G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero #6
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #6 (December 1982) is the first appearance of the Oktober Guard — Colonel Brekhov, Daina, Horrorshow, Stormavik, and Schrage — a Warsaw Pact super-team conceived as the Soviet mirror image of the Joe squad, and the characters have recurred across the Marvel run, IDW, and Skybound continuations ever since. Just as crucially, it is the first multi-part story in the series, marking the moment Larry Hama broke free of the self-contained single-issue format that had defined the book's opening five issues and began the serialized, consequence-driven storytelling that would come to define the entire run. The Afghanistan setting — drawn directly from the live Soviet–Afghan War then dominating the news — gave the story an unusual geopolitical weight for a toy-licensed comic, and the three-way standoff between G.I. Joe, the Oktober Guard, and Cobra established a moral complexity rarely seen in action comics aimed at children at the time.
In *G.I. Joe, a Real American Hero* #6, the Joes are deployed to Afghanistan to recover advanced tech from a downed experimental plane—only to find themselves caught between the relentless Oktober Guard and a surprise Cobra ambush. Written by Herb Trimpe and Larry Hama, with art by Trimpe and inks by Jack Abel, this high-stakes mission unfolds with tense confrontations and shifting loyalties. The cover by Mike Vosburg and Jack Abel captures the intensity of the clash, setting up a battle where victory may be the deadliest outcome of all.
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The story is titled 'To Fail is to Conquer… To Succeed is to Die' — a phrase the Grand Comics Database notes derives from an ancient Afghan proverb — and was written by Larry Hama with plotting contributions by artist Herb Trimpe, who pencilled the issue with inks by Jack Abel; Christie Scheele provided colors and Tom DeFalco is credited as editor. The Oktober Guard team itself had a tortured pre-history: Hama has recalled that the characters grew out of a visually distinct 'Pravda Patrol' conceived by Tom DeFalco and Herb Trimpe that briefly appeared in Bizarre Adventures #31 (April 1982), but Hasbro did not approve those designs, and Hama reworked the characters' names, costumes, and backstories into the final form seen in issue #6. A second printing of the issue was later produced, as was done for most issues in the #2–#63 range of the series.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Oktober Guard: Colonel Brekhov (Ivan Nikolevich Brekhov), Lt. Daina (Daina L. Janack), Horrorshow (Stepan Drukersky), Stormavik, and Schrage — a Warsaw Pact special-forces team presented as the Soviet equivalent of G.I. Joe.
- First multi-part story in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Marvel series; the preceding five issues were all self-contained single-issue tales. The story concludes in issue #7.
- Story title is 'To Fail is to Conquer… To Succeed is to Die,' drawn from an ancient Afghan proverb, reflecting the real-world Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989) as backdrop.
- Written by Larry Hama and Herb Trimpe; pencilled by Herb Trimpe; inked by Jack Abel; colored by Christie Scheele; edited by Tom DeFalco; published cover-dated December 1982.
- The Oktober Guard's visual design originated in a rejected 'Pravda Patrol' concept by Tom DeFalco and Herb Trimpe that appeared briefly in Bizarre Adventures #31 (April 1982); Hama re-named and re-purposed the characters into the form seen here.
- The issue introduces a three-way conflict structure — G.I. Joe vs. the Oktober Guard vs. Cobra — all competing for a downed Soviet spy plane in the Hindu Kush mountains, a format that became a recurring storytelling device in the series.
- The story was reprinted in Tales of G.I. Joe #6 (Marvel, 1988 reprint series), which retold the early Marvel issues in digest/magazine format.
- The Oktober Guard were not depicted in Hasbro action figure form until Red Star was released in 1991, nearly a decade after their comic debut, despite their prominent role in the comics and the animated series.
Cast · 33 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
The Joes are sent in to Afghanistan to retrieve tech from a downed experimental plane when they come up against the Oktober Guard bent on the same goal. Cobra attempts to steal the equipment for themselves and runs across both teams. To be continued...
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).