Lady Jaye

Profile

Her real name is Alison R. Hart-Burnett, and her rank is that of Staff Sergeant E-6. Lady Jaye was born on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

She is a Bryn Mawr graduate, and also did graduate work in Trinity College in Dublin, before graduating from intelligence school at Fort Holabird. She is Airborne and Ranger qualified, and an expert with the M-16, M-1911A1 auto pistol, and reflex crossbow. She is also an accomplished actress and fluent in several languages. She has a knack for impersonation, right down to the subject's voice and mannerisms.

In the Sunbow/Marvel animated series, and in the Marvel Comics series, she has a romance with Flint, the rugged warrant officer. Both first appeared in the Revenge of Cobra miniseries.

In the UK Action Force series, Lady Jaye is from Cork in Ireland.

Toys

Lady Jaye was first released as an action figure in 1985.

Marvel

Lady Jaye's first comics appearance was in the Marvel Comics series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #32 (February 1985), where her codename was spelled "Lady J". She arrives with Ripcord; the two are meant as replacements for Grunt and Scarlett.

She goes up on a training flight with Ace as his co-pilot. The duo get into a conflict with the Cobra pilot Wild Weasel and his co-pilot, the Baroness. After emptying their weapons at each other, the pilots salute each other and fly off. Neither co-pilot understands why.

Lady Jaye leads a training mission in issue #44. She is working with the rookies Crankcase, Heavy Metal, Bazooka and Airtight. All five are captured by Cobra forces as expendable testers of new weapons systems. Despite the Joes having no ammunition on them or in their vehicles, they destroy the opposition and escape.

One of the more prominent moments in Lady Jaye and Flint's relationship happens when he confronts Scarlett and Snake Eyes over the ruses they had used to rescue other Joes. Angered at his insensitivity, Lady Jaye slugs Flint, which soon leads to soothed emotions instead of anger.

Later, during a Cobra-led war in an Eastern European country, the team of Lady Jaye and Flint would hit a snag. In battle with two Cobra soldiers, Flint is forced to kill his opponent but Lady Jaye manages to subdue hers. Faced with the "burden" of a live, healthy prisoner, Flint urges her to kill him and she resists. Flint even offers to do it himself. The soldier is seen later, still a prisoner.

Action Force

Lady Jaye is a featured character in the slightly altered 'Action Force' continuity, starting with issue one. This version of Lady Jaye has the same file name, and is a native of Cork, Ireland, according to the 1987 Action Force file card of Lady Jaye.

Devil's Due

After G.I. Joe disbanded, Lady Jaye married Flint. When G.I. Joe was re-formed, many Joes commented that her marriage to Flint seem to have a positive effect on him, given how much more mellow he seemed in his later years than he had during the unit's earlier days. She was killed by Red Shadows member Dela Eden while trying to save Flint. Flint was devastated by her death, yet could not bring himself to kill his wife's murderer. Her death marked a critical turning point in Flint's life.

In the comic G.I. Joe America's Elite, a birthdate of June 10, 1966, for Lady Jaye can be read when Flint visits her grave. Lady Jaye also appeared in the Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers series and the Dreamwave Transformers vs. G.I. Joe series.

IDW

When Idea and Design Works acquired the G.I. Joe licence from Hasbro in 2009, they began publishing a new monthly series that completely ignored any previous continuity, and Hasbro later officially declared the entire Devil's Due run non-canonical. Lady Jaye's first appearance in this new continuity was in Cobra #6 from October 2011.

Lady Jaye is also once again a main character in IDW's continuation of the original A Real American Hero series, where her and Flint's relationship is continuing as it was in the original Marvel comic. In issue 174 she and Flint lead a team on an operation to kidnap Darklon. As the squad leaves, their helicopter takes fire, with both she and Darklon being seriously wounded. Flint initially orders medical treatment for Lady Jaye, disregarding his orders to bring Darklon back alive at any cost, but Jaye convinces him that the mercenary's intelligence is more important than her life. Roadblock and the other members of the team agree to keep Flint's wavering a secret, and Jaye is rushed into surgery upon their return to The Pit. Though unaware of what Flint nearly did, Hawk tells Flint that he has decided the two of them won't be assigned to the same team again, to avoid any possible complications from their romantic attachment.

Sunbow

In the animated series, she is voiced by Mary McDonald-Lewis. She, along with Flint, makes her first appearance in the G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra miniseries. In the first-season episode "Skeletons in the Closet," it is revealed that she is related to the Joes' enemy, Destro, but it was never specified to what extent the relationship was. Lady Jaye was a more mellow and level-headed person compared to her comic book incarnation, but she did occasionally display a potent temper. She is the second most featured character in the series after Cobra Commander.

Lady Jaye also made use of a variety of specialized throwing javelins as signature weapons that featured unique properties like energy projectors, a pure diamond head for cutting through hard materials, one that released nets for capturing enemies, rescue flares, and even one that generated a protective force field-like bubble that let her and Flint breathe underwater, and which included small propulsion units that could carry them to the surface.

G.I. Joe: The Movie

Like many of the original characters, Lady Jaye makes an appearance in G.I. Joe: The Movie. However, like most of the characters from the original series, she is not shown as part of the main focus of the movie.

Transformers

In the Transformers series, a character named Marissa Faireborn was featured, and Faireborn happened to be the surname of Flint's real civilian name. In one episode, Bill Ratner (who voiced Flint), gave voice to Marissa's father. In another episode "The Killing Jar", her father is shown as a slightly shadowed version of Flint. It has often been theorized by fans that Marissa was the daughter of Flint and Lady Jaye, and on the commentary track of The Transformers: The Movie 20th Anniversary DVD, it was confirmed by Flint Dille, story consultant on the Transformers movie as well as a writer, story editor and producer on G.I. Joe. This was also verified years before in an interview Flint Dille did with the Ultimate G.I. Joe Cartoon Website.

DiC

Lady Jaye makes her first appearance as a member of the Slaughter's Marauders, wearing a blue version of her original uniform in the five part mini-series, Operation Dragonfire. She still uses her javelins as her primary weapon. As the regular season progressed, Lady Jaye’s personality began to change from her original version. She would be used in episodes paired with Captain Grid-Iron instead of Flint, as Flint was not around at this time (Flint did come around in the second season, but by that time Lady Jaye was dropped from the roster).

Lady Jaye appeared in a handful of episodes: in the five part mini-series Operation Dragonfire, United We Stand, Revenge of the Pharaohs, Victory at Volcania Part 1& 2, Pigskin Commandos, D-Day at Alcatraz Part 1 & 2, BIOK, Stuck on You.

Resolute

Lady Jaye appears in the 2009 animated film, G.I. Joe: Resolute, though she has no speaking lines and is only seen on the USS Flagg aircraft carrier.

Renegades

Lady Jaye appears in G.I. Joe: Renegades, portrayed as Latin American. In the series, she puts together the Joe team for Scarlett's mission to Cobra Pharmaceuticals. When the Joes become outlaws she is assigned to assist Flint in capturing them. Owing Duke a favor for saving her life, as well as believing they are innocent, Lady Jaye quietly helps whenever possible. Her action are always carefully hidden to keep Flint from discovering the truth. In an interview with writer Henry Gilroy, Gilroy stated that the relationships between Flint and Lady Jaye and Scarlett and Snake Eyes would be evolving as the series progresses.

Beyond

Lady Jaye is the only female Joe to appear in the direct to video cartoon "Old Soldiers Never Die" which was the only cartoon appearance of Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles (which was also produced by Sunbow Productions, the same company that produced the original Real American Hero cartoon). Lady Jaye, along with Doc and Hawk were part of the team that rescued Sgt. Savage from cryogenic storage. These three Joes appeared in this cartoon perhaps as a way of bridging the change from the Real American Hero toyline/comic/cartoon continuity to the new Sgt. Savage line. This theory is further bolstered by a cameo appearance from Cobra Commander.

In this incarnation, Lady Jaye's hair is blonde and approximately shoulder length. She was voiced by Kathleen Barr.

Live-action movie

Adrianne Palicki portrays Lady Jaye in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the sequel to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In the film, it is revealed that Jaye's father was displeased that he got a daughter instead of a son to carry on his family's three generations of military tradition. He died before Jaye could rise high enough to outrank him, leaving her bitter about not having earned his final acknowledgement.

Lady Jaye is a supporting character in the "Find Your Fate" novel "Operation: Dragon Fire" printed by Ballantine Books. She also appears in another novel in the same series, "G.I. Joe and the Everglades Swamp Terror".