem real, flesh-and-blood, and at the same time a collection of yin-yang opposites: black versus white, modern versus ancient, good versus evil. Inits way, it's as adult as the Dark Knight, with none of the pretense.

More importantly, this issue establishes the central thread of all the continuity to come. We learn that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are connected somehow. That connection, and all the stories that spin around it, formed the backbone of the next hundred and thirty-plus issues. An epic of a lost, silent soldier, his reunion with a brother warrior, and all the rest of it, starts right here. Fifteen years later, it still leaves me speechless.

First Appearances:

  • Cobra: Storm Shadow (unnamed), Red Ninjas
  • Cobra vehicles: C.L.A.W. jet pack/glider (unnamed)
Reprinted in:
  • Action Force #37 & #38 (Nov 14th & 21st, 1987). A Marvel UK series featuring the UK's version of G.I. Joe reprints this story in two parts, alongside two original stories that serve as a prologue and epilogue that make "Silent Interlude" fit into the Action Force series' continuity. All references to "G.I. Joe" were changed to "Action Force".
  • G.I. JOE Comics Magazine #8 (February 1988). Digest format from Marvel Comics. Includes issues #22 and Action Force #10-13.
  • G.I. JOE: Volume 3 (August 2002). A trade paperback collection from Marvel. Includes issues #21-30.
  • A version of the issue was released by Hasbro in 2005, packaged with comic-based action figures of Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow and a Red Ninja (Viper) as seen in the issue. All references to Marvel Comics were removed.
  • Another version of the issue was released by Hasbro in 2008, packaged with comic-based action figures of Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow as seen in the issue. All references to Marvel Comics were removed. It features a new painted cover, based on the original.
  • "Silence Between Borders" was an original comic released by Hasbro in 2008 as issue #21B that retold the original story, adding new elements and scenes and included comic-based action figures of Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow.
  • G.I. JOE: Best of Larry Hama (April 2009). Part of a series of reprints from IDW. Also includes issues #24, 26, 34, 63, 85, 86, 91, 104 and Special Missions #17.
  • Classic G.I. JOE: Volume 3 (May 2009). A trade paperback collection from IDW Publishing. Aside from some slight changes made to the cover, this is a reprint of the earlier Marvel collection. Includes issues #21-30.
  • G.I. JOE: Best of Snake Eyes (July 2009). Part of a series of reprints from IDW. Also includes issues #10, 26, 27, 31 and 144.