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Zarana is a fictional character from the toyline, comic books and animated series. She is affiliated with Cobra Command as a member of the Dreadnoks.
She has short naturally auburn hair, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #92 (November, 1989) 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 singer Wendy O. Williams.
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 by Firefly, but was rescued by Slice and Dice who found her by accident. She is reunited with Cobra. As revealed in her complaints, she had spent months in a dungeon on Cobra Island, abandoned there with Road Pig and Cesspool."G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" #135 (April 1993) 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.
Zarana leads a Dreadnoks/Cobra squad against an out of control Battle Android Trooper. She loses several . A grenade thrown by a G.I. Joe squad injures her, though she is still mobile. Zartan orders Zanya to leave with her; they try to escape in a Cobra Coil motorcycle, but circumstances change and they are arrested with most of the other Dreadnoks. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero vol. 2 #12-13 (December 2002)
In the America's Elite series, Cobra Commander disguises himself as White House staff member Garret Freedlowe, and tricks General Rey into leading a new elite unit called Phoenix Guard. Zarana is one of the Cobra operatives who poses as a Guard member, and is given the new codename "Friday", real name Jennifer K. Larson, born in Hialeah, Florida. Friday's specialties were infantry, heavy weapons, tracking, unit supply specialist and mechanical technician. She received basic training at Fort Jackson, and advanced infantry training at Fort Lee. She also completed the Unit Armorer School at Fort Hood, the Marksman Instructor course and Airborne School at Fort Benning, and the Counter-Sniper course at Camp Robinson, Arkansas. She was the team's weapons specialist, and second-in-command to General Rey. Following the Guard's attack on The Rock, Zarana is taken into custody by the Joes and imprisoned in "The Coffin", a maximum security penitentiary located in Greenland. G.I. Joe: America's Elite #18 (December 2006) She later escapes imprisonment alongside several others, during a raid on the facility led by Tomax. G.I. Joe: America's Elite #30 (December 2007) At the conclusion of the World War III storyline, Zarana is revealed to have escaped the mass defeat and capture of Cobra's forces, and is back with the Dreadnoks (who are now sans Zartan). G.I. Joe: America's Elite #36 (June 2008)
The comic series Dreadnoks Declassified reveals that Zarana's given name is Zoe.
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. Shipwreck pursues them, telling the twins that they are outgunned and not to fire back. Zandar and Zarana respond that they must go out of sight, and use holography to conceal their motorbike as they make their escape. G.I. Joe: vol. 3 #8 (September 2013) The Dreadnok twins were apprehended shortly thereafter and taken into custody.
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. GI Joe #8 (August, 2017)
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 and Mainframe develop romantic feelings for each other, which hinders her progress. She eventually finishes her task, and also saves Mainframe's life when Zartan leaves an explosive on him. At the end of the episode, Zartan, sitting with the Dreadnoks at a campfire, mocks her as she stands off from the group, gazing at the Moon: "Hey, Zarana, I've been thinking! Maybe you ought to quit the Dreadnoks, go marry that wimp, get a house in the suburbs, have kids." She responds by shooting in the direction of the Dreadnoks' campfire, causing them to scatter. The episode ends showing both Mainframe and Zarana, miles away from each other looking at the Moon, perhaps pondering the same question. She briefly reunites with Mainframe in "Grey Hairs And Growing Pains", in which she secretly supplies him with the antidote that would restore him (and the other Joes) to their proper ages.
In "Raise the Flagg!", Cobra attempts to salvage an antimatter pod from a crashed helicarrier of theirs. Cobra soldiers under the command of Zartan, Zarana and Zandar use an oil platform for the operation. The three Dreadnoks flee during a battle with the Joes and are sent by Cobra Commander to recover the antimatter pod before the Joes. They are taken prisoner alongside Roadblock, Leatherneck and Wet-Suit by an insane Cobra chef named B.A. LaCarre and his B.A.T.s, who force them into labor. When arguments break out among the Joes and Dreadnoks, LaCarre tries to have his B.A.T.s execute Zarana. She is briefly saved by the efforts Roadblock and Zartan, but LaCarre decides to kill Roadblock along with her. The execution is stopped by an attack on the ship, after which Zarana is helped out of a pile of wreckage by Wet Suit and says she never thought a Joe would help her except into a jail cell. The Joes, Dreadnoks and LaCarre eventually put aside their differences and hook the antimatter pod to the helicarrier's rotors, rising them out of the water. Cobra Troopers take the Dreadnoks to a chamber to recover from decompression sickness.
In "Sins of Our Fathers", Zarana disguises herself as a woman named Chipper Dougan and hires Dial-Tone, who was apparently discharged from G.I. Joe, to design a communications system. The project is secretly intended to awaken a creature in a pit near the ruins of Destro's castle that Cobra Commander would then send to kill Serpentor. Zarana monitors Dial-Tone's activity and reports to the Joes using a voice modulator that changes her voice to that of Flint, who spied on Cobra's scheme and was captured. In a later scuffle with Dial-Tone for control of the machine, Zarana's cover is blown when Dial-Tone knocks her mask off.
After the miniseries, Zarana appears in the following episodes:
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