The Expendables "The Wrap-Up" The Expendables #4 (Dynamite) Written by Chuck Dixon Illustrated by Esteve Polls Colored by Mark Rueda Lettered by Simon Bowland Cover by Lucio Parillo 2010

The Expendables pull off the snatch in the Black Sea; meanwhile, Tool faces down a violent L.A. street gang alone. 

Notes from the Expendables chronology

The Expendables comic book mini-series was a 4-issue prequel series to the first movie in the Expendables franchise.

Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue

(Where relative, I have added the name of the actor who plays the character in the movies for aid in visualizing the characters)

Barney Ross (actor Sylvester Stallone)

Yin Yang (actor Jet Li)

Lee Christmas (actor Jason Statham)

Elya Gosprovich

Gunner Jensen (actor Dolph Lundgren)

Hale Caesar (actor Terry Crews)

Toll Road (actor Randy Couture)

Pyotr Ovyorovech

Aguilo

Tool (actor Mickey Rourke)

R.J. 

Didja Know?

Seemingly, Dynamite Entertainment did not have rights to the actors' likenesses, as the artist depictions of the characters in the mini-series do not particularly look like the actors who play them in the Expendables movie.

The issues of this mini-series did not have titles. I have chosen the title of "The Wrap-Up" for this study simply because I couldn't think of a better title to fit it.

Didja Notice?

On page 2, Yang says that Gunner once claimed to have been a roadie for Metallica. Metallica is an American heavy metal band, active since 1981.

Yang appears to be carrying an Uzi during the raid on the Maxim Litvinov. Ovyorovech also carries one later in the story. The general Uzi line of weapons was designed by Israeli Captain Uziel Gal in the late 1940s and named after him.

On page 2, Gosprovich mutters "Bliad!" when he steps from the bathroom and sees the Expendables team questioning his prostitute. Bliad is a Russian word roughly meaning "whore", though it is also used as a general swear word.

On page 3, Lee realizes Gosprovich was in the bathroom and says, "The bog!" "Bog" is a British slang term for bathroom.

On page 8, Aguilo says ese, viejo, and hermano. These are Spanish terms for "man", "old man", and "brother", respectively.

On page 9, the gang members and Tool use the words jefe, amigo, and qué. These are Spanish terms for "chief", "friend", and "what", respectively. Aguilo also calls one of his men cabrón, a derogatory term for a man who has a cheating woman.

On page 11, Barney angrily tells the shouting Gunner, "They heard you in Kiev!" Kiev is the capital city of Ukraine. The Expendables' current mission is taking place off the Crimean Peninsula, which was part of Ukraine in 2010 when the story was written (the peninsula was annexed illegally by Russia in 2014 and is still the object of dispute between Russia and Ukraine and the international community).

Also on page 11, Barney refers to Gunner as a "cranker". This is another term for a meth addict, like "tweaker".

Yang mentions an "easy" job they once pulled in Myanmar. Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia, once more commonly known as Burma.

In the last panel of page 11, Barney says, "Oh nyet!" Nyet is Russian for "no".

On page 12, Barney's team is attacked on the ship by a group of what he refers to as mujahideen. Mujahideen are Islamic warriors engaged in jihad.

When Barney shoves Gosprovich overboard on page 15, he says, "Dosvedanya," while Gosprovich shouts, "Nyet!" Dosvedanya is Russian for "goodbye". Nyet is Russian for "no".

On page 17, Barney tells his team they're heading home to Cali. "Cali" is shorthand for California. As stated in the study of "THE NIGERIAN PRINCE", the movies have the Expendables based out of New Orleans, Louisiana instead.

On page 18, Tool's girlfriend wakes up in the morning thinking he must be fixing breakfast because she smells bacon. During the night, Tool used a flame-thrower to kill the gang members that came to his shop to attack him; human flesh is said to smell like fatty pork when burning.

On page 19, Gunner calls Gosprovich tovarich. Tovarich is Russian for "friend".

On page 20, Barney's floatplane is intercepted over the sea by R.J. and a couple of U.S. Navy helicopters for the hand-off of Gosprovich and Barney says, "I thought the hand-off was set for Cyprus." Cyprus is a small island nation in the Mediterranean Sea.

When Gosprovich asks where he's being taken, Barney says, "Well, they're not taking guests at Gitmo these days." "Gitmo" is a nickname for Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, a U.S. navy base on the eastern end of Cuba, where a military detention camp has been located since 2002 to hold unlawful combatants captured by U.S. forces in the U.S. War on Terror. The nickname comes from the airfield code there, GTMO. The detention facility stopped taking new detainees during President Barack Obama's first term.