G.I. Joe - Tales from the Cobra Wars

Hasbro began production of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toys in 1982 and licensed the line to Marvel Comics for an ongoing series. In 1983, the popular animated series began it's four-year television run, producing 95 total episodes. The franchise has spun into animated and live-action films, additional comic series titles, and an assortment of collectible toys that have lasted over 40 years. 

As a casual fan of the franchise (I grew up watching the animated series), I was surprised to find an anthology of short-stories set in the G.I. Joe universe. The book is called Tales from the Cobra Wars and it was published in 2011 by IDW and edited by World War Z novelist Max Brooks. The collection includes seven total stories authored by the likes of Jonathan Maberry, Chuck Dixon, John Skipp, Cody Goodfellow, and even Brooks himself. The book also features an introduction by Brooks and artwork by Michael Montenat.

I have always enjoyed the G.I. Joe ninja character Snake Eyes, including the 2021 Paramount Pictures film Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. I also really like Chuck Dixon's writing style, especially his amazing run on the Marvel Comics title The Punisher. So, the story I decided to review from this collection is simply called “Snake Eyes”, penned by Dixon. 

When the story begins, a mathematician named Hanover is lecturing at a conference in Geneva about an algorithm he has perfected over the course of ten years that can predict growth in the economy of a developing nation. After the performance, Hanover is interviewed briefly by a woman calling herself Anastasia deCobray, but fans of the franchise will quickly realize from Dixon's description that this woman is the heinous Baroness, a lieutenant to Cobra Commander. Hanover is then knocked unconscious and taken into a Cobra hideout in the French mountains. 

When Hanover awakens, he learns that he has been taken captive by Cobra in an effort to reverse his complex algorithm, ultimately creating a new formula that would quickly, and efficiently, decrease the growth of a developing nation. Cobra hopes to use Hanover's intelligence to cripple a nation. In an effort to force Hanover into working with Cobra they show the mathematician a camera feed from inside his daughter's apartment in Paris. Comply and she lives. Fail and she dies. 

This was a fun 28 page story that thrusts readers into a search and rescue mission as the good guys' ninja works remotely in Moscow to gain intel on Hanover's whereabouts. By communicating with Scarlet and Mainframe, two of his Joe teammates, Snake Eyes is deployed to this monastery in the high peaks for a rescue mission. There's plenty of gunfire, and a few sword swipes, to satisfy G.I. Joe fans. Additionally, unlike the tame television show, Snake Eyes kills his enemies, which added some much-needed realism to the heroics.

“Snake Eyes” was a fun short with plenty of action-packed excitement. But, it did force me to wonder why we aren't getting any full-length G.I. Joe novels. A twenty-pager is fine, but it would seem there are a ton of stories to write about a variety of universe characters outside of the graphic novel and comic medium. Based on the box-office failure of the most recent G.I. Joe film, I assume Hasbro is content selling toys and comic licensing. 

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Ben Corbin #1: Sgt. Corbin’s War

Among the over 100 books he authored employing a variety of pseudonyms, Con Sellers (1922-1992) wrote a six-book series starring a soldier-turned-CIA operative Ben Corbin under the pen name Robert Crane. The series debut was 1963's Sgt. Corbin’s War and it takes place long before the hero became a spy. 

It’s late in the Korean War, and U.S. Army Sergeant Ben Corbin is an unusual asset for the military. Having been born and raised in Korea by American missionaries, Corbin speaks the Korean language fluently, has a keen understanding of cultural norms, and a spitting hate for North Korean commies. As such, he’s the guy chosen to interrogate North Korean prisoners of war, something he does with a cruel and torturous glee. He’s also an unlikely hero in the novel’s opening scene as he removes the fingernails of an enemy P.O.W. with a sharpened bayonet. Regardless of your opinions on torture, it’s a rough read. 

Corbin has a pessimistic view of U.S. military leadership and believes that the war effort needs a hand-picked unit comprised of a few G.I.s and trusted Republic of Korea soldiers unbound by the red tape of a formal command structure. It would be a unit that could really take it to the NoKos without the handcuffs of the pesky Geneva Convention rules of war. He pitches this idea to a General who grants him low-key permission to form a unit to kill the enemy without any micromanaging. With that blessing, Corbin’s Invader Security Force is born. 

As Corbin begins hand-picking his fighting unit, his first stop is a sexy Korean woman named Kim Chuni, who was a key figure during the resistance against the Japanese rule over Korea that ended in 1945. Nowadays, she’s a black marketeer and underworld figure. Her ostensible job in Corbin’s war unit is interpreter, but her real role is providing intel on the ground as well as having regular sex with Corbin. The rest of Corbin’s Army is Korean fighters and hard-case Americans with a distaste for authority and a taste for blood. 

The battle scenes are vivid, violent and well-written. However, much of the paperback is dedicated to Corbin feeling deeply between the worlds of his Korean upbringing and his American blood. He’s also struggling with the legacy of a strict religious father whose evangelism left deep scars in Corbin. The overwritten trajectory of the romantic partnership of Corbin and Kim mostly left me cold as well. 

Overall, Sgt. Corbin’s War was just okay. Our friends at Spy Guys and Gals website say it’s the highlight of the series. As such, I don’t see much need to dive deeper into the world of Ben Corbin. 

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Death Merchant #70 - The Greenland Mystery

During the 1970s and 1980s, men's action adventure fiction offered a robust selection of serial titles like The Destroyer, The Executioner, The Penetrator, and The Butcher. The catalyst was Pinnacle Books, a successful mass market paperback publisher that catered to male consumers and readers. Beginning in 1971, Pinnacle added Death Merchant to their impressive catalog of titles. The series was written by Joseph R. Rosenberger and featured a character named Richard Camellion, a globe-trotting CIA agent. Along with his cunning military tactics, Camellion was a master of disguises, allowing him to infiltrate hostile forces both as a spy and a combatant. The series ran 71 installments from 1971 through 1988 including a double-sized novel, Super Death Merchant: Apocalypse. While I've read Rosenberger's other literary work (Geneva Force), my first experience with Death Merchant is oddly the last book of the series, #70 The Greenland Mystery.

Like The Polestar Incident, which was the series' 21st installment, The Greenland Mystery features an extraterrestrial storyline. This isn't the first action-adventure series to introduce the possibility of aliens into the mix. The Executioner #84 and #273 both featured Mack Bolan fighting a Black Ops team around the mysterious Area 51 in Nevada. In this novel, Camellion and his partner Quinlan are assigned to an exploratory station in Greenland. Once there, Camellion learns that the research scientists have discovered an alien city buried deep in the ice.

With Rosenberger's writing style, readers are accustomed to the author's bizarre narratives and deep political analysis. The idea that aliens crashed in Greenland and built a city isn't particularly swerving out of Rosenberger's lane. The CIA is worried that the pesky Russians will invade the research facility and scavenge any alien technology that exists. Camellion, Quinlan and a small team of agents scout the facility and create ambush spots along the perimeter. Once the obligatory invasion begins from the Russians, it's up to Camellion's team to hold the line and protect the resources.

My issue with Rosenberger and Death Merchant is that the battle scenes are overly technical. Readers should be enjoying the “rock'em sock'em” action instead of the author theorizing that the 12.7 DshK is more powerful than the 14.5 KPV MG. It's overindulgent to describe every firearm on the battlefield down to the ballistic metrics. I just read the second installment of Peter McCurtin's Soldier of Fortune and it is vastly superior to Death Merchant simply because the focus is on developing characters and story instead of an armory.

When the action heats up, The Greenland Mystery is just an average read. If I could carve off 80-pages of technical nonsense, these books would be far more appealing. After reading this installment, I've reassured myself that having just three Death Merchant books on my bookshelf is more than enough. The series has its fans, I'm certainly not one of them.

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Geneva Force

Author Joseph R. Rosenberger wrote a number of men's action adventure novels throughout the 70s and 80s. His 70-book vigilante series 'Death Merchant' ranks in the highest echelons of popularity alongside 'Nick Carter', 'The Executioner' and 'The Butcher'. Prior to his death in 1993, the author had conceived a new vigilante series entitled 'Tenkiller', paralleling the same format he utilized with 'Death Merchant'. The debut, “Geneva Force” (1989 Pageant), stands as the only series contribution.

This “Geneva Force” refers to Mason Tenkiller, a globe-trotting fighting man who seeks to punish terrorist cell The Red Brigade. In the opening pages we read newspaper clippings advising that Tenkiller's wife and son were killed in a terrorist blast. But, do we know if Tenkiller has the ability to wage a one-man war on international terrorism? 

After a furious fire-fight in an abandoned German brewery, chapter two settles in with a resume showcasing Tenkiller's validity as the “Geneva Force”. He graduated from Notre Dame with a master's degree in psychology. After refusing an appointment at West Point, Tenkiller joins the Fifth Special Forces Group Airborne and serves four years in Vietnam. Later, he's recruited by the CIA and excels as a GS-12 rating and promoted to the European Terrorist Desk at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. After his family's murder in 1984, Tenkiller begins his crusade to right the wrongs of Europe. 

Rosenberger's deeper plowing was in hopes of harvesting a rogue killing machine that was courted by both the CIA and KGB. In a fertile story-line, heads of the CIA and KGB meet under the assumption that they will capture Tenkiller and force him to be a lone member of a joint taskforce used to kill targets for both agencies. It's a unique twist that aligns the two super-powers in a conventional way. This novel focuses on Tenkiller's annihilation of Red Brigade hierarchy while evading capture by the CIA and KGB men. There's even a brief reference to Rosenberger's claim to fame – the Death Merchant himself, Richard Joseph Camellion. 

By 1989, Rosenberger had clearly ran out of ideas. After two decades of cashing checks for 'Death Merchant', along with entries like 'C.O.B.R.A.', 'Kung-Fu' and 'Shadow Warrior', this series spark is simply re-imagining Camellion as the newer Tenkiller. So much that the body count reaches extraordinary heights, the gun porn outweighs the writing and this character uses wigs and make-up to hide his killing agendas. These are all consistent with the 'Death Merchant' series. So, why do we need another? Ultimately, I'm not sure if Rosenberger had any more entries drafted or submitted for this ill-conceived series. Regardless, his death just five years from this book's release would erase any further volumes of Tenkiller's fate. 

Read “Geneva Force” if you absolutely need 'Death Merchant' part 71. 

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