SeanRM on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/seanrm/art/HU-68-Cobra-Commander-376612762SeanRM

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HU 68 - Cobra Commander

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Yo Joe Week continues with the big bad boss of Cobra, and public enemy number 1.

What can I say about Cobra Commander? Good lord there is a ton I could say... He is probably my favorite 80's cartoon villain; yes, even more than Megatron!

I think I can sum it up in with this bit from the comics that has always stuck with me since I first read it;

Unnerved by the tragic fate of his son, Cobra Commander reflected on his fate and decided to give up on the goal of world domination. He decided to spend the rest of his time taking care of his now crippled son. However Fred VII, one of his loyal Crimson Guard, upon learning of his decision - shot CC in the back and buried his body. Fred then donned the new battle armor he had created for his former master and took on the role of the new Cobra Commander.

Little did he know that another Crimson Guard had witnessed the events, and the fiercely loyal Fred VIII dug his master out of the crude grave and nursed him back to health. While "Cobra Commander" found himself in over his head and manipulated by the Baroness, Dr. Mindbender, and Zartan - the real Cobra Commander had regained his hatred and dark desires. With an army of soldiers who had proven their loyalty, he began to rebuild Cobra from the shadows.

He returned and made his presence known by capturing Fred VII, his partner Raptor, Firefly, Dr. Mindbender, Zartan, Billy, and numerous Cobra troops he had marked as traitors - and burying them alive in a volcano on Cobra Island. With this action, he relinquished his humanity and began a new reign of terror in a far bloodier campaign than ever seen.

As much as I love Chris Latta's hissing voice, the cartoon CC lacked the menace of other versions. My ideal Cobra Commander should be the kinda monster that we can only hope to never see rise up in the real world.

Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
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Slyfox6589's avatar
Even dedicating an entire paragraph to it, SeanRM, it would never do justice to this awesome drawing of yours, perhaps one of the coolest portrayals of CC I have seen this far!! The backstory from the comics is something I wholeheartedly agree with you, and that's part of the reason why the ''G.I. Joe: ARAH'' comics from Marvel, the original series from Larry Hama, have really maintained a lot of their quality, and not rapidly outdated like the Sunbow cartoon has become, unfortunately.
I mean, sure, I loved Chris Latta as CC, but the background of him in the Larry Hama comic is more menacing than the buffoon in that 1985 TV series. I will tell you one thing, though. If this was produced by a Japanese company, like Toei in the original, but had total creative control over it, then the show would have been much closer to the world depicted in the Hama comic, and they would do the Cobra justice and not your typical Saturday morning cartoon baddies, but hey, this is just my humble opinion on the matter.

The first time I ever got an idea of there being a version of CC as a more sinister villain was when I was 6, I think, and I picked up some of the early '90s comics translated to Greek around 1996, or '97, and I was surprised to see both the Baronnes and Destro on the side of the Joes, and Cobra Commander not willing to stop at anything to get his hands on Destro at all costs, even if it means wasting the lives of his many troops in the battlefield, and people were killed in it. I wasn't freaked out, because my country had a history of violence in it's own to win its freedom, but let's not get into that.

I guess what I am saying is, CC is definitely a more dangerous villain and the thing that never worked in the live-action movies was how they used the Cobra characters the way they did, but what's scarier than that? To me, what's effectively more scarier is finding out that somebody I know is more than willing to follow somebody like that (points at picture above). Which is exactly what Hama was trying to depict int the comic book, and it's inferred on occasion within the cartoon as well. That is, those soldiers are willing to go into battle for their ''charismatic'' commander to enact world domination. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if a girlfriend I had would be willing to buy into all the crap that come out of this man's mouth, if she sees that as the ultimate reward in her life, even if it's taken to the extreme here.

I do hope that CC won't ever invade our real life, and generally speaking, fascism is always ready to come back and haunt us, if democracies cease to be vigilant and strong enough to eliminate this threat. Again, I am not trying to put political correctness into my comments at all, I just wanted to express my own view on this issue, which never stops to be more relevant now that it was before.

Anyway, I like the drawing, and it's definitely in m favourites as of now!! Keep up with the good work, SeanRM!!
Thanks for sharing this awesome drawing of one of the greatest villains of all time, and one of the best from the '80s!
Take care.
Slyfox, out.