Zandar

Zandar is the brother of Zartan and Zarana in the G. I. Joe universe. He is a member of the Dreadnoks, mercenaries who worked for COBRA and enemies of . Unlike his siblings, Zartan and Zarana, Zandar does not possess the mastery of disguise but the mastery of camouflage and covert movement. He has the uncanny ability to blend into crowds and not be noticed. Zandar was usually a background character both in the cartoon and comic series, but this has changed in recent years.

Zandar's blue warpaint is evocative of the "woad" paint worn by Celtic warriors. His red hair also lends a Celtic feeling to the Dreadnok evasionist.

Action figure

The Zandar figure was released in 1986 and was made of the same UV reactive plastic as Zartan and Zarana, when exposed to direct sunlight. Zandar's caucasian skin would turn dark blue. Zandar was introduced with the second wave of Dreadnok figures, along with Zarana. He carried a speargun and had a pack of spears on his back. The gun was recently seen in the two part backup story "The Past Comes Back" in the Devil's Due G.I. Joe comics, where he used a poison tipped spear to slow down Stalker.

In the Devil's Due comic, Stalker speculated that Zandar was the younger of the two. It could simply be that Zarana was born first, and Zandar a few minutes later.

Comics

In the comics, Zandar was almost always seen with his twin sister Zarana. Their hair was more often shown as pink, further indicating their punk style. The two operated several scams and schemes for Cobra, using their advanced skills as con artists. Later Zarana spent a lot of time with Cobra Commander and Zandar was nowhere to be seen.

Zandar assists a team of Dreadnoks with the rescue of Zartan from G.I.Joe headquarters. His disguise skills help throw the Joes off their trail. Zandar did not fit in well with the other Dreadnoks, as they kept forgetting he was there. In one instance, Zandar was literally sat upon, as it was thought the chair was empty.

Interestingly enough, later in the same series, a heroic G.I.Joe Stealth Fighter pilot would be introduced with nearly the same 'problem'. Nobody could remember his name and he could walk across a room without being noticed.

Zandar turned up alongside the Baroness when Cobra made a deal with radical terrorist Tyler Wingfield in Devil's Due's . In this appearance he wore all black.

Later it was revealed that years in Zartan's shadow as the "unseen, unremembered brother" have left him resentful enough that it was possible for Serpentor to manipulate his emotions and enlist him as one of the Coil's top agents. Zandar single-handedly captured Cobra Commander. After losing a fight to Zartan (and a knife in the gut), the Dreadnoks pulled all forces from Cobra Island, which would have lost the battle for Cobra if Cobra Commander hadn't personally seen to Serpentor himself being taken down. Without a leader, the Coil fell to Cobra's newest troopers, the Neo-Vipers.

Zandar later resurfaced alongside Cobra Commander (posing as Zartan) at the Dreadnok compound in Florida. He personally derailed their hostage, Mindbender's accusations of Zandar's treason, which was already well known to Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander defended Zandar from Mindbender's insults, accusing the backstabbing doctor of knowing nothing of loyalty and the strains it can put on a man's emotions.

When the Dreadnoks went on a suicide run into a top secret government prison facility where Zartan (disguised as Cobra Commander), was located, Zandar hopped into action with the other Dreadnoks. In an attempt to prove himself he recklessly went after Stalker and Lifeline. While Stalker managed to knock him unconscious, the Dreadnoks were successful in freeing Zartan.

Cobra Commander shocked all the Dreadnoks when he revealed that now Zandar must pay for his treason, and he used it to buy Zartan's loyalty. However, when Cobra was doomed to failure in the Tempest crisis in Badhikstan, Zartan and Zandar took their leave of Cobra, and went back into their underground anarchist biker scene in Montreal.

One year later, rumor leaked of Zartan's return to Florida for an unknown object. Fearing it was a WMD or something dangerous, General Joe Colton sent Stalker and Storm Shadow to investigate. Zandar was there, although it took the Joes a long time to realize it, and by that time he had the jump on them. Poisoning Stalker with a dart and stunning Storm Shadow with a grenade, he managed to distract and evade them long enough to trap them in a pitfall.

In a flashback, it was revealed that Zartan, Zarana and Zandar were once in a Catholic orphanage, but after murdering another boy in defense of 10 year old Zandar, the 14 year old Zartan fled. He had locked Zandar in a box to keep him from interfering.

When Zartan, Zarana and Zanya arrived, Zandar surprised them all, with G.I. Joe hostages. However, he was not the only person scouting the Dreadnok compound, and with Gung-Ho's help in escaping the pitfall (and later ambushing Buzzer, Ripper, Torch, Zarana and lastly Zandar), Storm Shadow managed to discover Zartan's intentions (simply searching for a photograph - the only memory left from Zartan's past), and let the Dreadnoks go. Afterward, Zandar and Zarana lectured Zartan's daughter Zanya about Zartan's schizophrenia.

His betrayal in the past, Zandar again serves as Zartan's "Behind-the-Scenes" man.

Cartoons

Zandar appeared in the second season of the Sunbow-animated series. He was voiced by Peter Cullen.

External links

* [http://www.yojoe.com/action/86/zandar.shtml Yojoe.com Archive of 1986 figures]