G.I. JOE #6
"To Fail is to Conquer... To Succeed is to Die!"
Cover Date: December, 1982
Scripter: Larry Hama
Plot/Penciler: Herb Trimpe
Inker: Jack Abel
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

"Amerikanski fools! The October Guard will teach you the error of your capitalist ways!"
— Horrorshow

Summary:  Under fighter escort, an Army transport plane brings the Joes to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey after a grueling mission. Shortly after they arrive at the Pit, Hawk briefs the Joes on a new mission. Hawk informs the Joes that a Russian spycraft landed in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan and was captured by Afghani rebel tribesman. They will let the U.S. haul it away for a price. A CIA liaison is already there, but the Russians and Cobra are going after the plane. The team will use an RTV, a large six-wheeled vehicle to haul the plane parts to a port in Karachi. Hawk asks for six volunteers and every Joe offers. Hawk already assumed that would happen and has chosen six members of the team: Stalker, Scarlett, Clutch, Steeler, Flash and Breaker. Once on the plane, Clutch and Scarlett argue on the way to Afghanistan until Stalker tells them both to stop.

Back at the Pit, Hawk (calling himself "Songbird") sends a message detailing the mission to what is identified as "Cobra Central"...

The Joes parachute into the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and are surprised by the Afghani rebels. The leader of the tribe, Ahmed, introduces himself and the tribe's CIA liaison. The agent chides Stalker for being surprised by the tribesman. Stalker abruptly tells him off. The Joes assemble the RTV, its pieces light enough to be dropped by parachute. Stalker promises to do what he can to get weapons and aid for Ahmed's rebels. The Joes leave with the VAMP in the lead carrying Clutch and Stalker, with the RTV manned by Steeler, Breaker, Flash and Scarlett. The Joes are spotted by two soldiers hidden in the mountains. The Joes are forced to stop when they reach a chasm that is not on the map. Suddenly they're fired upon from the mountains. As the Joes fire back, Steeler uses the RTV's crane to lift the VAMP over the chasm. From a loudspeaker in the mountains, the Joes are warned to surrender. From out of the mountains a Russian vehicle emerges carrying the Russian assault team, the October Guard: Colonel Brekhov, Daina, Horrorshow, Schrage and Stormavik. The firefight continues as the RTV gets over the chasm. Scarlett shoots out a tire on the October Guard's vehicle with her crossbow, disabling the jeep. The Joes and the Russians end up in hand-to-hand combat until out of nowhere an army of Cobras led by Cobra Commander surrounds the two teams, ordering them to surrender. Cobra Commander orders the teams to be lined up and executed...

Commentary: "To Fail is to Conquer...To Succeed is to Die!" (an ancient Afghan proverb) is the first Joe story continued into another issue, and it is one of the best of the original G.I. Joe stories. The Joes quickly move from one mission to the other in this issue. Hawk asks for volunteers to go on the mission, and its amusing to see all of the Joes volunteer, only to find out that Hawk has already chosen half of them to go on the mission. In keeping with the times, the Joes are in a race against the Russians, with Cobra thrown in to make it a G.I. Joe story. Though hardly recurring characters, Ahmed and his tribe, as well as the obnoxious CIA agent, return six years later in G.I. Joe Special Missions #9. The CIA agent is the first in a long line of overconfident government agents who don't have the first clue about the military. An interesting exchange occurs when the CIA agent tells Ahmed: "Stalker's just a two bit infantryman...He can't promise you anything!"
Ahmed answers, "He is a fighting man!"
"So?"
"I knew you wouldn't understand!"

Also, this issue sets up the short-lived angry tension between Clutch and Scarlett. He hits on her and bothers her in a typical "male chauvinist" way and she can't stand him. The only other place where this is a major part of the story (besides the second part of this story) is issue #10. All the new characters that appear later on lessen the use of Clutch in the series.

The most significant development in this issue is the first appearance of the October Guard. Strangely, the team does not appear again for four years until G.I. Joe Yearbook #2. Shortly after that, they appear often in the pages of G.I. Joe Special Missions. The October Guard is referred to as the Russian equivalent of the G.I. Joe team, but later in the series, the letter column explains that they are actually the Warsaw Past equivalent of the Joe team, and that the team includes a Czechoslovakian (Daina) and an Eastern German (Schrage). Also, it's nice to see an enemy that isn't as inept as Cobra will often turn out to be.

The story ends with a cliff-hanger, not only because of Cobra's appearance at the end, but also because Hawk is seen deep in the Pit, apparently sending information directly to Cobra about the mission.

On the technical glitch side of things, when Hawk shows a list of the chosen members of the team, his list shows Grand Slam, not Flash as a member of the team. But once the mission begins, Flash is the six member. The real reason this presumably occurs is the fact that Flash and Grand Slam have the same uniform and are very difficult to tell apart in their action figure forms.

First Appearances:

  • Recurring Characters: The October Guard (Colonel Brekhov, Daina, Horrorshow, Schrage and Stormavik); Ahmed; Afghan rebels; CIA liaison.
  • Geography: McGuire Air Force Base, NJ; Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan
Reprinted in:
  • G.I. JOE: The Trojan Gambit (1983). A large-sized comic from Marvel Books. This book reprints a heavily edited "combined" version of issues #6 and #7, alongside issue #3. It features a new painted cover loosely based on the cover of issue #3. (Click here for YoJoe.com's samples of the edited and merged pages.)
  • G.I. JOE Comics Magazine #3 (April 1987). Digest format from Marvel Comics. Includes issues #7 and #8.
  • Tales of G.I. Joe #6 (June 1988). Reprint series from Marvel.
  • G.I. JOE: Volume 1 (May 2002). A trade paperback collection from Marvel. Includes issues #1-10.
  • A version of the issue was released by Hasbro in 2005, packaged with comic-based action figures based on Colonel Brekhov, Daina and the first ever figure of Schrage.
  • Classic G.I. JOE: Volume 1 (January 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 #1-10