Full Metal Snakeskin

Aaaaaancient scans of Cobra Commander's battle armor from the last few issues of Marvel's original G.I. Joe comic. To date, this design has never received a toyline counterpart, which is kind of striking considering how much the modern G.I. Joe toys take inspiration from the comics. I had attempted to remove the backgrounds from all three of the images, with varying degrees of success. I don't think I have the unaltered versions anymore...
 
Anyway. Using this armor and a specially-manufactured Ninja Disorienting Hallway installed in the Silent Castle, Cobra Commander was able to defeat and capture the then-heroic Storm Shadow. This led to Snake-Eyes mounting a rescue attempt for his sword brother - and surely he'd fall for CC's new tricks, too! However, Snake-Eyes (seen in the background of the third pic) was able to get through the special Ninja Disorienting Hallway by... CLOSING HIS EYES! Then he hit Cobra Commander with a flechette round, because he decided to rescue Storm Shadow in a commando-y way instead of a ninja-y way for some reason. I'm not sure why this ignited CC, but it's been a while since I've read the story. Maybe Snake-Eyes had a flamethrower, too?

Scans from G.I. Joe #150 and 151. Art by Phil Gosier and Crusher Wallace (#150) and Phil Gosier and Scott Koblish (#151).

Ode to a Sibilant Serpent

The rarely-seen Sal's Monday Punt.
(Pin-up from Marvel's G.I. Joe #150;
art by the fantastic Sal Buscema.)

Cobra Commander is by far my favorite character from the G.I. Joe franchise. Part of that affection is due to his versatility; yeah, he can be written as calculating, cold and ruthless, as a threat to not only American national security but world peace as a whole... but that's not the Cobra Commander I love. The Marvel/Sunbow G.I. Joe cartoon and later issues of the Marvel comic (following his "resurrection," long story) vividly crafted this vision of a petulant, cowardly egomaniac whose brand of petty evil ranged from kicking stray dogs to etching his face on the moon with a giant laser.

Even with those personality traits, though, Cobra Commander was not a nonthreatening gag-villain: he had an uncanny knack for smooth-talking his way out of bad situations, and in the comics, at least, he was not above sealing traitors to die in landlocked cargo ships - uh, another long story - or shooting political prisoners on random whims. Alas, poor White Clown and Magda...

This absurd, over-the-top brand of villainy makes Cobra Commander the perfect counterpart to the Joe team in my mind, who often have trouble coming across as individuals (unless they're Shipwreck, of course). In short, I care about Cobra Commander way less when he's trying to be Darth Vader and more when he's acting like a paramilitary version of the Joker. I can't help but wonder if some more of this kind of "embracing the ridiculous" attitude might get the G.I. Joe line out of its current funk... but that is a pretty tall order, particular character portrayals or otherwise.

Serpentor in Cobra-Lalaland

And then there was that time the United Kingdom's Action Force Monthly decided to do a tie-in story to promote the release of G.I. Joe: The Movie Action Force: The Movie, resulting in a scene where Serpentor gently caresses Destro's metal mask when he hallucinates that Destro is Pythona. Which was, so far as I know, Pythona's only appearance in a comic book until Devil's Due did their G.I. Joe/Transformers crossovers around 2004.

Scans from G.I. Joe: European Missions #6, "As Thick As Thieves!". Story by Mike Collins, art by Robin Smith.