Zarana
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Zarana is the sister of Zartan and Zandar in the G. I. Joe universe, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. She has red hair and is usually depicted with a tattered hot pink T-shirt and blue pants. Zarana is a master of diguise who can fool even the best military specialists. Unlike Zartan; who has a mysterious ability to appear as someone different, Zarana relies on masks, wigs, makeup and costumes. Zarana is a caucasian female presumably from Australia. Her file card bio states that she has the same ability to change skin color as her brothers but this was never seen or portrayed in both comic and cartoon incarnations.
Along with her twin brother Zandar, Zarana was issued in a second wave of Dreadnok action figures from Hasbro 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.
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[edit] Marvel Comics
Zarana was featured in the Marvel G.I.Joe comics. She leads a successful rescue of Zartan, by impersonating one of the Joe females. Despite being 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 #69 to #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 actually 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.
Zaran 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 fist-fight with Lady Jaye.
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 briefly captured by Firefly, but was soon rescued by Slice and Dice and reunited with Cobra. She was partly responsible for recruiting Scarlett (although Scarlett turned out to be a double agent). After Dr. Mindbender was revived by Cobra Commander, he "cut Zarana loose" and she returns to the Dreadnoks.
[edit] Devil's Due
Zarana makes a big return in Devil's Due Productions' G.I. Joe comic series, successfully ferrying vital technological devices to Cobra, with the assistance of the Crimson Twins. She might have been captured before her escape, but she had recognized two of the men following her, long-time Joe veterans.
Until recently, Zarana was in charge of the Chicago-based chapter of the Dreadnoks. She was in line to succeed Zartan but they had a falling-out after the appearance of Zartan's daughter Zanya.
In G.I. Joe: America's Elite, the Phoenix Guard member Friday was revealed to be Zarana. It is not yet known how she came to be a part of that group. She was taken into custody following the Guard's attack on the Rock, and imprisoned in "The Coffin", a maximum security penitentiary located in Greenland. She later escaped imprisonment during Tomax's raid on the facility.[1]
The comic series Dreadnoks Declassified reveals that Zarana's given name is Zoe.
[edit] Cartoon
In the Season 2 episode "Computer Complications",[1] Zarana goes undercover at a Joe base as "Carol Weidler". During that time, she and Mainframe develop romantic feelings for each other. At the end of the episode, the Dreadnoks joke to her: “Hey, Zarana, I’ve been thinking! Maybe you oughta quit the Dreadnoks, go marry that wimp, get a house in the suburbs, have kids.” to which she responds by shooting in their direction. The episode ends showing both Mainframe and Zarana, miles away looking at the moon, perhaps pondering the same question.
In G.I. Joe the movie, Zarana impersonates a blonde woman 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, which helps Cobra/Cobra-la break Serpentor out.
[edit] Name Origin
Zarana is also a name for girls from India, pronounced Jhurna. Though the name can be found written alternatively as Jharna, Zarana is the most common spelling. The word itself means house spring in Hindi.
[edit] References
- ^ Revealed in G.I.Joe: America's Elite! #31; the raid occurred in #30.
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