G.I. Joe: America's Elite

G.I. Joe: America's Elite
Cover image for G.I. Joe: America's Elite #1
Publication information
Publisher	Devil's Due Publishing
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
Publication date	June 2005 – June 2008
No. of issues	36
Main character(s)	G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

G.I. Joe: America's Elite is a series of comic books set in the G.I. Joe universe; it began publication in June 2005. The events of the main title begin one year after the conclusion of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (vol. 2). The Special Missions series features reservist Joes and expands on plots set up in the main title.

Characters

The series features a G.I. Joe team that is smaller than that of previous titles. The G.I. Joe roster initially consists of General Joseph Colton, Flint, Duke, Scarlett, Shipwreck, Stalker, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, and Roadblock, although the cast changes as the series progresses.

Plot synopsis

The main title begins one year after the previous series. Satellites begin falling out of orbit and crashing into major cities, resulting in massive civilian casualties. The G.I. Joe team, which was deactivated following the destruction of Cobra Island a year earlier at the end of the previous series, is reactivated to deal with this new threat. Their new headquarters is located in Yellowstone National Park and is code named "The Rock". They discover that a man named Vance Winfield, who had attempted to cause a nuclear war early in the Marvel Comics series and was presumed dead, is behind the attacks. The Joe team stops him, but discovers that his attacks were made possible through technology designed by Destro's M.A.R.S. operation. The Joes defeat Destro on his submarine, but Snake Eyes dies during the operation.

Snake Eyes doesn't stay dead long, however. His body is stolen and he is resurrected by the Red Ninja Clan, former members of the Arashikage Clan to which Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow belong. The Red Ninjas are once more under the control and influence of Sei-Tin, an adversary from the previous series and a former Cobra collaborator. The resurrected Snake Eyes is also under the sway of Sei-Tin and is used to exact his agenda of revenge, savagely attacking Storm Shadow & Kamakura. The Joes eventually defeat Sei-Tin and return Snake Eyes to normal. Snake Eyes hereafter renounces his arcane ninja background, reverting to his earlier 'commando' persona. Flint leaves the team.

While the rest of the team is after the Red Ninjas, Duke leaves for a classified mission in Central America. After foiling the nuclear ambitions of a deranged Crimson Guardsman and conquering an army of relic B.A.T.s, Duke wanders the jungle until he is rescued by a team of researchers.

The Joes take out a Cobra cell in Peru, and rescue Spirit, a Joe operative gone missing in an off-the-books mission. Storm Shadow, after proving his worth as a member of the team, leaves for parts unknown.

Cobra Commander, who has been in hiding since the end of the previous series, has been rebuilding his power base and manages to infiltrate the US government and disguise himself as the White House Chief of Staff Garrett Freelowe. He attempts to convince the President to shut down the G.I. Joe team, and when this fails, he sends a team of covert Cobra operatives, code named the Phoenix Guard, to infiltrate the Rock and kill the Joes. Despite casualties, the Joes fight off the attack and capture most of the Phoenix Guard, discovering their true identities in the process. The Baroness, a Joe prisoner since the beginning of the series, escapes. Cobra Commander abandons the White House.

General Philip Rey, former Joe commander and the unwitting leader of the Phoenix Guard, goes on a sabbatical following the invasion of the Rock to fill in some of the holes in his memory. Duke, not trusting Rey's intentions, accompanies him. Rey and Duke discover through Zandar that Rey is in fact a clone of Serpentor who has been brainwashed and fed misinformation by his psychiatrist, undercover Cobra hypotist Crystal Ball. Rey breaks free from Crystal Ball's control with Duke's help.

Meanwhile, the Baroness has enlisted the aid of Sebastian Bludd in her campaign against her betrayers, Cobra Commander and Wraith. In her quest, she also locates and horribly disfigures the Cobra surgeon, Scalpel, another of those who crossed her in the previous series. Finding Wraith in a club in Prague, the Baroness lures him to a cemetery where she confronts and defeats him, apparently shooting him in the head. She then trades his armor to the Red Shadows in exchange for the whereabouts of Cobra Commander. Flint, who has been tracking the Red Shadows' leader, Wilder Vaughn, since he left the Joes, spots the Baroness with Vaughn and alerts the Rock. Major Bludd, meanwhile, raids an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, hoping to throw the G.I. Joe team off the Baroness' trail, but is captured just before Flint's call comes in. The Baroness locates the Commander in Honduras after subduing Flint, only to find that Destro, her husband, is also present. After a brief fight in Cobra Commander's command room, Destro agrees to trade the M.A.R.S. corporation, his Iron Grenadier forces, and his eldest son, Alexander, to Cobra Commander in exchange for his and the Baroness' baby. Cobra Commander also reveals that he now possesses the personal information of every G.I. Joe agent from his time in the White House.

G.I-Joe counters by going on the attack, launching missions to capture Cobra agents all over the world. Meanwhile, Cobra Commander begins selling M.A.R.S. weaponry to every insurgent, teorrorist and rebel group on Earth to create chaos. The entire G.I-Joe roster is activated and mobilized. In Boston, a man enters a confessional telling the priest he knows of a war coming, one that will overshadow all before it. Cobra Commander continues to create chaos, causing the United States to deploy its armed forces around the world. G.I-Joe is warned of a coming World War III by Agent Delta, an undercover operative who went into Cobra before the organization's rise and vanished off the grid. Tomax offers Agent Delta a job: assassinate the Prime Minister of Israel to completely destabilize the region and send the world into war. Delta contacts G.I.-Joe.. While Duke returns his protestor father home, Cobra agent Interrogator captures Duke wanting to know about G.I.-Joe's Middle East operations. Roadblock manages to rescue Duke, but Duke's father is injured. The two Joes question Interrogator's motives. Cobra sniper Black Out sneaks on board a Russian submarine and launches missiles at Boston. America declares a state of war. G.I.-Joe manages to stop the assassination attempt, but it was a set up. Cobra attacks Washington D.C. and Cobra Commander assumes control. He then unleashes his new elite squarden, The Plague, to hunt and kill G.I.-Joe. G.I.-Joe HQ is attacked by Cobra forces. Cobra bombs Russia, claiming retaliation for their missile attack on Boston. Cobra seizes control of U.S. military instilations. Storm Shadow returns to stop Cobra from liberating prisoners in the Joe prison facility. In Israel, Plague and G.I.-Joe clash, the two teams very evenly matched. Alexander leads an attack on England and France to keep them from helping America. All over the world, every Cobra sleeper cell has been activated and attacking government buildings in every nation.

Data Desk Handbook

This one-shot published files for America's Elite's main characters. The files are presented as computer entries written by Commanding Officer General Joseph R. Colton (the original G.I. Joe). Several other files and updated files were later published in individual issues of America's Elite, Special Missions and trade paper back volumes, and a subsequent version of the title was published in late 2007 over two issues.

The Hunt for Cobra Commander

This one-shot issue is set in the year between Devils's Due A Real American Hero series and America's Elite series, and featured G.I Joe team member Spirit tracking Cobra Commander. The issue is largely told via e-mails Spirit sent Hawk while on the mission.

Spin-Offs

G.I. Joe: Special Missions

A series of one-shots featuring reservist Joes and set in different parts of the world.

Manhattan

This one-shot featured G.I. Joe reservists Beach Head, Cover Girl, Mercer, Low-Light and Tunnel Rat, on a special mission involving a bio-weapon threat in New York City. Also included is a side story about G.I. Joe reservist Barrel Roll and his brother, Cobra operative Blackout.

Tokyo

This one-shot featured the ninja Jinx, samurai Budo, and "yahoo" reservists Wild Bill (Texan chopper pilot), the Cajun Marine codenamed Gung Ho, lady's man Clutch and Malibu surfer and gunman Rock N' Roll. The team tries to prevent a coup in Japan.

Antarctica

This one-shot was released in December 2006, and featured Snake Eyes, Stalker, Duke, Scarlett, as well as reservists Snow Job, Frostbite and Iceberg. Also included was a brief Hawaiian interlude that revealed the whereabouts of several long-missing Cobra agents.

Brazil

This one-shot features Mainframe, Leatherneck, Claymore, Dial-Tone, and Wet-Suit during a mission in Brazil in the 1980s against Headman, a drug kingpin. It then shifts to the present where the team reunites (minus Mainframe who was killed in action) to take down the Headman once and for all. Also included is a side story showing Shipwreck and Cover Girl saving a Brazilian senator with flashbacks to various parts of their friendship/relationship.

The Enemy

This one shot features a parallel story of G.I-Joe Infantry Squad Leader Robert "Grunt" Graves as he joins the army and G.I-Joe in the upper panels and a man joining Cobra in the lower panels and how their lives and experiences differed. Also included is a side story showing Black Out and an Eel codenamed Guillotine conducting a mission with several Cobra agents and reporting to cobra Commander. The mission is revealed to be a recruitment operation for Plague.

Storm Shadow

Main article: Storm Shadow (comic)

Scripted by Larry Hama, this spin-off focused on the ninja themed exploits of former Cobra and G.I. Joe team member Storm Shadow. It ran for seven issues from May to November 2007, before being canceled at the request of Hasbro.

See also

• List of G.I. Joe comics
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
• Cobra Organization