Trenches

The two teams of G.I. Joe, and Snake-Eyes, all meet up with each other to begin a unified offensive against the Terrordrome. The only thing in their way - a wall of innocent captives.

Transformers / G.I. Joe #5

Writer: John Ney Rieber
Pencils: Jae Lee
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Benjamin Lee
V/P Editor in Chief: Roger Lee
President: Pat Lee

• Major characters (in order of appearance): Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, Ravage, Dr. Mindbender, Baroness, Flint, Frenzy, Beachhead, Grunt, Lady Jaye, Wild Weasel, Superion, Megatron, Cobra Commander, Major Bludd, Optimus Prime, Duke, Roadblock, Ironhide, Scarlett, Prowl, Hound, Shockwave

• Cover date: December 2003
• Release date: January 21st, 2004

Synopsis

Snake-Eyes drags the shark-bitten Storm Shadow ashore. Before dying, Storm Shadow concedes that it is Snake-Eyes who has become the true warrior. Just then, Ravage returns to again try to kill Snake-Eyes, but his second attempt is as futile as his first.

Within the Terrordrome, Dr. Mindbender and the Baroness attempt to extract the G.I. Joe's battle plans from Flint using sadistic torture. Flint, however, does his best to resist.

Beachhead falls back from Frenzy, who survived Beachhead's electrical attack. Ordering Grunt to stay hidden, Beachhead lures Frenzy beneath a nearby parked plane. Once Beachhead is clear, Grunt opens fire, detonating the plane's fuel supply. With Frenzy injured, the G. I. Joes finish the Decepticon off with grenades.

Above, Lady Jaye manages to use her plane's slow speed to her advantage and catches Wild Weasel off-guard. As Wild Weasel falls, she notices the other team of G.I. Joes and their massive ally, Superion.

Outside of the Terrordrome, Cobra Commander - now aware of the incoming threat - creates a defensive wall of captured prisoner slaves.

The two teams of G.I. Joes finally unite, but Scarlett is disappointed that Snake-Eyes is still MIA. But soon as she laments his mysterious nature, the ninja arrives to join the party. As the united army of Autobots and G.I.Joe prepares to move against the Terrordrome, Prime halts and considers that perhaps it's not the Autobot's place to get involved in Earth's conflict. Seeing the way Cobra treats its captives as expendable tools, Prime changes his mind.

Ready to make the first move in the final conflict, Cobra Commander orders Shockwave into position. After Megatron validates the command, Shockwave obeys.

Moving forward, the G.I. Joes and Autobots devise a plan to use Superion, Stalker, and Snake-Eyes to safely remove the captured slaves from danger so they can engage Cobra and the Decepticons without the threat of harm coming to innocent life. But just then, Shockwave opens fire, crippling Superion.

Items of note

• This issue should not be confused with the fifth issue of G.I. Joe/Transformers Vol. 1.
  
• When Optimus Prime considers that perhaps it's not the Autobot's place to fight Cobra, his disembodied dialogue box is colored similarly to Megatron's dialogue. But from the context we can be certain that Prime is the one speaking.
  
• Wavelengths also has an article from the desk of Rob Ruffolo.
  
• As with the rest of the miniseries, Storm Shadow's name is consistently mis-parsed as Stormshadow.
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.