Code Word: Geronimo

by Dale A. Dye, Julia Dye

The leader of SEAL Team 6 uttered, "Geronimo," and the world let out a sigh of relief. The symbol of ultimate evil was no more. Code Word: Geronimo is the amazing, moment-by-moment story of the clandestine raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Told by military insider and Hollywood consultant, Captain Dale Dye (USMC, Ret.), with Dr. Julia Dye, Ph.D., this historic tribute details the bravery and valor of SEAL Team 6 as it descends into a foreign land and achieves the near impossible.

Genres: Graphic Novels, War, Comics, Nonfiction, Military History

88 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2011

About the author

Dale Adam Dye is an American author, actor, and businessman. He served for many years in the U.S. Marine Corps, rising in rank from Private to Captain during the course of his career, which included service as a Marine Combat Correspondent during the war in Viet Nam. He retired from the USMC in 1984, and has since worked primarily in film and television in addition to writing several books.

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Justice will be served and the battle will rage,
this big dog will fight when you rattle his cage,
and you'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A. . . ."
-- from 'Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue' by Toby Keith

Graphic novel retelling of SEAL Team Six's successful raid on terrorist Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011. The book was not bad per se - scenes depicting the operatives carrying out said clandestine mission were suspenseful and effective - but it was otherwise extremely short and lacking in needed detail. It just felt sort of superficial or boilerplate, and could've easily been two or three times longer.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

What happened when Osama bin Laden (OBL) was killed? This GN may answer some of the questions many people still have. While the whole story may never be told this GN gives you an overview of the planning that went into getting OBL. The art really compliments the story, you almost feel as if you are there.

[Richard Guion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading Dale Dye's account of the Seal Team operation that nailed Osama Bin Laden. Perhaps because I haven't seen or read any other material on this subject, the details were fascinating. The most interesting thing I learned was about the dog that was on the team. The dog is wearing goggles on the mission. I did a search and discovered these are called "doggles". Supplementary materials in the back explain that "Geronimo" was used to acknowledge that the mission was completed successfully. The art by Gerry Kissell is spare and fits the story well. I never heard of Kissell before but he has drawn other military and action comics. I could not help but think what Michael Golden might do with this material.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel telling of the assault by Seal Team 6 on Osama Bin Laden. I thought it was very fine. Great art and a solid approach to telling the story. I recommend it.

[Robert Noll · Rating 4 out of 5]

The funnybook account of the raid against Osama bin Laden. Like any good work of entertainment, the book left me wanting more. A minus was the art style, which could have use a few more details. Overall, a good read that makes me want to read more books by this creative team.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle of this graphic novel is “The True Story of the Raid Against Osama Bin Laden.” This is a comic book telling of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The publisher IDW Publishing brought together a very interesting and talented team to tell this story. For instance this work is written by a former US Marine Captain Dale Dye. Dye’s biographical background is rather remarkable with his beginning as an enlisted Marine who rose quickly to the rank of Master Sergeant within thirteen years and later became a commissioned officer. He is a veteran of both Vietnam and Beirut. I think no doubt his military background helped with the story; I have seen some other military historical theme graphic novels that has less attention to details in its accuracy both in terms of the writing and the artwork than this particular work. This is also probably the only comic book that I have seen the creators include someone with a PhD. Julia Dye is mentioned on the cover as having a PhD and her creator biography in the last page mentioned she has a doctorate in anthropology in human conflict and her career specialization is keeping “the Entertainment Industry honest…and helps Hollywood directors capture the realities of warfare.”


With such a team assembled to tell the story of the Bin Laden raid I was glad that those who did the artwork for the story was also quite skilled. I love the colors, the details and also the illustrations of actual political figures that were involved with the raid which allowed informed readers to instantly recognize them. This include President Obama, director of the CIA Leon Panetta and those in the famous picture in the White House situation room watching the live feed of the raid unfolding.
One word of caution for those who read this is that not every character is real in the book especially with the actual SEAL team itself. For instance in the book the SEAL leader who led Red Squadron is identified as Lieutenant Donald “Duck” Dunham. This is an entirely fictional character. The same goes for the petty officers in the book. Presently it is against the law to reveal actual names of Tier One operatives. I wished they noted that in the story itself lest people get confused between literary license and the truth I also thought that since the book was released so quickly after the raid that the book did suffer the limitation of not having as much information or accurate information which usually comes out with time. This is the case with the details of the raid and also with details of the SEAL Team. But then there is also the challenge of telling a story that is largely classified and former military writers who also probably have a personal vested interests of not giving away details that require operational security.

The end of the book also has an essay that filled in what can’t be told or explained in drawn comic book panels such as the discussion of the name “Geronimo” which some might find insulting and also historical background of who Bin Laden was and explanation about SEAL Team Six.

In conclusion I would say read this book with a grain of salt. Remember that enjoying a graphic novel and reading it with care of not taking every details as truth are not mutually exclusive. Readers will probably get certain emotions tied to 9/11, appreciation for those in the military and also memories of hearing for the first time that Bin Laden was taken out. For that I appreciated this work. I appreciated that even with the Publishers rushing to the market to release this work they also dedicated a portion of the proceeds to be donated to veteran nonprofit.

[Dani Shuping · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC provided by netGalley

I had a lot of trouble writing this review because I came in with negative connotation's about the book. For starters I couldn’t see how this story could do justice to the people involved in this event since it was rushed to publication so quickly. Secondly, so many of the details are still left unknown, mostly in order to protect the SEAL team sent in. And from everything I’ve read about SEAL’s that’s the way they’d prefer to be known. And while my opinion was clouded a bit when I read the book, this seems to be a mostly accurate representation of what has been released of what’s gone down. Except that in all of the information released after the event they said they didn’t go in to kill Osama. So why is the team depicted gunning for an unarmed man? It seems like a huge disservice to everyone involved in this.

I’m really disturbed by the fact that they called this book “Code Word: Geronimo.” That phrase created a lot of controversy to begin with and even the shallow and atrocious explanation at the back doesn’t really help. To say its an honor to Native Americans that the army uses so many words to describe their weapons of mass destruction (the apache, the tomcat, warhawk, etc.) feels even more like an insult and a lack of understanding in what honor to Native Americans mean. In addition, the explanation in the back of the book felt like it was there to provoke people to anger and to glorify the death of other people. They say that Osama is “the most evil of all evil elements that have stalked the earth for the past thirty years.” And the rest of the wording seems to only exist to provoke fear and hatred amongst people from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. They throw numbers and figures around to casually that tell how many x are terrorists training camps. And they ignore that there are others that live there.

I can’t recommend this book at all. If they had stopped at just creating a graphic adaptation of the events of that day, it might have been ok. But the section at the back, the fact that they depict the team shooting an unarmed man, make me cringe in horror.

[P.M. Bradshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read many a bad review for this book, many simply because it's a comic book. I'm not certain why there is such a strong resentment against a format that includes illustrations.

I thought it was great. For an operation that only took something like 40 minutes, this book provided a lot of details and a lot of excitement. Like a single-operation of one of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp book's, this kept me on the edge of my seat, even though I knew the outcome.

while the graphic novel portion is basically just about the operation itself, there is text information after the story that gives you information on Geronimo the man, Osama Bin Ladin, Seal Team 6, and more.

Well done.

[Mathew Carruthers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, one we know from headlines and evening news, presented in a graphic novel format. Pace is spot on, like a military operation, and art is well executed. Nothing too flashy or overly distinctive, but it does the job - like military gear. May not be for everyone, but it is the story of real heroes putting life on the line to take down the number one terrorist on the planet. For that alone it's worthy of attention.

[pandamans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rapid read with great illustrations that takes you into the action of the night raid in Abottabad. The dialogue is interspersed with military jargon explained with asterisks and footnotes within the frame in a style that is reminiscent of the GI Joe comic book series. A bit thinner than I had imagined, but then again, the mission lasted around 40 minutes.

[Wendy Holliday · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok up until pg. 74, the second panel. I honestly said out loud, 'Really?'

Maybe, somewhere someone really thought Finally, this is Over! .... but I have never felt such a feeling of relief.

more later..

[Ill D]

I expected propaganda and I got propaganda. A self-fulfilling prophecy I guess.

[Bruce Nordstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Sure quick to read. More pictures than words, which did not satisfy my desire to know more about this incident, or answer some of the questions I've developed since this operation.

[David Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comic book version of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. Short and to the point. Could have used a little more build up, but they got the raid down pat. Will definitely need to read a longer, more detailed story about this raid.

[George Ilsley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very superficial effort, with an afterword trying to flesh out the substance a bit. This book takes about 15 minutes to read. There are confusing parts, like what went wrong that caused one of the helicopters to fail? I still don't know.

[Yousef · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical hollywood movie in comic book format. mentioned "true story" on the cover which is why i bought it. It hd some interesting details about the mission, definitly easier to get yourself to read than the wikipedia page. Has an interesting text addendum about the naative american indian Geronimo, Osama Bin Ladin, and the SEALs' training program. Filled with self righteous moral lecturing and heroic chest thumping throught the whole thing, but at least it clearly states in the begining that that's what this novel is for.

Was mostly a single day subway read. Got it for a dollar, retails at 16$.

[Mark Luongo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought it on a whim, more graphic novel than anything else. Always liked Dale Dye's movie work and military career. I'll look forward to a more extensive narrative of the op to kill Bin Laden in the future.

[MMS Readers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this was an OK book because it wasn't very long but it was to short. It connects to me because my grandfather was a marine and he was a veteran of the Korean war.