Captivating Cover: Everglades Swamp Terror
Have the Joes ever fought in the actual Everglades before? I know there’s been swamp land in both cartoon and comic stories, but were they set in Florida? I don’t know, but the Water Mocassin seems the perfect Cobra ride for swamp-based misadventures. The only thing missing is Zartan. Maybe he’s in the boat. The painting is so small, it’s hard to tell. Lady Jaye looks as if she’s about to tell us herself.
The Joes first encountered Zartan in the Florida swamp lands during the arc which ran through issues #25 through #29 of the Marvel comic series. Lots of others characters and vehicles made their debut there as well.
I like how Gung-Ho and Lady Jaye were positioned on this cover better than previous ones, although the Water Mocassin seems too far away for the Joes to have noticed it. Maybe the engines gave them away? The artist who drew Lady Jaye made her look very photo-realistic, almost as if he or she had been working from an actual model.
Seems like Gung Ho’s prefered environment, seeing as he grew up in a swamp and was trained at a swamp.
My complaint about the cover is that Lady Jaye is facing the wrong direction and Gung Ho has missed the target by a mile. Or maybe he is firing at a different target and Lady Jaye has spotted Dashiel doing something which clearly has her full attention.
Since this is a Find Your Fate book, Lady Jaye is looking at you “Your codename: Wiseguy. As strategy specialist, you will make the big decisions.”
I had a few of these books, including this one. Lady Jaye is looking very nice despite being in a sweaty swamp, though her shirt is not stretched to its usual cleavage-popping proportions.
Wasn’t cartoon Zartan’s abandoned amusement park base in the Everglades? I always thought that was the case.
That’s better Lady Jaye art than on her cardback front. It’s hard to tell who’s piloting the Water Moccasin. Obviously we would assume Copperhead but at that level of graininess, it looks like Scrap-Iron is also theoretically possible.
Oh, and congratulations on the Royals making the ALCS. All 4 games of theirs so far have been great. Royals-Orioles looks like a very interesting match-up.
More great marksmanship on display in the Joeverse.
I’m seeing that image of Lady Jaye pop up a lot recently. I wonder if it was some alternate art for her cardback? Or just one of those promo artworks that gets passed around? The Water Moccasin looks so similar to the boxart but with alternate crew (Baroness & Scrap Iron v. Destro, CC & an Officer). Seems like a lot of work for a novel cover.
Raquel Welch.