I figured now was as good a time as any to do a little recap in what's happened so far and what's coming up. I'm going to cover my Joeverse in a nutshell from the end of the original run up until the end of Liberation.
For those of you who have followed along through my written fanfics and through my Dio-Stories, feel free to skip ahead. For the rest of you, though, please read through and get acclimated because you need to know what's up as we move ahead...
Ten years ago...
The G.I. Joe team and COBRA forces clashed with unheard of ferocity, the United States Government finally fed up with COBRA's existence. The assault on COBRA Island is a large scale assault, with casualties and lots of collatoral damage. In the heat of battle, Flint and Lady Jaye strike at Destro and The Baroness. Destro fires a rocket to cover their escape...Flint dodges, but Lady Jaye is caught in the blast and killed instantly.
Meanwhile, at Thomas Arishikage's New York base of operations, a preemptive strike occurrs, with Snake Eyes leading the Ninja Force against a brainwashed Storm Shadow, Slice, Zartan, and the Night Creepers. Zartan has Snake Eyes dead to rights, but the sight of his sword brother at death's door brings Storm Shadow to his senses...he throws himself in the path of an incoming arrow, and takes the shot for his "brother"...his life is lost.
COBRA Island is ravaged. The hierarchy escapes inside a hidden submarine when a United States Airforce combined air strike strafes the waters where they ride. The bombs rip through the ocean and tear apart the coast of the island, and the leaders are thought to have been killed. The battle between G.I. Joe and COBRA has finally ended...or has it?
Six years pass...
The Price of Peace...G.I. Joe members have scattered across the globe. A top secret government agency is still in place, but only a core few of the Joes are involved. Captain Jason Faria finds a strange crate in a raid...a crate marked "MARS". The call goes out, and G.I. Joe slowly begins to take shape. But still the government isn't certain. Cold War days are over, there are no clear enemies for them to fight. Would the G.I. Joe team serve a purpose in these new days?
But then the unthinkable happens. The President of the Unites States is assassinated. And COBRA takes the credit.
This gives the United States the drive they need to get the Joe team back up and running, and well placed satellite photos confirm that COBRA has returned to their Island, with plans for a new stealth technology and a diabolical weapon.
G.I. Joe moves in and once again strikes COBRA at their heart. Not without their own casualties, the Joe team makes its stand, as Flint returns to the team after a traumatic absense and helps them drive straight down Cobra Commander's throat.
General Hawk himself faces down the Commander, and with a series of final gunshots, the Commander is felled, and COBRA falls apart...but Flint lies bleeding in the grass outside, shot in the back by The Baroness and left for dead.
One year passes...and a Power Struggle begins. This is where my Dio-Stories begin...if you've read them and know them, feel free to again, skip ahead.
The G.I. Joe team is in full effect, but under close watch by their Government watchdogs. Snake Eyes and Scarlett continue their self-imposed retirement in the Sierra Nevadas with newborn son, Tommy. But COBRA strikes again, this time at a nuclear storage facility in the Rocky Mountains.
Immediately the Joe team springs to action, and are shocked to see Cobra Commander once again at the helm. It would seem that he survived his gunshot wounds, although he seems a little distant...a little different. This Cobra Commander seems a very different person, indeed.
A meet takes place...Hawk is ambushed, and Hit & Run moves in to save him, but gets captured and taken away.
Determined to save one of their own, the Joe team gathers together and works with their European counterpart, trying to track down their missing comrade. Meanwhile, COBRA appears up to something devilish...something as devilish as bringing a man back from the dead! Even as G.I. Joe successfully launches an assault on COBRA's Scotland base of operations, the evil terrorist organization succeeds in the impossible, and a man is reborn into a testtube...but who is this man?
G.I. Joe drives COBRA from their base successfully, and Duke tracks down Destro and Baroness as they attempt an escape. In an act of desperation, Duke fires a rocket, and hits the Baroness' HISS tank, blowing it to pieces and snuffing her life. Destro is appalled, but his men will not let him strike back and take him away as he reaches for his beloved.
On the brink of very victory, however, it is snatched away as the U.S. Government orders the Joes to pull out...they are there out of jurisdiction, and their bosses don't like it...even as the Joes pull away from the COBRA Terror Drome, Hit & Run attempts his own escape, but fails. In his failure though, a relationship blooms between him and Vypra.
Back in Washington, some minor Transitions are taking place...Duke confirms that he fears Flint did not survive his wounds on COBRA Island, but cannot confirm...his friend has vanished. General Flagg moves in to take over his territory, working with Agent Wilkens, who seems to have an agenda all his own.
Shortly thereafter, in the Concrete Jungle, Headman and his Headhunters are planning something devious. The new G.I. Joe urban team, the Urban Assault Force strikes, and takes him out...but it is revealed that the Joes had some help...from the inside. Destro assisted them against Headman and his new partner, Cobra Commander. But why would Destro help them? And more importantly, why would Cobra Commander, a one time enemy of the drug trade, suddenly decide to work with The Headman? Something is certainly different about this Cobra Commander, that is for sure.
It's been over a year since Power Struggle, and there are some Loose Ends to tie up...
Back in the South American base, Destro and Cobra Commander are quietly clashing behind the scenes. Hit & Run has been brought back to Cobra HQ and things get even more interesting. Cobra Commander enlists Firefly's aid to find out what Destro's up to, but the Commander's new personallity drives even the saboteur away, and into the Iron Grenadier camp. It would seem Destro has a solid foothold in the COBRA organization.
But still, there is a loose end...this person that COBRA brought back from the dead...who is he, and what is his relation to Zartan? It is revealed! The mysterious man back from the dead is none other than Storm Shadow, brought back to life and firmly under COBRA control!
Then we move on...to New Blood Cold Steel. Destro has a renewed focus against Duke and G.I. Joe with the death of his beloved Baroness. His plans for a super-advanced artificial intelligence are kicking into high gear...he has dubbed it Project: Overkill, and has created a robotic monster as an information gathering tool.
But as always, the Joe team is ready and waiting to stop it. Even as Destro and the Commander are conflicting within, Destro's new creation, the B.A.T.T. is attacking and gathering data, feeding it all straight to the COBRA computers. G.I. Joe ultimately stops the beast, but not without suffering the loss of Gears, and not before Destro gets all the data he needs to proceed with Project: Overkill!
Next...Liberation! Hit & Run has been a captive of COBRA for over a year...it's time something changed!
While the G.I. Joe team battles internally with a newfound traitor in their midst, Hit & Run and Vypra prepare a betrayal of their own. Hit & Run slips away from the devilish Interrogator and escapes COBRA's clutches, but Vypra's betrayal is revealed, and the Interrogator has plans for her...
The Joe team intercepts radio traffic and moves in to finally rescue their comrade, and as they succesfully scoop him away in the Tomahawk, COBRA seems incapable of even the simplest of tasks.
However, even as this occurs, Mercer is returning from G.I. Joe Headquarters, secrets in his mind, and Destro watches Hit & Run escape, not able to conceal the slightest smile of a plan coming wonderfully together...
But what about Cobra Commander? Where has he been, and what are his plans? His he the true leader of COBRA, or is a shake up in the works?
Now, we come into the Liberation Epilogue...a turning point in my G.I. Joe universe. From here on, expect something a little more dramatic...a little more intense. Prepare for the ride, and let this Epilogue hold you over until Retaliation strikes later this summer!
Continue to the Liberation Epilogue
and, then...later this summer...
BEGINS!!