G.I. Joe ARAH #21 - Silent Interlude ***
Release Date: December 1983 - Cover Date: March 1984
Story & Breakdowns: Larry Hama · Finishes: Steve Leialoha · Colors: George Roussos · Editor: Denny O'Neil · Editor -in-Chief: Jim Shooter + (Letterer: credits only Rick Parker) Cover Artist: Ed Hannigan Cover Inker/Colorist · Klaus Janson
How it was made:
G.I. Joe ARAH #21 was built in three weeks. Larry Hama penciled the entire issue in one week in New York. Steve Leialoha inked it in one week in San Francisco. George Roussos colored it in one week back in New York. No time for a letterer. No time for dialogue. No time for captions or thought balloons. So Hama made a decision that changed comics history — he dropped every word and let the art tell the story. What started as a logistical solution to a production deadline became the most celebrated silent comic ever published.
Key story details:
Silent Interlude delivers one of the most action-packed 22 pages in Marvel Comics history without a single word of dialogue. Scarlett is captured and held in Destro's Castle. Snake Eyes launches from a C-130 in a HALO jump to bring her home. Along the way the issue introduces Storm Shadow — the white-clad ninja who would become one of the most complex characters in G.I. Joe history — and reveals for the first time the existence of the Arashikage Ninja Clan. A single torn sleeve on both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow and a tattoo on a forearm plant a mystery that takes six more issues to explain.
Legacy:
G.I. Joe ARAH #21 has never stopped mattering. Consistently ranked among the greatest single issues in comic book history — appearing in nearly every top 100 list in the 40-plus years since its December 1983 release — it remains the entry point for millions of fans who never read another G.I. Joe comic. One issue. No words. Forty years of conversation.
Jump to Individual Pages:
Front Cover · Page 1 · Page 2 · Page 3 · Page 4 · Page 5 · Page 6 · Page 7 ·
Page 8 · Page 9 · Page 10 · Page 11 · Page 12 · Page 13 · Page 14 · Page 15 · Page 16 · Page 17 · Page 18 · Page 19 · Page 20 · Page 21 · Page 22 · Back Cover
Issue Stats
CHARACTER APPEARANCES
Character/Pages/Panels (approx)
Snake Eyes 18/47
Scarlett 12/31
Storm Shadow 10/22
Destro 5/9
Cobra Commander 2/4
Red Ninjas 4/11
Cobra Soldiers 14/28
Baroness 1/3 (chess piece only)
Dr. Venom 1/1 (chess piece only)
Kwinn 1/1 (chess piece only)
Scarface 1/1 (chess piece only)
Hawk 1/1 (chess piece only)
Rock 'n Roll 1/1 (chess piece only)
PAGE & BOOK STATS
Stat Count
Total story pages: 22
Total ad pages: 7
Splash pages: 1 (Page 1)
Vertical panel sequences: 1 (Page 4 — the HALO jump)
Average panels per page: 4.5
Pages Snake Eyes appears: 18
Pages Scarlett appears: 12
Pages Storm Shadow appears: 10
Pages Snake Eyes and Scarlett appear together: 3
Pages Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow appear together: 5
Pages all three appear together: 3
First appearances this issue: 4 (Storm Shadow, Destro's Castle, Red Ninjas, Arashikage Clan)
Words spoken by characters: 0
Written words in entire issue: 14*
Dialogue balloons: 0
Thought balloons: 0
Caption boxes: 0 (Credits & Title don't count)
Sound effects: 0
Issue number: #21
Cover date: March 1984
Release date: December 1983
Pages in production: estimated3 weeks (based on stories by Hama)
*Computer readout Page 6 + grenade label Page 17
FUN STATS
Stat Count
Cobra Soldiers neutralized by Snake Eyes: 8
Cobra Soldiers neutralized by Scarlett: 2
Weapons Snake Eyes uses: 6
Weapons Scarlett uses: 2 (hairpin, chain)
Times Scarlett escapes danger on her own: 3
Times Storm Shadow is beaten: 2
Times Snake Eyes is nearly killed: 3
Cobras thrown off castle wall:1
Arashikage clan members seen: 5 (Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes + 3 Red Ninjas)
Chess pieces on Destro's board: 7
Chess pieces fallen off board: 4 (Dr. Venom, Kwinn, Scarface, Baroness)
Chess pieces in active play: 7 (Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Hawk, Rock 'n Roll, CC, Storm Shadow, Cobra Soldier)
Props reused across pages: 2 (hatch cover — Pages 10 and 16 & chain)
Probability of Snake Eyes' survival (per Destro's computer): .000018
Times Snake Eyes uses a firearm: 0
Night vision goggle appearances: 1
Parachute deployments: 1
CLAW appearances: 7
Castle locations shown: 5 (ramparts, corridor, cell, rooftop, exterior wall)
Tattoos revealed: 2 (Snake Eyes Page 21, Storm Shadow Page 22)
Ads featuring 1983–84 video games: 4
Back cover ad: Frogger — Parker Brothers
Pages Storm Shadow sheathes his sword: 1 (Page 14 — choosing not to fight the Red Ninjas)
Kisses (possible): 1 (Page 22 — Scarlett to Snake Eyes arm, unconfirmed, haha)
Mysteries planted: 3 (Who is Storm Shadow, What is the Arashikage clan, How do Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow know each other?)
Years those mysteries took to resolve: decades (ARAH #26 and #27, 1984)
Years fans have been talking about this issue: 40+
About This Page
The individual page images comes from the Skybound G.I. Joe Compendium PDF, which makes them the latest updated version. over the decades several changes have been made from the original they have been noted. The exception is page 1 which is a scan of the actual comic in order to include the original endicia information.
The Page Count # is the artwork of the order, not the physical page in the comic, that page # is noted separately.
Commentary:
Josh = Josh Eggebeen author of The History of G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #21, an After Action Report Book
M = Maestro the AI for the Wix website.
FRONT COVER
Cover stats:
Panel count: 1 (splash)
Credits: Artist: Ed Hannigan and Colorist/Inker: Klaus Janson
Location: Exterior wall, Destro's Castle ramparts ·
Characters: Snake Eyes
Weapons: Uzi, rope, pistol, grenade, knife (leg holster)
M's Summary: The cover that launched a thousand collections. Snake Eyes hangs from a rope on the exterior wall of Destro's Castle, Uzi raised, goggles on, expression unreadable behind the mask. Ed Hannigan and Klaus Janson deliver one of the most iconic covers in Marvel Comics history — dynamic, clean, and instantly arresting. The caption says it all: "The Most Unusual G.I. Joe Story Ever!!!" It is not wrong.
Josh's comments: G.I. Joe is a team and Snake Eyes is a key member of the team as established in the previous 20 issues. The #21 cover has become iconic, rising above all others for G.I. Joe, with Snake Eyes in dramatic action style fashion firing his Uzi as he rappels down. He matches his toy design which means according to his File Card he is a Commando. Snake Eyes is in commando mode on the cover BUT by the last page, the reader knows Snake Eyes and the new villain Storm Shadow as ninja. But this single character cover stands out in G.I. Joe lore because it presents the new star of G.I. Joe and the interior story introduces the Arashikage Clan tattoo without a single word. Which is why its “The Most Unusual G.I. Joe Story Ever!!”
Page 1
Page count: Story /Artwork #1, Physical Book #2 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 1 (splash)
Credits: Story & Breakdowns: Larry Hama · Finishes: Steve Leialoha · Colors: George Roussos · Editor: Denny O'Neil · Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter *
Location: Exterior / airspace above castle
Characters: Storm Shadow, Scarlett
Weapons: None
Transport: CLAW
M's Summary: The story opens without a single word of introduction. A full-page splash: Castle Destro, carved into a Trans-Carpathian cliff face, cold and impenetrable. A white-clad figure moves through it carrying a bound captive on a Cobra CLAW. No caption tells you where you are. No dialogue tells you who they are. Larry Hama trusts the image completely — and the image delivers. In one page, before a word has been spoken or a name given, the tone of everything that follows is set. This is not a rescue story that starts with the rescue. It starts with the capture, already done, already clinical, the castle already swallowing its prisoner whole.
Josh's comments:
Destro's Castle aka the Silent Castle arrives front and center on Page 1 and would be a location that is returned to many times, it even transforms which calls out to a well known bad guy robot in disguise. BUT the true genius of the page is the key first appearance of a character that will forever always be connected to Snake Eyes. With a big opening splash page a lot is introduced. And for a first time reader of the issue no words on the page seems right.
* The credits were made by G.I. Joe regular letterer Rick Parker
Notable: Title page and credits box appear here on the first page. The "Stan Lee presents:" as a prologue to the title is a standard at the time Marvel Comics comment. Stan Lee had nearly zero to do with the G.I. Joe comic at any point. In reprint versions that prologue is removed as well as the endicia.
Page 2
Page count: Story #2, Physical #3 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Airspace above castle / Cobra Throne Room
Characters: Storm Shadow, Scarlett
Weapons: Sword
Transport: CLAW
M's Summary: Storm Shadow pilots a Cobra CLAW through the night sky into the castle, his captive hanging bound beneath him. It is the first time readers see Storm Shadow in motion — and he moves like someone completely at ease with what he is doing. No urgency, no drama. Just the cold efficiency of a mission already completed. He draws his sword as he arrives — a single gesture that tells the reader everything: this is a ninja.
Josh's comments:
Let the Introductions and mysteries begin. Wait! Where are the words? Who is in white flying the Cobra CLAW? Who has he captured? BUT what is really being introduced is a masked man in a white shinobi shozoku (that is the official name of the traditional outfit of a ninja) wielding a sword is NINJA to G.I.Joe ARAH. This moment is the beginning of a massively important change for the entire G.I.Joe ARAH brand. So important over 40 years later the ninja still plays huge roles with the toys and comics.
Notable: the Cobra shoulder emblem is absent from his uniform.
Page 3
Page count: Story #3, Physical #4 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 6
Location: Castle Throne Room / cell corridor / airspace above
Characters: Storm Shadow, Scarlett, Cobra Commander, Cobra Soldiers
Weapons: Sword
Transport: C-130
M's Summary: Scarlett is revealed — and she is not broken. Storm Shadow presents his captive to Cobra Commander, who recognizes her immediately. This is not their first encounter: she drove a throwing star into his arm back in ARAH #1, and he has not forgotten. Storm Shadow bows before Cobra Commander — not in submission, but to deliver his prize. The deeper meaning of that gesture won't be understood until ARAH #26 and #27. Scarlett is walked to her cell. The page closes with a silhouette that stops readers cold: a C-130 against a full moon.
Josh's comments:
Ok. Where are the words? And now we see Scarlett has been captured by the Ninja in white. The talkative Cobra Commander does NOT say anything just points. What is happening no one is talking? BUT there is a tremendous amount of story telling happening in these 5 panels. The reader on this page starts to grasp the concept of what would become known as the Silent Issue, and why it's an Unusual Story. Oh, and is that a plane over the Castle.
Page 4
Page count: Story #4, Physical #5 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: High altitude airspace above / Destro's Castle visible below
Characters: Snake Eyes
Weapons: Full HALO kit, Uzi
Transport: C-130
M's Summary: Five vertical panels, no words, pure freefall. Snake Eyes drops from the C-130 in full HALO kit — high altitude, no parachute deployed, the castle somewhere below him in the dark. Hama uses the vertical panel structure perfectly here, each frame a beat of the fall, the silence of the page matching the silence of the jump. There is no hesitation, no internal monologue, no mission briefing. Just a commando doing what commandos do. The odds are not in his favor. Snake Eyes jumped anyway.
Josh's comments: Its Snake Eyes, so we know he doesn't speak, so him jumping out of the plane makes sense to have no word or thought balloons. And for the record in G.I.Joe comics thought balloons rarely appear, and if they do it's not from a Hama written issue. So Snake Eyes falls toward Destro's Castle BUT what is he going to do? That is just one more mystery being set up.
Notable: The pilot of the C-130 is Wild Bill, although not shown, he is confirmed in Hasbro Figure Pack Comic 21B and DDP Snake Eyes Declassified TPB (Disavowed)(2006),
Notable: Snake Eyes standing in the C-130 with red lighting in Panel 2 was adapted as the cover art for the AAR History of G.I. Joe ARAH #21 book with cover art by Brian Sauer.
Page 5
Page count: Story #5, Physical #7 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 9
Location: Scarlett's cell
Characters: Scarlett, Storm Shadow
Weapons: Sword & Teeth
M's Summary: Scarlett is alone in her cell and she is already working the problem. Storm Shadow comes to check on his captive — a mistake. She bites his thumb and stands her ground. He is not rattled. She is not broken. The exchange between them is wordless and electric — two professionals sizing each other up, one imprisoned and one holding all the cards, and yet somehow the prisoner has the upper hand in every panel. She is defiant, calculating, refusing to be passive for a single moment. The cheek bandage she wears is a timestamp of her struggle, a wound from the capture already behind her.
Josh's comments:
The readers already know Scarlett is a martial artist from her File Card and she had already kicked Cobra butt many times in the previous issues, so to see her captured with a band aid on her face is a surprise? BUT What is this Ninja in white all about? No one knows, even Hama as he created it didn't know. And now the reader really understands that this is a wordless comic so all the story telling is happening with artwork images. And that is very unique in comic book history.
Notable: In the ARAH continuity, how she got the cheek bandage remains unaddressed.. In the DDP Snake Eyes Declassified TPB (Disavowed)(2006), Storm Shadow strikes her in the head — directly where the cheek bandage appears later off panel to put the band aid on the wound— offering an explanation outside ARAH continuity.
Notable: the original printing shows an open ceiling hatch in her cell, inadvertently revealing Snake Eyes' entry point two pages later. The 30th Anniversary edition corrected it to a closed ceiling per Hama request.
Page 6
Page count: Story #6, Physical #9 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Destro's command room
Characters: Destro
Weapons: None
M's Summary: Destro appears sitting at his computer console — calm, analytical, already three steps ahead. A chess set sits beside him, its pieces arranged like a battlefield. The metaphor is not subtle and it doesn't need to be: Destro sees this entire situation as a game, and he is confident he knows how it ends. The computer screen delivers the only text in the entire issue — appearing twice: "Security Status: Intruder" and "Factors: Altitude of Intruder Aircraft: High Wind Velocity Darkness; Lack of Landing Zones ... Probability Successful airborn insertion: .000018." Destro reads it and is unmoved. What he does not account for is that the man falling toward his castle has never much cared for odds.
Josh's comments: Destro, also a well known character of action, sitting in Destro's Castle command center looking at a computer screen, remember in 1984 computers were just arriving in people's homes, that is calculating odds was a new idea at the time to see. BUT now we have words on the page and they are not word or thought balloons, and so far missing in the comic are a caption or editor's note both common ways to communicate to the reader. A talking computer helping Destro determine if an intruder is coming, again unique story telling.
Notable: ARAH #21 is called a silent issue — but it is not wordless. The computer screen on this page contains nearly the only written text in the story.
Page 7
Page count: Story #7, Physical #10 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 4
Location: Castle ramparts / rooftop
Characters: Snake Eyes
Weapons: Parachute, grappling gear, Uzi
Image placeholder
M's Summary: Snake Eyes deploys his parachute and lands on the highest point of Destro's Castle — a giant Cobra statue perched on the ramparts. It is an extraordinary landing, and Hama frames it as such: one man, alone, on top of an enemy stronghold, having just fallen from the sky against odds that should have killed him. The castle design itself — inspired by the G.I. Joe animated series castle created by Larry Houston — gives Snake Eyes the perfect entry point. He has arrived. Now the real work begins.
Josh's comments: Snake Eyes, the Silent Intruder, arrives by parachute beating the .000018 odds landing on top of Destro's Castle. What is he going to do? The GIJoe team members know he is a bad ass, the readers so far have seen glimpses of the bad ass mentioned on his File Card. BUT now it's time to introduce the Snake Eyes to readers that we all now know well.
Page 8
Page count: Story #8, Physical #11 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 7
Location: Exterior wall / Scarlett's cell
Characters: Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Cobra Soldier
Weapons: Hairpin, rappel gear, Uzi, Cobra Soldier's gun
Image placeholder
M's Summary: Inside her cell, Scarlett works a hidden hairpin against her chains — patient, methodical, already planning her own exit. Snake Eyes rappels down the exterior wall and drops from above onto a Cobra Trooper on guard. No warning, no sound. The guard never saw it coming. These are two people who do not need to coordinate to move in the same direction.
Josh's comments: Scarlett and Snake Eyes each show off their skills individually in different parts of Destro's Castle. For the reader, the Snake Eyes/Scarlett relationship is a known part of the G.I.Joe BUT up to this point it's been subtle. #21 is the true beginning of their relationship as Snake Eyes comes to rescue her as she begins to rescue herself. We also get the in story rappelling down the wall panel that inspired the cover.
Notable: the bottom left panel — Snake Eyes on the rope outside the castle window — is the inspiration for the cover image.
Page 9
Page count: Story #9, Physical #12 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Destro's command room / cell corridor
Characters: Destro, Storm Shadow
Weapons: Chess set
Image placeholder
M's Summary: Destro stands before his chess set, studying the board. The top panel shows the pieces in play: on one side Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Hawk and Rock 'n Roll — on the other Cobra Commander, Storm Shadow and a Cobra soldier. Four pieces lie fallen off the board — Dr. Venom, Kwinn, Scarface, and the Baroness. Destro holds the Baroness piece in his hand. It is a quiet, telling moment: Destro processes war as strategy, not carnage. In the bottom panel, Storm Shadow's boots move toward a heavy two-handled hatch in the floor — Scarlett is still in her cell, the escape not yet begun.
Josh's comments: Bring on the back story, again with no words, showing dead characters as chess pieces on Destro's board as a story element for the past and the future.. Wait, is the Baroness really dead? Does he know she survived the HISS Tank explosion? The reader does! BUT what is that look he has on his masked face? Love? Again, like Scarlett/Snake Eyes, the Baroness/Destro relationship had only been hinted at in the previous 20 issues. And that is another genius story telling moment happening in a comic that has yet to even reveal anything. And the final panel gives us the all important cell hatch cover.
Notable: ARAH #22 features Destro's chess set on its cover, with a different character arrangement.
Page 10
Page count: Story #10, Physical #14 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 6
Location: Cell hatch / corridor
Characters: Scarlett, Storm Shadow
Weapons: Chain, hatch cover, sword
Image placeholder
M's Summary: Scarlett ambushes Storm Shadow as he opens the hatch. She throws her heavy chain at his head, flips him down into the cell below — but Storm Shadow grabs her leg on the way down. She drives the heavy hatch cover onto him, breaking his grip and making her escape. It is one of the most satisfying sequences in the issue — the captive turning the tables completely, using her restraints as a weapon. Storm Shadow never saw it coming.
Josh's comments: The ninja in white has a Cobra symbol on his uniform. So he is a Cobra. That is a big reveal in itself and he is opening the cell hatch cover. BUT he has dramatically underestimated Scarlett and pays for it with a chain to the head and neck plus the cell hatch cover slammed on his head. The cell hatch cover is a weapon.
Notable: the Cobra symbol appears on Storm Shadow's uniform for the first time.
Notable: Scarlett's chain goes down into the cell with Storm Shadow — yet she has it again on Page 15 when attacking the Cobra soldiers. This continuity gap is addressed in the Hasbro Comic Pack 21B.
Notable: the heavy hatch cover Scarlett uses here reappears on Page 16 — Snake Eyes picks it up and uses it to block a Red Ninja sword strike.
Page 11
Page count: Story #11, Physical #15 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Castle rooftop
Characters: Snake Eyes, Cobra Soldiers
Weapons: Multiple knives, Cobra Soldier's gun
Image placeholder
M's Summary: Snake Eyes fights his way through Cobra soldiers inside the castle — and he does it almost entirely with knives. No Uzi, no grenades, no heavy weapons. Just blades, speed, and silence. It is a subtle but important shift: this is the page where Snake Eyes stops being purely a commando and starts revealing something else entirely. The transition from soldier to ninja happens here without a single word to announce it. The Cobra soldiers never had a chance.
Josh's comments: How bad ass is Snake Eyes? The beginning of his true skills really shows up here as he fights silently against Cobra Soldiers with his knives. A commando he is but the blur motion drawn in the final two panels shows how fast he is. BUT can he stay the Silent Intruder?
Page 12
Page count: Story #12, Physical #16 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 6
Location: Castle rooftop / exterior window / Destro's Command Center / rampart stairs
Characters: Snake Eyes, Cobra Soldier, Destro
Weapons: Bare hands, Destro's pistol, Cobra Soldier's gun
M's Summary: A Cobra soldier gets his hands around Snake Eyes' throat — and Snake Eyes throws him off the castle wall. The falling Cobra Soldier causes Snake Eyes to lose his Uzi over the edge. No hesitation, no alternative considered. Destro watches the soldier fall from a window, takes stock of what is happening in his own castle, and makes a decision: he leaves his console and personally enters the fight. It is a revealing character moment. Destro is not a man who delegates when the situation demands his direct attention. The chess player has left the board.
Josh's comments: Not for very long. Destro, seeing a Cobra Soldier fall past his window, is now aware that his odds were beaten on the parachute drop. So he rallies the troops. BUT a small detail happens in the story telling often missed by readers Snake Eyes’ Uzi falls with the Cobra Soldier. In Page 11 first panel it is on the wall to the readers left with the rope on the right. Now he has used up his knives, lost his Uzi as more of the commando is going away, he starts to fight like a ninja, BUT he shows he is still a good guy by hanging the Cobra Soldier which he stole his uniform from to use a disguise alive hanging upside down in his underwear off the wall by the rappelling rope. Good guys only kill when they have to.
Page 13
Page count: Story #13, Physical #19 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Castle rooftop
Characters: Snake Eyes, Destro, Cobra Soldiers
Weapons: Stolen uniform, night vision goggles, helmet
M's Summary: Snake Eyes steals a Cobra soldier's uniform and infiltrates the rooftop — leaving the soldier hanging upside down in the process. Destro spots a falling helmet and knows something is wrong. Snake Eyes pulls off the disguise and drops the night vision goggles, shifting back into full commando mode. It is a brief moment of dark humor in an otherwise relentless issue — one man, alone in an enemy stronghold, stopping to change clothes while the entire castle hunts him.
Josh's comments: BUT he shows he is still a good guy by not killing the Cobra Soldier which he steals his uniform from, to use as a disguise, alive hanging upside down in his underwear off the wall by the rappelling rope. Good guys only kill when they have to. Destro is fooled by the disguise.
Notable: the stripped Cobra soldier hanging upside down is one of the few moments of visual wit in the issue.
Page 14
Page count: Story #14, Physical #20 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Interior hallways
Characters: Storm Shadow, Red Ninja (sword, sai, kusarigama)
Weapons: Sword, sai, kusarigama
M's Summary: The first-ever appearance of the Arashikage Ninja Clan. Three shadows appear on the rooftop before the ninjas themselves — Hama introduces them in silhouette first, letting the shapes do the work. They carry a sword, sai, and kusarigama. Storm Shadow stands apart from them, composed, his sword undrawn. He does not need to draw it. This page plants a seed that won't fully bloom until ARAH #26 and #27 — but even here, without a single word of explanation, something larger than a rescue mission announces itself.
Josh's comments: The hatch cover is left open and empty. And here comes the next big introduction. Ninja in red. Storm Shadow summoning them with a finger knitting symbol has 3 Red Ninja, each with a distinct different weapon, drop from the ceiling. These Red Ninja are the first real introduction of the Arashikage Ninja Clan. Of course, not named. BUT the reader would later see these Red Ninja fighting against and with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow many times.
Notable: this is the first appearance of the red-clad Arashikage Ninja Clan and Storm Shadow's connection to it in ARAH continuity. During the 1980s ninja trend ninja were nearly always wearing black. Hama gives the G.I. Joe ninja white and red colors and rarely if ever actually had the ninja in black, of course the exception is Snake Eyes
Definitions: Sai: A traditional Okinawan weapon with a metal baton and two curved prongs. Used for blocking sword strikes, trapping blades, and close-quarters combat. Typically carried in pairs. The Red Ninja (sai) uses them here both offensively and as a last defense against Snake Eyes' grenade on Page 17.
Kusarigama: A Japanese weapon combining a small sickle (kama) on one end with a weighted chain (kusari) on the other. The chain can be swung to entangle an opponent's weapon or limbs before delivering a strike with the blade. One of the most complex and difficult weapons in the ninja arsenal. The Red Ninja (kusarigama) wields it through Pages 18 and 19.
Page 15
Page count: Story #15, Physical #21 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Interior hallways
Characters: Scarlett, Cobra Soldiers
Weapons: Chain
Transport: CLAW
M's Summary: Scarlett is out of her cell and moving. She finds two Cobra soldiers carrying the CLAW and takes them both from behind — wrapping her escape chain around their necks and cracking their heads together. Clean, efficient, devastating. The CLAW is hers. What makes this sequence remarkable is that Scarlett does not wait for Snake Eyes to find her, does not wait to be led to safety. She locates her own ride out and takes it. The rescue mission has become a joint escape operation.
Josh's comments: Hama over the decades has consistently created female characters that can kick ass with the boys. Scarlett shows off her skills as she escapes using items like her hairpin and the heavy chain to evade being recaptured. After easily dispatching two Cobra Soldiers, she captures the same Cobra CLAW she was brought in on. BUT will she escape Destro's Castle?
Page 16
Page count: Story #16, Physical #23 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 7
Location: Scarlett's former cell
Characters: Snake Eyes, Red Ninja (sword)
Weapons: Sword, hatch cover
M's Summary: Snake Eyes faces a Red Ninja (sword) sword strike and blocks it with the heavy hatch cover Scarlett left behind. The same piece of iron that bought Scarlett her escape now saves Snake Eyes' life. It is one of the tightest pieces of visual storytelling in the issue — two characters, two separate fights, one prop connecting them across six pages without a single word to call attention to it.
Josh's comments: Standing over the empty cell, with the hatch cover open and loose, Snake Eyes is attacked from above and behind by a Red Ninja with a sword. Hama again uses the blur motion to show the speed of the attack and defense. The Red Ninja is easily dispatched by using the cell hatch cover similar to how Scarlett did. Does Snake Eyes know these ninja in red, of course he does. They are from the same Ninja Clan he belongs to BUT the reader does not know that.
Notable: the hatch cover is first used as weapon on Page 10 when Scarlett drives it down on Storm Shadow. Its reuse here is the kind of detail that rewards a second read.
Notable: This is the first time Snake Eyes encounters another ninja, which is an Arashikage Ninja, which he would 100% know who they are as he is member of the same Clan
Page 17
Page count: Story #17, Physical #25 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 6
Location: Interior hallways
Characters: Snake Eyes, Red Ninja (sai)
Weapons: US M1A Grenade, sai
M's Summary: Snake Eyes spots a Red Ninja (sai) approaching in his visor reflection. He reaches for a US M1A Grenade, thumb on the pin — and holds. The Red Ninja raises his sai. Two fighters, perfectly still, each daring the other to move first. It is the most tension-packed sequence in the issue, and it is completely silent. The grenade's text is the second and final instance of written words in ARAH #21: "US M1A Grenade, Fragme..." — the last letters cut off.
Josh's comments: Snake Eyes, basically weaponless, moves up the stairs to meet another Red Ninja with sais. In a stand off in the stairwell. Snake Eyes dispatched the Red Ninja with a single grenade, his last commando weapon. BUT is that really Snake Eyes' final weapon.
Notable: "US M1A Grenade, Fragme..." is one of only two instances of written text in the entire issue — the other being Destro's computer screen on Page 6.
Page 18
Page count: Story #18, Physical #26 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Interior hallways
Characters: Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Red Ninja (kusarigama)
Weapons: Sword, kusarigama, bare hands
M's Summary: The grenade explodes. The second Red Ninja (sai) is gone. Snake Eyes walks out of the smoke and straight into a three-way bare-handed fight — Storm Shadow with his sword, a third Red Ninja (kusarigama) with a kusarigama. No pause, no recovery moment. The page keeps moving at the same relentless pace the issue has maintained since Page 4. This is the deepest point of the issue — the most danger Snake Eyes has been in, the furthest from the exit, with Scarlett already airborne on the CLAW above him. And the first time he fights Storm Shadow.
Josh's comments:
The weaponless Snake Eyes walks up the stairs into a double ninja ambush. And Page 18 becomes the very first time Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes meet on a comic page. They would go on to have a long shared history fighting together and against each other BUT in this hallway Snake Eyes is fighting two ninja with only his hands and feet, one ninja he would for sure know right away as he is his sword brother with a long history together. Again, the reader would NOT know this connection. And even Hama at the time of drawing this scene did NOT KNOW of the connecting story he would weave over the next 40 years.
Notable: the grenade explosion on this page matches the explosion art on all figure cards of the 1980s created by Hector Garrido.
Notable: this is the very first meeting of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, two characters that would define G.I. Joe story telling for the next 40 years.
Page 19
Page count: Story #19, Physical #27 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 5
Location: Castle rooftop / interior hallways / airspace above
Characters: Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Scarlett, Red Ninja (kusarigama)
Weapons: Kusarigama, sword, feet
Transport: CLAW
M's Summary: Snake Eyes throws the Red Ninja (kusarigama) into Storm Shadow's sword slice, turning one enemy against the other. Then he drives his feet down on Storm Shadow's head, dazing him. A weapon cuts Snake Eyes' right forearm sleeve — a small detail that will matter enormously in two pages. Above, Scarlett has reached the CLAW and is airborne. She looks back in shock seeing the running Snake Eyes as a dazed Storm Shadow recovers below. The escape is happening. But it isn't over yet.
Josh's comments: Snake Eyes is a ninja in black. The commando has used up his weapons and is now fighting with just his body against a ninja in red with a kusigama and ninja in white with a sword. Bad ass Snake Eyes defeats both leaving Storm Shadow dazed from a double foot stomp to the head. In a hard to spot moment in the very middle panel Snake Eyes right arm is exposed as his uniform is cut.. He is still hunting for Scarlett to rescue her. And as he exits who shows up on the CLAW, it's not a hard guess. BUT does Snake Eyes know the ninja in white is his sword brother, of course he does in the story. Again, neither Hama nor the reader would know how they are connected until ARAH #26 & #27.
Notable: the cut to Snake Eyes' right forearm sleeve is the setup for the tattoo reveal on Page 22 — Hama plants it here without drawing any attention to it.
Page 20
Page count: Story #20, Physical #28 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 6
Location: Castle ramparts / airspace above
Characters: Storm Shadow, Scarlett, Snake Eyes
Weapons: Sword
Transport: CLAW
M's Summary: Storm Shadow stands alone, recovering. His right arm band is loose. Scarlett is on the CLAW, looking back — first with relief seeing Snake Eyes alive, then with a reaction that stops the reader cold. Something she sees changes her expression completely. Hama holds the reveal for one more page, letting Scarlett's shock do the work. The reader doesn't know what she saw. They just know it matters.
Josh's comments: Scarlett flying the captured CLAW spots Snake Eyes, the smile on her face shows her joy at seeing him.. Storm Shadow with sword in hand and his arm band beginning to become loose that will expose a familiar symbol on his arm will try to kill them. And that is what bad guys do: they kill, establishing the ninja in white as truly a bad guy (at least in this issue). BUT when a reader sees these panels without the context of this reveal the focus is on Storm Shadow preparing to throw his sword, not the arm band.
Notable: Storm Shadow's loosened right arm band is the visual setup — the Arashikage tattoo beneath it is about to be revealed.
Page 21
Page count: Story #21, Physical #30 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 6
Location: Castle ramparts
Characters: Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, Scarlett
Weapons: Sword (thrown and caught bare-handed)
Transport: CLAW
M's Summary: Storm Shadow throws his sword at Scarlett on the CLAW. Snake Eyes catches it bare-handed — out of the air, without flinching. Scarlett closes her eyes, bracing for the worst. Then opens them. She is alive. The man she loves just caught a thrown sword out of the air with his bare hand to save her life. Storm Shadow's eyes go wide. Not at the catch. At what the catch reveals: Snake Eyes' torn right forearm sleeve falls away, exposing the Arashikage tattoo. Storm Shadow recognizes it instantly. These two men know each other. The sword throw, the catch, the closed eyes, the tattoo — four beats in one page that reframe everything that just happened across 21 pages. Nothing about this rescue mission was coincidence.
Josh's comments: As the sword flies straight at Scarlett. The ninja in black does what only a trained ninja with exceptional skill can do. He catches the sword in mid air with both hands saving Scarlett. Storm Shadow seeing the skill and seeing the exposed arm of Snake Eyes knows who he has been fighting. AND now we get to what Hama has described as a problem he needed to solve. Both characters had their arms exposed during the battling and he didn't know what to do with it.
Notable: Snake Eyes catching Storm Shadow's thrown sword bare-handed is one of the most iconic single moments in G.I. Joe comic history.
Page 22
Page count: Story #22, Physical #31 -- Per page stats:
Panel count: 3
Location: Airspace departing castle / Castle ramparts
Characters: Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow
Weapons: None
Transport: CLAW
M's Summary: The last page. Scarlett and Snake Eyes escape on the CLAW into the night sky. Scarlett smiles — the smile of someone who just survived something that should not have been survivable. She turns to Snake Eyes, her face shifting from relief to something warmer, more private. Hama draws it with just enough ambiguity to let the reader fill in the rest — and what most readers fill in, after 22 pages of wordless tension, is a kiss. It may have happened. The page does not deny it. Storm Shadow stands alone on the ramparts below, fists clenched, his right arm band fully loosened. He pulls it back. The Arashikage tattoo is visible on his forearm — matching the one just revealed on Snake Eyes. Two ninja clan brothers. One on each side of a war neither of them chose. Larry Hama closes a 22-page silent story with an image that opens a mystery large enough to fuel the next 100 issues.
Josh's comments:
The escape!!! Scarlett rescues Snake Eyes with a smile, Snake Eyes hugging Scarlett from behind on the CLAW and on the ground at top of Destro's Castle stands Storm Shadow looking up and mad for letting them escape. AND they both have the same tattoo on their right forearms. And both characters would have recognized the other as an extremely important character moment for them both. A tattoo of an ancient real world Chinese divination text called the I Ching turns a team comic into a starring Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow after 21 pages of AWESOME!
In the context of the story of the Silent Issue, so much is revealed in its 22 pages. But the one thing left out is the name of the ninja in white, so the reader would have to wait for that to be revealed in a future comic or get the toy AND File Card. BUT the savvy reader who read the very next page in Postbox: The Pit got what today would be called a Spoiler in answers from the editor.
And that wraps up a landmark issue in the history of comics. It changed the course of the G.I. Joe brand, it introduced ninja, it set in motion three relationships that would stand the test of time and keep an entire generation of kid fans of G.I. Joe well into their middle aged adulthood, gave Larry Hama a very long career and many of those kids would be inspired to become comic artists themselves, AND even a few got to draw Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, Destro and the Baroness as professionals in the comic industry. The influence of ARAH #21 is still being felt in the 2027 comic market with homages and more silent stories being told.
AND Hama did it all cause the comic needed to be made fast.
Notable: the Arashikage tattoo reveal on the final page is the single most consequential story beat in G.I. Joe comic history — everything that follows for Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow begins here. AND it is precisely why ARAH #21 stands as one of the most important single issues in all of comic book history.
Notable: when Hama created ARAH #21 in late 1983, he had no idea what he had created. It took him until ARAH #26 and #27 to fully realize it. Those stories are where the real mythology begins. Stay tuned for the page by page breakdown of those issues.
Back Cover
M's Summary: The Back Cover of ARAH #21 is not just an advertisement — it is one of the most important collector identification tools in the entire Marvel ARAH run. The Frogger Parker Brothers ad appearing here is the definitive marker of a 1st printing. The 2nd printing also features the Frogger Back Cover — but the comic is sealed inside a Marvel Comics 3-pack with ARAH #21, #22, and #23 in a $1.69 bag, released late 1984 or 1985. Sealed is the only way it is a 2nd printing. The 3rd printing, July 1985 Direct Market, replaces the Frogger Back Cover entirely with "Reach for the Stars" — a Captain America ad featuring Cap pointing upward with children gazing at the stars — and is marked on the inside with a "3rd Printing" notation alongside the common black Spidey head. An unsealed copy with Frogger on the back is a 1st printing. The full story — every identifying marker, the hunt, and the resolution — is covered in depth in AAR The History of G.I. Joe ARAH #21, pages #56 to #67 titled The Hunt for the G.I. Joe ARAH #21 2nd Printing.
Josh's Comment: In the early 2000’s as G.I. Joe comic readers including myself were returning to collecting, the conversation on comic forums (which pre-dated social media by at least a decade) began talking about the why is there no #21 2nd Printing, the 3rd Printing with Black Spidey Head on the cover was widely known, so it was a true mystery. And one of the very first key clues were the advertisements inside and on the back cover of the comic. The Frogger and Captain America Reach for the Stars back covers helped identify which month those comics were released in connection with other Marvel Comics titles of the same month. And so the mystery hunt began that took over 15 years to solve.
POSTBOX: The Pit
Physical Page 32
POSTBOX: THE PIT
M's Summary: The letters page of ARAH #21 responds to reader mail from ARAH #18 — three issues earlier. In 1983 the production pipeline between a reader mailing a letter and seeing it published ran months. The responses reference Destro and Scarface, characters fresh in readers' minds from the issues immediately preceding #21 and seen in #21 as chess pieces. Most significantly, the editorial response teases something new coming — a white-clad figure the readers are about to meet for the very first time on the pages directly in front of this letters column. Storm Shadow's name is mentioned before most readers have even finished the issue in their hands.
Josh's Comments: Where is the spoiler warning? Moments after an epic battle, the reader is wondering a million scenarios that could be happening, but likely if they didn’t have 1984 toy packaging they had no idea who the ninja in white was by name. In the left column, the fourth paragraph down Editor Denny O’Neil answers a reader comment with this quote “This very issue featured ninjas, Richard! How’s that for service? Storm Shadow (the ninja in white) is an assassin currently working for Cobra. Stick with us and you’ll learn more about him in upcoming issues.” The true tease of the spoiler is the word “currently” hint hint, Storm Shadow is on a mission and as soon as he finishes that mission he joins G.I. Joe. But O’Neil and Hama had yet to know what was coming as this letters page was printed .
Marvel Bullpen Bulletins
Physical Page 29
M's Summary: December 1983. While Larry Hama was racing to finish ARAH #21 in three weeks, the rest of the Marvel universe was in full swing. The Bullpen Bulletins page is a snapshot of what Marvel was publishing and promoting at the exact moment Silent Interlude was being created. Secret Wars was on the horizon. Spider-Man was everywhere. with the arrival of #250. The X-Men were building toward their own landmark runs. ARAH #21 did not arrive in a vacuum — it arrived in the middle of one of the most creative periods in Marvel Comics history, and it still managed to stand apart from everything around it.
Josh Comments: The Bullpen Bulletins was created by Stan Lee as a promotion piece he could talk directly to the reader sharing all kinds of talking points about upcoming Marvel titles and with The Mighty Marvel Checklist. He would talk about character events and occasionally give personal commentary on the real world events happening. Being a monthly part of every Marvel Comic (pre anything electronic) it was one of the few ways a fan could know what was released that month. In the Hunt For #21 2nd Printing, this Bullpen Bulletins was one of the many early clues used to figure out the mystery. As can be seen ARAH #21 is listed in the Cross Sell (this is the technical term for The Mighty Marvel Checklist). If you're looking at G.I. Joe ARAH #21 3rd Printing the Bulletin is different showing G.I. Joe ARAH #37 listed in the Cross Sell. So a different listing gave the clue to month it was released, which early on was a nice discovery but really only the beginning of the mystery of the #21 2nd Printing.
Notable: the Bullpen Bulletins page is a time capsule of Marvel in late 1983 — worth reading alongside the issue itself to appreciate the moment it landed in.
Advertisements
M's Summary: ARAH #21 hit newsstands in December 1983 — and the advertisements inside it are a perfect time capsule of what American kids wanted for Christmas that year. Atari was king. Parker Brothers was at its peak. Masters of the Universe figures were competing directly with G.I. Joe on toy shelves and on the pages of the same comic. The Revell Magic Glo Racers ad facing Page 4 — Snake Eyes in freefall — is one of the most jarring visual juxtapositions in comic history. Seven ad pages surround 22 pages of some of the most sophisticated visual storytelling ever published in the medium. The contrast is part of what makes this artifact so fascinating.
Full Ad Inventory: (Page ##s are the ohysical PAge)
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Inside Front Cover: Masters of the Universe Monogram model kits
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Page 4 facing: Revell Magic Glo Racers
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Page 5 facing: Bubble Yum
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Page 10 facing: Zorcom Space Ship
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Page 12 center: Atarisoft double page spread
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Page 13 facing: Marvel Super Mart / Grimes video games
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Page 14 facing: Grit / Marvel NYC Convention
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Page 16 facing: Marvel Super Mart / video games
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Page 21 facing: Marvel Holiday / He-Man video game
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Back Cover: Frogger — Parker Brothers
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Notable: the Atarisoft double page spread at the center of the issue — the literal midpoint of ARAH #21 — features games that would be obsolete within five years. The issue surrounding it has never gone out of style.
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