wingsandsword
Legend
http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/joe/casualty.html A full reporting of all casualties from the old 80's comic book.
The comic book was, strangely enough, more "realistic" than the cartoon. It actually dealt with things like the international politics of Cobra, and made it more than a 2-dimensional stereotypical "evil" organization. In the comics, Cobra got international support when they managed to get Cobra Island recognized diplomatically by a few states, and became an actual State under international law. There was a long running plot with a Cobra civil war between Cobra Commander and Serpentor, with the US (and GI Joe) intervening on behalf of Serpentor (representing a Constitutional Monarchy, as opposed to Cobra Commander's dictatorship).
The first major fatality was General Flagg (their original CO), in issue #19, shot by Major Bludd when he was escaping fron captivity. He didn't have an action figure (and the General Flagg figure released in 1992 said on the file card it was the son of the original Flagg), so it might not count as a "main" character.
The only real permanent losses I can think of from the Cartoon were when Grunt, Steeler and Breaker were permanently lost in an alternate dimension in the "Worlds without End" two-parter.
The comic book was, strangely enough, more "realistic" than the cartoon. It actually dealt with things like the international politics of Cobra, and made it more than a 2-dimensional stereotypical "evil" organization. In the comics, Cobra got international support when they managed to get Cobra Island recognized diplomatically by a few states, and became an actual State under international law. There was a long running plot with a Cobra civil war between Cobra Commander and Serpentor, with the US (and GI Joe) intervening on behalf of Serpentor (representing a Constitutional Monarchy, as opposed to Cobra Commander's dictatorship).
The first major fatality was General Flagg (their original CO), in issue #19, shot by Major Bludd when he was escaping fron captivity. He didn't have an action figure (and the General Flagg figure released in 1992 said on the file card it was the son of the original Flagg), so it might not count as a "main" character.
The only real permanent losses I can think of from the Cartoon were when Grunt, Steeler and Breaker were permanently lost in an alternate dimension in the "Worlds without End" two-parter.
