Ayana Jones
| The name or term "Jones" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Jones (disambiguation). |
- Ayana Jones is a G.I. Joe-aligned human from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
"O'Brien from the Enterprise."
"Enterprise? Oh yes. Weren't you one of the little people?"
Ayana Jones, codename Mayday, is an ex-member of Skywatch turned member of G.I. Joe turned ex-member of G.I. Joe turned member of Earth Defense Command turned ex-EDC turned Joe again. As you can guess from that CV, she prefers being in the thick of the action. In her long history she's worked with top officers like Duke and Marissa Faireborn, but now she's the one who gets to run squads.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Ayana Jones was born in Brighton Beach, New York and grew up near Coney Island. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, where her thesis on "ancient aliens" attracted the attention of Joshua Red. Intrigued by her aptitude, she was swiftly recruited into Skywatch, the agency aimed at investigating Transformer activity on Earth. By the time that Joshua Red went rogue, however, Ayana's skills had already attracted the attention of Conrad "Duke" Hauser, who had her transferred into the top-secret G.I. Joe program. Mayday profile
Now operating under the codename "Mayday," Ayana was based out of Berlin during her first years with the agency, serving under the command of David "Big Ben" Bennet." She remained a G.I. Joe soldier during the Decepticon invasion of Earth; when both factions of Cybertronians abandoned the planet, the soldiers of G.I. Joe turned their attention to battling the forces of Cobra after the ancient conspiracy went public and invaded Nanzhao. Mayday's unit was one of the last to extricate themselves from the region before Cobra's nuclear weapons annihilated the country, but safely managed to evacuate thanks to the efforts of her teammate Heavy Duty. Mayday profile The Iron Klaw
Over the next few years, a series of escalating crises — including a public hack that led to the outing of the formerly secret organization — eventually led to the mothballing of the team. Though the Joes were able to take down Cobra from the inside, the team was decommissioned shortly afterwards. Mayday profile She and several other Joe soldiers transferred to General Daniel Witwicky's Earth Defense Command, the successor to Skywatch. Crisis Intervention For the next few years, Ayana worked out of the EDC's headquarters in the Marshall Islands. Full Fathom Five
When a group of Decepticons led by Galvatron arrived on Earth, the EDC cut a deal with the Cybertronians: if they worked with the EDC to protect the Earth from Autobot aggression, Detonation Boulevard they would provide the aliens with the resources and infrastructure required to build a commune where they could live in peace. Full Fathom Five The EDC's predictions would come true some six months later, when the Autobots returned to Earth in search of Alpha Trion, who had been taken prisoner by the EDC some time before. As Optimus Prime's forces stormed the EDC base, Ayana monitored the situation, and was surprised when the Decepticons revealed their trump card, the Nemesis. Full Fathom Five
Ayana and the other members of the base continued to watch the battle play out, but when the Prowl-controlled Devastator attacked the building, the humans were knocked unconscious and thus failed to witness Galvatron execute General Witwicky in retaliation for unleashing the EDC's anti-Transformer mind bomb. I Dream of Wires In the aftermath, former EDC operative Marissa Faireborn became the new director of the EDC, and Ayana rose to become her de facto second-in-command.
Following Spike Witwicky's hack of Onyx's new product launch, Jones accompanied Marissa Faireborn to Onyx's Tokyo HQ as the EDC's response to Garrison Blackrock's angry phone call. Signals, Calls, and Marches As a battle between Prowl's Autobots and Galvatron's Decepticons broke out in the city, the EDC took Blackrock to safety in an aircraft despite Jones' desire to intervene. She instead ended up trying to talk the Chinese out of invading Japan. Vs.
On Blackrock's request, they headed for Onyx's Wanmu facility, where Garrison showed them the collection of Cybertronian artifacts he'd built up, including the the crown jewel of his collection: the Enigma of Combination that had supposedly guided human civilization. Jones was skeptical of Blackrock's claim that he was descended from Gilgamesh; as the tour continued, however, the building was attacked by Devastator and Spike Witwicky. ONoffON As Spike dropped in and grabbed Faireborn, Jones was ready to shoot him, but didn't get the chance before Devastator breached the walls. She and Faireborn ended up hauling Spike clear as the battle continued to rage between Devastator, the Decepticon forces, and their temporary ally Arcee. The Obliterati
At one point, Marissa and Ayana listened to Thundercracker's attempt to write a Christmas story. It went as well as could be expected. The Thirteenth Day of Christmas
Some time later, Faireborn and Jones accompanied Blackrock and the Decepticons on a visit to the satellite commune which Onyx was building for the Decepticons in Jupiter's orbit, and Jones expressed her dislike of spacesuits. During the tour, the pair discussed Blackrock's mysterious origins and wondered if he was on the level. South of Heaven
Back on Earth at E.D.C. HQ, Jones waited with Faireborn outside Spike's cell as Blackrock visited the prisoner. The pair were forced to listen to Thundercracker's latest script until Blackrock eventually emerged. The Nothing Man So you can imagine their shock when they learned Blackrock had captured some Autobots and stuffed them under the E.D.C. base! Ayana had Blackrock captured at gunpoint as they learned all he'd been up to, but too late: Galvatron arrived, revealing the man was really a Cybertronian sleeper agent for Onyx Prime. Helden Galvatron's arrival led to a tense stand-off with the E.D.C. and the newly revealed captive Autobots until Skywarp teleported them away. Jones tracked the falling Autobot shuttle Ark-7 to Shanghai, and the E.D.C. prepared to respond. Perihelion As it turned out, the E.D.C. were unable to coordinate a response before Optimus Prime arrived and announced that Earth was now the newest protectorate of Cybertron's interplanetary Council of Worlds. Ayana and Fairborne stayed at the Bikini Atoll base to keep the imprisoned Spike Witwicky under control and prepare the detonation of a full-spectrum mindbomb to take out the Transformers. Once Upon a Time on Earth
With Earth in a panic over Optimus' reckless actions, Jones and Fairborne were called to the White House to meet with the furious President, who blamed the EDC for allowing Optimus to get this far. Ayana urged Marissa to keep a cool head, which proved futile. New Worlds Order Following the White House's new orders – to reclaim Earth before the Transformers could colonize it any further – Ayana picked up Spike Witwicky in an EDC jet as part of a joint operation with China's People's Liberation Army Mecha Force. The two teams stormed Thundercracker's old house in the mountains, only to find it deliberately abandoned and covered with graffiti reading "WE ARE HERE TO HELP." Edge of the Earth
As part of their next op, the two teams launched a blitz on Prime's new temporary base in Monument Valley, with Marissa and Ayana supervising from above in an aircraft. Alerted to the position of Blackrock via secret signal, the duo headed underwater to the wreckage of the Nemesis to extract their asset. Though the two had a brief standoff against Arcee, Skywarp, having struck a deal with Blackrock previously, used his powers to teleport all three humans away. As Above...So Below They arrived on the White House lawn just in time to learn that Optimus Prime had raised a two-mile tall Titan from beneath Monument Valley; the President was not pleased with this turn of events, concluding that they'd lost Monument Valley. Jones tried to stick up for her commander, pointing out that the EDC had secured several Cybertronian assets, though the President didn't want to hear it and stormed out to meet with the United Nations. No Fair Fights
As a result of the EDC's disastrous attempts to contain the extraterrestrial threat, the President made the decision to replace Jones with celebrated special-ops legend Joe Colton, former head of G.I. Joe. Ayana was not pleased with the change, even as she tried to console Fairborne on her recent demotion. White Light Following Sentinel Prime's rampage across Earth and the nuclear threat of destabilized Ore-13, the President disbanded the EDC in favor of reinstituting G.I. Joe as Earth's new anti-Transformer division. Ayana, taking up her old nom de guerre of Mayday—was transferred back into G.I. Joe, and joined the team for their first mission against Autobot relief efforts in Portland, Oregon. The op went poorly; Mayday attempted to talk down Mainframe when the latter attempted to kill Soundwave, prompting the Decepticon to knock out G.I. Joe's mechanized forces with an EMP wave. If that wasn't enough, a mysterious silver alien showed up and began pitilessly vaporizing several G.I. Joe troopers—including Joe Colton (who was secretly and recently replaced by a Dire Wraith impostor). Concorde Hymn
Jones was stationed at Joe headquarters on Governor's Island when Action Man breached the perimeter, intending to liberate Kup from M.A.S.K. captivity. A few brief words between the two made Mayday realized that Kup was escaping, not attacking, and Action Man and his new Autobot friend managed to escape unscathed. The Modern World
When a gigantic Baron Karza arrived unannounced in Monument Valley, Mayday was one of the many Joes who joined the battle against the monstrous alien, riding into battle aboard a fleet of mothballed Joe hardware. Valley Forge She survived, in the aftermath, Mayday was promoted and began leading a team of her own. On her very first mission, Mayday's team—consisting of Heavy Duty, Flash, Quarrelwere deployed to Verenya, Schleteva, to investigate the mysterious communications blackout in the small European city. They discovered that a mysterious burst of energy had transformed the city's inhabitants into monstrous Dire Wraith hybrids. Her squad teamed up with Rom and traced the enigmatic radiation to a bunker beneath the city, where they discovered the dead body of an Oktober Guardsman—and Action Man and Blackrock, fighting for control of a strange Talisman responsible for the mutations. Thanks to Rom's Neutralizer, Ayana was protected from the next surge of energy... but her teammates weren't so lucky, and became Dire Wraiths. With her teammates out of action, Mayday joined forces with Kup and Blackrock in the hopes of finding a way to return them to normal—a quest that began with retrieving a kidnapped Action Man from the clutches of the Oktober Guard and their allies. Crisis Intervention
Searching for a lead on the Talisman, the team managed to corner the alien Micronauts at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, and after some initial tensions the two groups managed to reach an understanding—confirming Blackrock's suspicions that the Talisman was extraterrestrial in nature. With the Micronauts in tow, the group tracked Action Man to the Moon, and launched an attack on an abandoned Cobra moonbase to extract their operatives. Despite the best efforts of Doctor X, Storm Shadow, and Baron Ironblood, they were able to retrieve the Talisman and destroy the Moonbase, with Kup sheltering the two humans in his chest to protect them from the explosion. Though they had the Talisman in tow, the group was no closer to discovering its origins... until Action Man suggested using his contacts to interrogate the people who had dug it up in the first place. Enter The Shadow
Data from the British National Security archives led them to Richard Ruby, who had served in the Adventure Team under the code name "Bulletman" in his heyday. He told them the story of one of their last missions—an escapade in Egypt that led them to the Talisman. They also learned from him that Garrison Kreiger had also been involved in that outing; the group then headed off to investigate his successor, Count van Rani in Kalistan. The Secret of the Mummy's Tomb On the way to his castle, Mayday filled in her teammates on her prior adventures in Europe. They discovered, however, that von Rani had forged an unwilling alliance with the Predacons, and experimented on them to produce the monstrous Predaking. While Kup and Action Man grappled with the huge combiner, Mayday infiltrated the castle to link up with the captured Blackrock and Snake Eyes, who had helped them infiltrate the base. She came up with a plan to have Blackrock interface with the castle's Talisman-linked computer systems... only for an impatient Snake Eyes to simply smash the console responsible for combining the Decepticons, forcing them apart. The trio subsequently fought their way back to the castle's M.A.S.S. Device and used its teleport function to escape, with Kup plucking them from midair and ferrying them to safety—and the next link in the puzzle, Tomax Paoli. The Iron Klaw
The team managed to catch up with Tomax in San Francisco, where they discovered that Tomax had been forewarned of their arrival and donned a new Cobra Commander uniform. Kup battled Tomax's limousine while Mayday and Action Man chased Tomax through the I.R.O.N. headquarters; Mayday eventually managed to incapacitate Tomax by firing a bullet at his throat and grazing it. Tomax had little to offer the team, but Blackrock learned from the skyscraper's files that the villains' base could be found in Brasnya. Strange Visitors
Searching for help to break into Kreiger's "Project: Ice Man" base, Ayana contacted Stalker from the Adventure Team in the hopes of recruiting some additional help. Impressed by her idealism, he called in Matt Trakker and Gloria Baker of M.A.S.K. for assistance. While Kup, Action Man, and Blackrock infiltrated the base, Mayday waited outside with M.A.S.K. until Action Man flooded the network of tunnels, at which point she hitched a ride aboard Matt's Thunderhawk as they battled the reanimated bodies of the "I.R.O.N. Cybertronians". Power and Glory
Notes
- Jones as a Joe was a retcon done for the Revolution crossover.
- The codename Mayday comes from G.I. Joe Extreme, the short-lived mid-1990s revamp. Mayday also appeared in the Devil's Due Press Joe comics, wherein her real name was "Paige Adams".
- Her surname is taken from David Bowie's birthname, David Robert Jones.[1] Ironically enough, she would later go on to work alongside Action Man.
References
External links
- Mayday at the IDW Hasbro Wiki
