I’ve been posting this column fairly regularly now (about 3 times a month) for five months now, and I’m still finding my way as far as the topics I plan to cover. The original task was to bring you news and reviews about Star Wars’ author’s non-Star Wars projects. Slowly I also branched out into covering other tie-in Media as well, things that might not be written by Star Wars authors; because I think these types of books are a natural fit for the readers of Star Wars novels. I’m going to continue to do so in the months ahead, covering things from video-game adaptations to this week’s column; a review of G.I Joe: Above and Beyond by Max Allan Collins.

Like many recent films that have tie-in novels associated with them, G.I. Joe: Above and Beyond is a prequel to the film. While I was more of a ‘Transformers’ fan as a boy, I had my share of G.I. Joes, watched the cartoon and read the odd issue of the comic. I had some favorite Joes of course – usually not the most popular of characters, but ironically some of whom actually have larger roles in this book. With that said, you need have no knowledge of G.I. Joe at all to read this story or to enjoy it – it’s a well written “military type” action/adventure novel.

From the get go, we’re introduced to two teams, a US Military Special Forces unit that is just coming off of a mission where they were tasked with tracking down an illegal gun running operation. This is Able Team, led by Duke, along with his friend Ripcord, and a few other folks who could be future JOEs. Yep, none of them are on the JOE team yet. But G.I.Joe, an international organization has Duke on their radar, and they’re shadowing his team because they have similar coinciding objectives.

There’s a small amount of down-time after the excitement of the opening mission, where the reader is introduced to some other supporting characters – and it’s here that we have one of the only faults I saw with the book; there’s a bit of a data-dump at one point. Hawk, leader of the JOEs, considers the people he’s going to put together for the next mission that’s come up – and as he does, he thinks about how each of these people came to be on the team. So it’s an odd non-flashback kind of thing, hearing about these character’s former missions via the thoughts of their commander. Not to second guess the author, but I feel like there should have been a better way to reveal this information; like maybe even having Hawk tell Cover Girl (his assistant) these tales, to explain why he’s choosing them.

But, that problem was resolved quickly since we move directly onto the next mission – to a South American country that is in the midst of a Civil War. The gun runners from the earlier mission are planning on bringing new pulse weapons to whomever is willing to pay the most, and when the current President of that war torn country decides he wants none of it, his military commander assassinates him and stages a coup to ensure their side will win against the rebels. The Americans send in Able Team to try and find the Vice President of that country and help him regain power, while the JOEs are sent in to ensure the pulse weapons don’t wind up in the hands of anyone.

The JOE team consists of Gung Ho, Snake Eyes, Scarlet, Breaker, and Heavy Duty. Since they are a secret organization, they must stay out of sight of Able Team while both supporting the Americans and also trying to accomplish their own mission. Meanwhile, Duke’s team infiltrates the military forces of this country by posing as mercenaries. They are sent on a mission to kill the Vice-President, but then turn it around and use the chance to save him. But everything comes to a head in one small town; where Able Team along with the Vice President tries to make contact with the rebels, while the Military closes in on them with their pulse weapons, with the JOEs in hot pursuit.

In all, I really enjoyed this book. Because of it’s setting, it felt very real world and at least semi-realistic, with very little of a fantastical element to it. The characters were well fleshed out, and again, not because I knew them previously. It was a good adventure, with a good balance of espionage and battles; and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the movie and wants to read more. Speaking of the movie, I’ll be doing a review of the novelization by the same author of The Rise of Cobra next week in this column.