Scarlett's Strike Force issue 2

Surrounded by carnivorous dinosaurs in a tropical jungle hidden at the North Pole, Roadblock's G.I. Joe attempt to put some distance between themselves and the beasts. When the dinosaurs give chase, the Joes are forced to fight back, but the battle is short-lived, as the appearance of a huge Ankylosaurus causes the smaller animals to flee. The Joes' blaster fire does not faze the armored dinosaur, and it knocks Cover Girl's new ATV out of commission with its tail club. Fortunately, before it can strike again, help arrives in a most unexpected form: a caveman, who nimbly bounds down out of trees and, speaking an unintelligible language, scolds the dinosaur like a dog, sending it slinking away!

At the nearby Cobra temple, Crystal Ball conducts a new ritual, one that will require the blood of "one baptized in chaos" to facilitate the "emergence." Destro enters to inform Cobra Commander of the Joes' arrival in the jungle, concluding that they were provided its location by Cesspool; the furious Commander blames Destro, since he was the one who brought Cesspool into their operation. Destro tries to argue, but the Commander cautions him to watch his tone, and orders Cobra animal handlers Raptor and Croc Master sent out to take care of the Joes.

Back on Lemuria, Shipwreck shows Scarlett how he is upgrading the base to run on geothermal power—though Gung Ho has plans to use it for a hot tub instead! Elsewhere on the base, an impressed Spectrum examines Grand Slam's hi-tech wheelchair, planning to help upgrade it with M.A.S.K. tech. Presently, Skywarp and Rock 'n Roll arrive in the lab; Skywarp has once again come to pester the techies about restoring his teleportation powers. Grand Slam again explains they do not have the resources, but Spectrum points out they could easily do it with a little Ore-13 from the newly opened mine in Kentucky. Grand Slam hastily points out that all the ore being mined is currently reserved for shipment to Cybertron, and Skywarp reluctantly lets the subject go and leaves with Rock. As he departs, however, he overhears Grand Slam chastizing Spectrum: it turns out that the Joes have deliberately refrained from giving Skywarp his powers back!

Impressed with the caveman's skills, Quick Kick dubs him "Friday" and decides to train him in martial arts as a way of honing his own skills—but he doesn't take it well when Salvo suggests he's doing it so Friday can help him beat Storm Shadow. Roadblock and Spirit, meanwhile, stealthily scour the area for any Cobra operatives, hoping to find someone to interrogate. The search proves easier than expected when Raptor and Croc Master come stomping through the jungle, the latter loudly arguing with the former's belief that dinosaurs are more birds than reptiles. Stifling their mirth, Roadblock and Spirit quickly double back to rejoin the other Joes, and they all take up positions in the trees to await the arrival of the two Cobra bumblers. Unfortunately for their Joes, when they spring their ambush, they learn just why Raptor and Croc Master have been sent into the field: their unique avian and reptilian animal-handling skills allow them both to call dinosaurs to their aid! "Friday" tries to scold the dinosaurs like before, but is swallowed by Raptor's Tyrannosaurus for his troubles; Quick Kick rescues him by hitting the theropod with a precision punch to the gut, causing it to barf the caveman back up. While Spitfire keeps Croc Master's Styracosaurus distracted, Spirit scans it and discovers that the Cobras are actually using mind-control devices to place the dinosaurs under their command. Bounding onto the Styracosaurus's back, Spirit quickly finds and destroys the control device, and Raptor and Croc Master, realizing the game is up, summon a pterosaur to fly them away to safety. Spitfire attempts to follow, but Roadblock stops him, insisting the group stay together... but a grimace from Salvo indicates she has other opinions.

In Duke's office, his private phone line rings, and he answers, believing that it is Roadblock on the other end, having changed his mind after previously severing ties with him. But it isn't—it's Skywarp, who offers to defect from the Joes to Duke's forces if he can provide him with the Ore-13 he needs to fix himself!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

G.I. Joe

Cobra

Others

Grand Slam (12)
Skywarp (13)
Rock 'n Roll (14)
Scarlett (15)
Shipwreck (16)
Polly (17)
Gung-Ho (18)

"Friday" (6)
Duke (22)

Quotes

"We're not giving a moody killer robot the ability to teleport!"

—Grand Slam

Shipwreck: "With a few more modification, geothermal energy can meet all of Lemuria's power and heating needs."
Gung-Ho: "And all my hot tub needs after leg day."
Scarlett: "Keep up the good work, but I'll be surprised if you two big boys can fit in there."
Shipwreck: "Gung-Ho... have I... have I gotten fat?!"
Gung-Ho: "Doesn't bother me. She was probably talking about lats anyway."

"They're dinosaurs! It means lizard! They're reptiles!"
"Well, if you can imagine, there's more to it than you read in a pop-up book."
"Here we go again! Not all learning comes from books, you know!"

—Croc Master and Raptor argue

Notes

Continuity notes

The opening of the new Ore-13 mine in Kentucky was seen over in Optimus Prime #15. The mine's output is being reserved for Cybertronian use thanks to Merklynn's corruption of the planet's energon in First Strike #6.
When Crystal Ball talks about one "baptized in chaos, one consumed by it," there's no doubt he's talking about Rock 'n Roll, who he marked with the symbol of chaos in G.I. Joe vol. 5 #3, and who has been dealing with the after-effects ever since.
These incarnations of Raptor and Croc Master were previously introduced in M.A.S.K.: First Strike, arguing about birds and reptiles. It seemed at the time like Raptor's point that "they're more birds that reptiles" was being made about Croc Master's crocodiles, but it turns out this issue that he was talking about dinosaurs!
Skywarp was seen listening in on Roadblock's call to Duke last issue.

G.I. Joe references

Though not identified as such in dialogue, Friday is an Intruder, one of the enemies of the G.I. Joe Adventure Team in the 1970s toyline. The Intruders have been referenced in a few other pieces of Transformers media as an alien empire, in reference to their original 1970s description as "strongmen from another world," but Friday's precise origin in this continuity remains to be seen (though the Intruders have been referenced elsewhere). Have he and these dinosaurs literally been unfrozen from the Arctic ice?
Croc Master refers to Raptor as an accountant, his occupation in classic G.I. Joe media. As his previous IDW appearances portrayed him as a neuroscientist instead, is this an indication that this is a new, different Raptor?

Other Hasbro franchise references

A couple of Furbies can be spotted among the objects the Tyrannosaurus throws up after Quick Kick gives it a punch in the gut.

Real-life references

Quick Kick chooses to name the caveman "Friday" after Salvo refers to him as Quick Kick's "Man Friday," in reference to the character of the same name from Robinson Crusoe, a native whom the title character befriends but cannot communicate with.

Other trivia

Originally solicited for released in the last week of January 2018, this issue was bumped at the last second and came out in the first week of February.
FYI, Croc Master's 100% in the wrong here. Just so's you'd know.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Cobra Commander and her Vipers riding dinosuars, by Harvey Tolibao and Chris Allo
Cover B: The Joes face down Croc Master, Raptor, and their dinosaur minions, by Nelson Dániel
Retailer incentive cover: Skywarp and Rock 'n Roll, by Vasilis Lolos