Army of Two: Dirty Money

by John Ney Rieber

Twenty-first-century soldiers of fortune Tyson Rios and Elliot Salem don't always get along--but their heavy-caliber missions to flashpoints and hot zones around the world haven't left them time to shoot each other...yet. This original graphic novel follows the Army of Two through some of their earliest missions together working as private military contractors up through the present. Faced with corruption, well-armed adversaries, and the promise of a hefty paycheck, Rios and Salem can only count on each other. Written by John Ney Rieber and illustrated by Brandon McKinney, Army of Two: Dirty Money delivers an action-packed, all-original story line that expands on the plot of the Army of Two video game from Electronic Arts.

• Video Game Tie-In: Based on the new Electronic Arts video game, Army of Two, releasing in November 2007.
• Written by John Ney Rieber: Rieber is a critically acclaimed writer. In between his work for Marvel Comics and DC/Vertigo, he has chronicled the adventures of video-game heroine Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and G.I. Joe and Transformers, along with countless other tales of magic, mystery, and violence.
• Illustrated by Brandon McKinney: McKinney is an illustrator who has done work for such clients as Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., Random House Books, Dark Horse Comics, and Marvel Comics, among many other clients for the past 14 years.

Genres: Graphic Novels

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2007

About the author

John Ney Rieber is an American comic book writer. He has written for the comics The Books of Magic, Captain America, G.I. Joe and Tomb Raider.

Reviews

[Andrew Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Dirty Money", 2007

The dialogue, especially the contentious back-and-forth between Salem and Rios, didn't read as a natural buddy-cop banter nor as two dudes with a score to settle. It was really just forced and often out of place. Compared to the gameplay, way too much talking and not enough shooting. Worst part though, is that the points of conversation switched so abruptly that it was jarring to figure out what was going on. I liked the 90's era set up, though it didn't go into anything of substance for it, and I always find a good shoot-em-up gritty tale with gangbangers, cartels, special forces, and Triads to be compelling but again, it didn't actually spend time in any of those environments to get a sense of the atmosphere.

Some scenes and details are decent art but a lot are also chaotic and extreme in the bodies/faces. Immediately I was aksing, does Salem have a goatee, a beard, or a five o'clock shadow? The artist can't decide in Mission 1.

Mission 1: Expendable - 04-04-1993 (Miami to Hong Kong)
Rios reels from cutting Samantha out of his life, believing she cannot love his scars. Salem mouthes off about everything. The fellas take on a mission from an arms dealer to rescue his son, who has taken on the drug trade. The son has been abducted by a psychotic Triad gangster and a special operative crew called the Black Mountain, ran by an old associate of Rios'.

Mission 2: Dusted - 08-19-1996 (Miami to Paraguay)
Rios is floating on Cloud 9 from his engagement to Samantha, wanting low-risk assignments to make sure he makes it home to his fiancé. Salem mouthes off about it, even takes a swing. The fellas take on a mission from the Pentagon to assassinate a narcoterrorist in Paraguay, who happens to be trained by an old associate of Rios, and working with Black Mountain, but this terrorist actually has some dirt on a few Pentagon members, recorded by an old CIA associate of Rios'. Rios know everybody. Unfortunately, Security & Strategy Corp send psychotic Clyde to back-up Salem and Rios in Paraguay.

Mission 3: Hell to Pay - 06-17-2001 (Macedonia-Kosovo Border)
Laumer Consortium contracts Rios and Salem to protect an American undersecretary as he crosses into Macedonia, buying out a Commander so they can have unchecked access to oil removal. Black Mountain also convinces the commander to use their adviser, an ex-Soviet Special Forces fighter, once left for dead by his own unit, and hellbent on killing everybody around.

Interim: Tracers - 09-28-2005 (Louisiana)
Fresh off thwarting a human trafficking ring ran by Black Mountain, Triads, and the Albanian Mafia, Rios and Salem drink to their sorrows and anger of facing off against Rios' old C.O., Marcus Ferrell. Making it worse, Rios has to stand Samantha (and their daughter Nala) up at their own wedding, in order to save the enslaved girls.

Mission 4: Bloodtrail - 12-18-2005 (Miami to Texas-Mexico Border)
Control of the La Plaza drug smuggling areas leaves the men, women, and children of a Mexican border town slaughtered. With a public image that catapulted Rios and Salem almost into rockstar status, a reporter contracts them for protection to cover the border town havoc. But the revelation of one lone surviving reporter brings to light that she has evidence of the local gangbangers and El Patron enslaving women (but no story detail of men and children enslavement). Patron's employment of the last few Black Mountain ops sets up for the ultimate showdown between Rios, Salem, Vyrlov, and Ferrell.

Mission 5: Coda - 02-18-2006 (Miami to Hawaii)
Taking a long-awaited break from work, Rios and Salem request a vacation in Hawaii, but Stockwell breaks the news to them that they're needed immediately for a contract to take out Marcus Ferrell. Fortunately, Ferrell is in Hawaii. Cliffhanger. I don't know if Rios finally hitched to Samantha and is taking their child on vacation with him but we can guarantee that Rios is heading out to pop some caps.


- Tyson Rios
- Elliot Salem
- Samantha - Rios' ex and then later fiancé/baby mama
- Nala - Rios and Sam's daughter
- Dalton - of Security & Strategy Corp
- Alice Murray - of Security & Strategy Corp
- Stockwell - of Security & Strategy Corp
- Richard - of Security & Strategy Corp
- Cha Min Soo - SSC client
- Cha Min Jae - son of Soo; owns Wave Tiger yacht
- Danny Shieh - Sun Yee On Society gangster of Triad; a "mad dog"
- Marcus Ferrell - dishonorably discharged Colonel; Black Mountain operative/mercenary
- Kevin "Kermit" Remington; Black Mountain merc; ex-Ranger with Rios
- Dustin Mendelssohn - Black Mountain merc
- Philip Clyde - mohawked Merc with T.W.O.
- Angelo Rivas - Salvadorian paramilitary; narcoterrorist
- Maksim
- Baines - U.S. undersecretary
- Ilia - gunner/guard for
- Vyrlov - "The Dead Man"; ex-Soviet Special Forces; Black Mountain operative
- Janice McDonald - reporter
- Paloma Duras-Garcia - reporter; only survivor of Mexico border town massacre
- El Patron - Mexican figure in the criminal world; trafficks women as his slaves

[JJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I somehow missed Dirty Money back when it released and only found out about it via a video game tie-ins Goodreads list -- so it has been a long time since I've even thought about Army of Two. I did enjoy all three games though, even if each was less exciting than the last. In my memory, anyway, I liked the globetrotting, story, and interactions between characters Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios most in the initial game.

It's good news, then, that Dirty Money feels closest to the vibe of the first Army of Two game. This graphic novel takes our heroes to a variety of locations across the world -- each at least somewhat visually distinct and capably drawn. The story is nothing to write home about, but it it managed to keep me invested *just* enough -- the time jumps between different missions were slightly jarring, but it was interesting to see how Salem and Rios' relationships to other characters and rival corporations evolved over the course of their early mercenary career. And while the dialogue wasn't exactly *good*, it felt true to my memory of the profanity-laced, machismo-filled back-and-forths from the game. I didn't go into this expecting a good, well-written story or characters -- and that's good, because you won't find it here.

Unfortunately, there are a few stumbles in one area where Dirty Money comes close to succeeding. Some of the artwork is pretty good, whether that's a close-up of some dead bodies or more of a sweeping establishing shot. But sometimes it's hard to tell what's going on -- the action moves too quickly, almost like it's skipping panels, it's difficult to tell Salem and Rios apart when they're masked up and far away (unless you can make out their hair), and in my printing there are a few dialogue boxes that are too dark or lack proper contrast to easily read.

Overall, Dirty Money is like the Army of Two games -- go into it with low expectations and enjoy some simple action, but accept that it's nothing more than that. And if you've never played the games, just skip this one.