10 Best Single Issue Comics Stories You Might Not Have Read
9. G.I.Joe #21 - Silent Interlude
Comics is the practice of combining words and pictures to tell a story. A comic without pictures is a piece of prose and inversely a comic without words is a picture book. The latter statement is not always true, as Larry Hama and Steve Leialoha proved in G.I.Joe #21 - an issue with no dialogue, captions or thought balloons.
The story starts with Storm Shadow returning to Cobra Commander with Scarlet as his prisoner. Snake Eyes, the Joe's resident special OP's agent and Scarlets on-again/off-again love interest, follows them and attempts a rescue.
Focusing on the mute Snake Eyes may have been the primary reason for the almost silent issue, but the lack of "words" clogging up the action has the added benefit of letting the ninja vs ninja combat speak for itself.
The most exciting part of the story is Scarlet rescuing herself, and in the end, Snake Eyes as well. You cannot understate just how clear each character's behaviours and motivations come through on the page without a single word of exposition or dialogue.
Publishers have used the concept of a "silent" issue before and since. Marvel once created a unique "Nuff said" event where every monthly book would be like this, but this is a shining example of how creators should do it.