The "Bradstreet Cobra Commander" is from the cover of G.I. JOE RELOADED's "Cobra Reborn". G.I. Joe Reloaded was Devil's Due attempt to "re-do" G.I. Joe with a modern, fresh take. Some new takes were the designs (more realistic than unique outfits) and some twists like Snake-Eyes being a former Cobra agent and Duke actually being a Cobra spy. Unfortunately there just WASN'T enough to really bring people to buy it so Devil's Due canned it (they claim it was "put on hiatus"). It was interesting at first, but they needed some more radical differences than what they started with. Actually for most of the beginning of the comic, Cobra Commander wears a blue ski-mask and hasn't yet got his trademark hood/faceplate look.
An interchangeable head Cobra Commander would be great, one with the hood and the other with the faceplate.
In terms of CC's face...most Joefans acknowledge the comics as the proper "canon"...they did start printing before even the cartoon was on-air. The Cobra-La junk from the movie is all ignored by the fandom.
In the comics, CC is a used car salesman whose life tumbles down after the car accident death of his brother (a Vietnam vet, this car accident also ironically killed Snake-Eyes' family). He blames SE for his loss and eventually goes on to hire Firefly and Zartan to kill him in Japan. This spirals his life down as his wife leaves him and Cobra Commander takes his son Billy with him, eventually coming to the town of Springfield that suffers from the capitalist hold that the American government ties down on the people and businesses. Eventually he rallies the people together as he's a great orator and manipulator, eventually planting the seeds for COBRA.
Cobra Commander's face for the most part is never revealed because the intention behind it is that he is ANYONE. He is supposed to be the nameless, faceless and mysterious evil. Whether this was Hasbro's intent is unknown, but it works out. Plus like it was mentioned before, he is an American terrorist and in the Joe universe is the most wanted man in the world. It also gives him the advantage that he can slip away into the world whenever necessary...all his has to do is take off his mask...they'd never know who he was.
The only ones in the comics who have seen Cobra Commander's real face are Destro, Baroness, and Zartan (I think...but this was before Cobra Commander was Cobra Commander...and so Zartan may not know the man are one and the same). When CC hired Firefly to murder Snake-Eyes I believe they only talked via phone. Devil's Due also did some stupid retcon thing where Cobra Commander and Snake-Eyes were vigilantes for a little at one point before CC turned and tried to get him murdered...I'm not clear on that.
Devil's Due did show Cobra Commander to be a average-looking guy with brown hair....nothing special. A Marvel Joe comic also showed him without his mask, but he was wearing a fake wig, mustache and sunglasses to cover up for him.
The armored '88 Cobra Commander in the comics is NOT Cobra Commander. It is in fact an imposter, Fred VII, a Crimson Guard. Crimson Guards are the most elite Cobra infantry in that they integrate themselves into American society as doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. and spy for Cobra as well. Most Crimson Guards are parts of a series, in that they get plastic surgery to resemble their predescessor (who may have been killed in action, stationed elsewhere, etc.)...thus if Fred I is your neighbor and killed somewhere, Fred II would replace him and you'd never notice the difference. Fred VII was the 7th Fred in the series...and a mechanical inventor. He shot Cobra Commander in the back when CC expressed doubts about going back to Cobra and then took the armor he created for Cobra Commander and returned to Cobra Island (CC had been missing since an attack of GI Joe's HQ "The Pit").
It was his return there as Cobra Commander that Fred was put to the test. The Cobra hierarchy requested that CC show his face privately to the Baroness, since she was the only one who could recognize it. Instead of giving Fred up, the Baroness promised she would not reveal his identity as long as they worked together...this way Baroness could hold some of the puppet strings.
Fred VII was Cobra Commander for quite a number of issues, including the famous "Cobra Civil War" involving Serpentor. He eventually was one of the Cobra "traitors" buried in a land-locked freighter under a volcano once the real Cobra Commander returned.
*whew* that was long....that figure of the '88 Cobra Commander with orange hair is Fred VII from one of Hasbro's G.I. Joe Comic Packs.
