I just don't get it...

When Sean Collins became the new Snake-Eyes, the JOEs kept saying not to call him Sean. They had to call him Snake-Eyes so that Cobra would not find out the real Snake-Eyes is dead in the current Hama-verse. They didn't want any slip ups in the field that could compromise the JOEs security and effectiveness.

I just get online and check out issue #297 and Sean is called Sean seven times! Six of those times are in situations where dead/dying/wounded Cobra troops can hear the JOEs. Cover Girl talks with Stalker aboard a C-130 headed to Cobra Island and mentions Sean, but still, if they aren't supposed to call him that...don't.

What is the purpose of having several JOEs over several issues impress upon other JOEs the need to not call him Sean, only for them to completely ignore established protocols and in fact call him Sean in the presence of the enemy?'

I realize this is a comic book and I may be making entirely too much of this, but from a storytelling POV I don't know if it is laziness, apathy, or something else. It's like ignoring previously established rules.

That is really my only criticism of the book since the whole death of Snake-Eyes (other than the whole giant eye plot).

It seems like a similar situation on the superhero side of comics where they call out each other's real names instead of codenames.

[pluv]

Well, the No Prize answer is human error/lapse of judgment. It happens. However, pretty sure Sankes being Sean is highly Classified and so that mistake doesn't get made that many times that close together without serious reprimands and or/demotions/removal. That is the kind of information leak that would shake up the entire organization from the top down.

From a real world persepective, Larry forgets stuff, but I give him the benefit of the doubt on things like this because I don't know where he's leading readers yet. It is possible to sell readers on This being the new Snake Eyes he needed to overplay "this isn't Sean it is Snake Eyes" hand and now several months of stories later that need to establish that character aspect isn't as necessary. I don't know which it is. I'm leaning towards the latter, but you never know what's up the old man's sleeve for story arcs.