Minor tangent ahead
While the first chapter to The Serpent’s Tale is good, I would recommend readers to go ahead and skip it. The Cobra series has always been great, following Chuckles as he attempts to infiltrate the nefarious organization. Issue #5 derailed the momentum somewhat, putting the Chuckles story on the back burner for the time being. Serpent’s Tale is in many ways to Cobra as G.I. Joe: Origins is to the main Joe series: it’s not required reading, but is pretty interesting and fleshes out the world these two groups exist in. I suppose the story arc helps to keep things in perspective, in a more realistic timeframe. Chuckles was shot and horribly wounded at the end of issue #4, this arc fills in the time while he is healing.