G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero Pt. 11

G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #43 (1986)Art by Rod Whigham and Andy Mushynsky•This issue's cover by Mike Zeck and John Beatty is an interesting one, as it is maybe the first "symbolic" cover of the series so far, depicting a hooded skeleton with a machinegun blasting away (And, in that respect, looks a little like one that might have appeared on an old issue of DC's Weird War Tales, which regularly featured skeletons).Having now read the issue, I see that the skeletal figure above is meant to be a Grim Reaper or Death-like figure, but, because its robe is colored red instead of the traditional black, that's not as clear as it could be. Also, because Larry Haman's G.I. Joe narrative includes red ninjas that dress pretty much like this, I assumed that the image might have been in reference to them rather than some sort of personified death. •The issue opens right where the last left off. In front of the Vietnam Memorial, the Cobra Crimson Guardsman code-named Fred II is holding Stalker and Snake Eyes at gunpoint, and he's just made a dramatic revelation: He used to be Wade Collins, a member of their Long Range Recon Patrol that they had left for dead during the Vietnam War. What a s...