Profile
Zarana is the sister of Zartan and fraternal twin of Zandar.''Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook'' #3 (August, 2017) A professional assassin, she is an expert in small arms, explosives and edged weapons. Zarana is a master of disguise who can fool even the best military specialists. She relies on masks, wigs, makeup and costumes. She is also a world-class method actress, literally becoming the object of her impersonation, to the extent that she not only thinks but reacts as they would. She has short naturally auburn hair, which has been dyed pink (or sometimes red), and is usually depicted with a tattered hot pink T-shirt and blue pants, colors that match her twin brother, Zandar. She is the firstborn of the twins, and often the unequivocal leader of the two.''G.I. Joe'' vol. 3 #9 (October 2013) She supposedly also has the same ability to change skin color as her brothers, but this was never portrayed in either her comic book or cartoon incarnations. According to former G.I. Joe product manager Kirk Bozigian at the 2013 Official G.I. Joe Convention, Zarana's original filecard art was inspired by 80's punk rock singerToys
Along with her brother Zandar, Zarana was released in 1986. She carries a weapon that looked like a shotgun with a circular saw blade attached at the end. This weapon was never seen in the cartoon or comic book. She had several features in the comic, primarily in issues that introduced Dreadnok vehicles produced by Hasbro. Zarana's pink shirt was designed, by Hasbro designer Ron Rudat, to resemeble Zandar's torn pink kerchief.Comics
Marvel Comics
In the Marvel Comics ''G.I. Joe'' series, she first appeared in ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #50 (August 1986). Zarana was featured in the Marvel G.I. Joe comics and in the beginning was depicted as being somewhat cheap when it came to money. After she leads a successful rescue of Zartan by impersonating Scarlett, she tells her brother that he owes her for a number of expenses related to the rescue operation including that of the red wig she used in her disguise. Pursued by a large team of G.I. Joes, she and the Dreadnoks escape. They are technically tracked down by Sgt. Slaughter but her disguise skills help fool the man into believing he had found a simple gas station. She was featured in issues #69 through #71. In order to escape the fictional war-torn country of Sierra Gordo, she and fellow Dreadnoks Monkeywrench and Thrasher hijack a G.I. Joe transport plane. This is accomplished by Zarana threatening to kill some of the civilians who are pleading with the Joes for a ride out. The Joes Crazylegs, Wild-Bill and Maverick are forced to launch out with her, her allies and the refugee/hostages. The plane ends up shot down, though all survive. In an effort to escape the country, Zarana works with the Joe team, the Dreadnoks, and the refugees. In one instance, she punches Thrasher's broken arm in order to get him to be even more violent against a large group of adversaries. Zarana and the Dreadnoks would work with the Joes again, like much of Cobra, in the aftermath of the Cobra Civil War. The stress gets to her, leading to a memorable, vicious fist-fight with Lady Jaye, that ends in a draw. Zarana is a fearless fighter and risk taker. She took on a lot of responsibilities for Cobra after Destro, Zartan and the Baroness left, effectively becoming Cobra Commander's second in command. She was captured byDevil's Due
In this continuity, Zarana and her siblings grew up in a Catholic orphanage. Her older brother, Zartan, accidentally killed a boy for bullying young Zandar. As teenagers, the twins grew up on the streets of London rather than be separated to different foster homes. She and her brother searched out their brother, Zartan, and found themselves in the outback of Australia as members of the Dreadnok biker gang. Zarana is protective of Zandar. Zarana leads a Dreadnoks/Cobra squad against an out of control Battle Android Trooper. She loses severalIDW
Zarana and Zandar were born in London, England, into dire poverty and were given up for adoption as toddlers. From an early age, the twins displayed anti-social behavior and refused to speak to anyone but each other in their own twin idioglossia. As a result, they were moved from foster home to foster home, until they landed in an abusive orphanage. As teenagers, Zarana and Zandar were faced with the threat of separation, so they took to the streets to remain together, and from there, procured plane tickets to Australia, where they joined the Dreadnoks biker gang. Zarana and Zandar supply weapons to the warring Heathens motorcycle gang. A G.I. Joe strike team interrupts the transaction, telling the two to surrender. Zandar and Zarana flee, but not before realizing neither of them claimed their fee beforehand. Realizing "The One" considers them expendable, the twins make eliminating "The One" their next major priority.IDW post-Revolutionaries
The Dreadnok Twins, disguised as inner Mongolian locals, Ying and Yong, lead a strike team of G.I. Joes to Crystal Ball's cult stronghold, where they were ambushed by Crystal Ball and the Dreadnoks. Zandar and Zarana sneak away some time during the battle. During the Dreadnoks' pursuit of the Joes, they were snatched away underground by Crystal Ball's summoned, large "Fatal Fluffies". Zarana and Zandar appear again with the Dreadnoks, ambushing Duke in the underground, with the intention of taking the Joes' prisoners, the Baroness and Crystal Ball.Animated series
Sunbow
Zarana first appears in the '' G.I. Joe'' second-season miniseries "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!", voiced by Lisa Raggio. She and Zandar join their brother Zartan when he is auditioning new members of the Dreadnoks. Zarana later steals the DNA of fictional Egyptian general Xanuth Amon-Toth, as part of Doctor Mindbender's plot to create Serpentor. In the episode "Computer Complications", Zarana goes undercover at the G.I. Joe headquarters as "Carol Weidler" to program the robot submarines under Cobra control. Unexpectedly, she andG.I. Joe: The Movie
In '' G.I. Joe: The Movie'', Zarana impersonates a blonde woman named Heather, who gets Lt. Falcon to give her a "tour" of the place where Serpentor is being held. She uses mini-cameras in her earrings to take pictures of the prison. Duke catches them and has Jinx escort "Heather" out of the base. Heather comments on Falcon being attractive before driving away. She stops at a lake, where she changes out of her disguise and meets with the Dreadnoks. The information from Zarana and the device she plants in G.I. Joe's base helps the Dreadnoks and Cobra-La break Serpentor out. When a group of Joes sneak into Cobra-La, Zarana is knocked out by Jinx.DiC
Zarana appears in the DIC-produced '' G.I. Joe'' cartoon, in which she is shown to be leading the Dreadnoks, as Zartan does not appear in the series. In this series, she is voiced by Lisa Corps. Destro has left Baroness for Zarana, and the two are dating during the "Operation: Dragonfire" miniseries. When Cobra Commander disposes of Serpentor, he tells Destro to get back together with Baroness, which ends with Destro sending Zarana down a trap door. After the miniseries, Zarana appears in the following episodes: * "Nozone Conspiracy" - she appears along with Cobra Commander, Metal-Head andOther works
* Zarana's figure is briefly featured in the fiction novel ''6 Sick Hipsters''. In the story, the character Paul Achting spent four years collecting G.I. Joe figures to set up a battle scene between the Joes and Cobra. As he imagined the characters in his head, he described the Dreadnoks as "an elite team of maniacal mercenaries allied with Cobra for this battle", with the figures lying in the thick of the shag carpet, and to the left of Zandar and Monkeywrench was "the lovely Zarana, Zartan's sister, sharpening her knife and dreaming of warm flesh". * She is mentioned as a strong female character in the non-fiction novel 'Action chicks: new images of tough women in popular culture'.References
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