James Bond: Origin #1 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND: ORIGIN No. 1, September 2018

Publicized by “Dynamite Entertainment” as “the definitive account of James Bond’s exploits during World War Two”, this twenty-seven page periodical certainly packed plenty of pulse-pounding punch in September 2018 with its wonderfully tense depiction of the Clydebank Blitz, “the most devastating German attack on Scotland during the War”, and intriguing spy shenanigans set within a strictly-run Scottish school for boys. Indeed, considering that writer Jeff Parker himself admitted that any such comic would prove “a weighty challenge”, this narrative’s enjoyably enthralling pace and clever depiction of its titular character being simply “tenacious and a lightning-quick study”, as opposed to a contrived junior version of the famous “double-O agent”, should readily have dispelled any fears long-term fans of the franchise had that the “Oregon-based writer” couldn’t “nail the promising hero in his youth.”

Arguably this comic’s biggest success therefore, as opposed to the marvellous “gravitas of war in 1941 Europe” which its terrifying opening portrays, is its depiction of the seventeen-year-old’s exacting education and engrossing relationships with Bond’s disciplinarian teachers, friends and bullish enemies. These all-too brief ‘days of innocence’ do admittedly read somewhat like one of Enid Blyton’s naively-penned “Famous Five” novels with Professor Keller suddenly being visited by a mysterious man who is revealed to be “working for… [the] Nazis in Denmark” on some rocket plans, and a suspicious young James deciding to try to overhear the two men’s conspiratorial conversation. But such similarities to the “strong moral framework” of Blyton’s popular children’s stories is debatably precisely the sort of straightforward sense of right from wrong which a future secret serviceman should have; “I tried to follow the men who attacked the professor -- I lost them!”

Ultimately however, it is probably this comic’s incredibly dramatic and emotional representation of a German night-time bombing run over a highly-populated residential area, which rather cleverly bookends the cast’s innocent(ish) school days, that potentially attracted the most praise, as the incredibly well-penned extended sequence leaps from one sense-shattering scene to another as Commander Weldon desperately tries to lead his wards to safety amidst a plethora of deadly exploding shells, and Bond demonstrates his willingness to put his personal welfare second when others are in dire need of assistance. Energetically pencilled and coloured by Bob Q, these panels are a real treat for the eyes, and doubtless helped many bibliophiles both almost feel the intense heat of the fires surrounding Ian Fleming's "icon", as well as hear the deafening roar of the enemy aeroplanes as they drone overhead devilishly delivering more death and destruction with every passing second.

Script: Jeff Parker, Art & Colour: Bob Q, and Letters: Simon Bowland

James Bond #12 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 12, December 2016

It is hard to imagine that many of this comic’s 10,710 readers agreed with publisher “IDW Entertainment” when they boasted that Issue Twelve of “James Bond” brought the ‘second 007 story’ in their comic book series to an “explosive conclusion”. For whilst the twenty-two page periodical does culminate in the gruesome demise of Beckett Hawkwood, the “terrifying” SPECTRE operative is neither spectacularly dispatched by the titular character or actually even 'killed' for any rational reason except perhaps to bring a tediously overlong narrative to a most welcome end.

Indeed, in many ways Warren Ellis’ script for this final instalment of "Eidolon" appears to be a desperate attempt by the graphic novelist to simply pad matters out until the magazine’s end, and seems a far cry from his writing on the title’s preceding “Vargr” story-arc; a six-parter which was actually praised as being “the best contemporary take on 007” by American television producer Brian K. Vaughan. Certainly, there arguably can’t be any other plausible excuse as to why the best-selling author wastes two pages depicting Miss Birdwhistle chit-chatting through the streets of London, and a further seven showing the British Intelligence Service’s deficiencies as a couple of agents fatally fail to intercept the tale’s facially disfigured lead antagonist from manhandling Cadence as she flees for the relative safety of Portcullis House…

Unfortunately, even this comic’s final, highly-anticipated showdown between Hawkwood and Bond proves something of a major disappointment, with the Secret Serviceman once again being portrayed as a woefully inadequate sparring partner for an enemy of the British government. In fact, the multiple Eagle Award-winner’s impotent spy is completely outfought by an “unstoppable” Beckett and only survives because his opponent contrivingly decides to slit his own throat rather than be arrested by the imminently arriving Police and Security Service. Hardly the most inspiring of James’ victories and one which adds weight to John McCubbin’s criticism on “SnapPow.Com” that Ellis’ incarnation of the Royal Naval Reserve Commander ‘lacks flair.’

Workmanlike at best, Jason Masters’ breakdowns for this book appear as equally ‘drawn-out’ as the narrative, and it was doubtless hard for the audience to attain any sense of excitement or panic until a third of the way through the magazine when Miss Birdwhistle is positively running for her life, armed with nothing more than pen. Admittedly, the South African pencils a pulse-pounding finale, with a multitude of kicks and punches all seemingly carrying a hefty weight. But even this ‘fist-fight’ is disconcertingly soon resolved, and only goes to demonstrate how increasingly adept the artist has had to become at illustrating Bond becoming badly bloodied and bruised.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #11 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 11, October 2016

Having previously ‘told’ the story of “Eidolon” in a straightforwardly linear manner, Warren Ellis tries something a little different for Issue Eleven of “James Bond” by revisiting M’s previously depicted arrival at “designated Safehouse India Uniform Lima” via a series of flashback sequences, and resultantly shifts the vast majority of this twenty-two page periodical’s focus firmly away from the lead protagonist. Indeed, for those very few bibliophiles ignorant of Ian Fleming’s creation, and purely cognisant of Eve Sharma’s ability to thwart both Beckett’s crack-shot henchmen and the facially-disfigured SPECTRE stay-behind operative himself, this particular publication would seem to be more about promoting the female MI5 “prime field team” leader as Britain’s foremost secret agent, rather than the titular character.

Such a somewhat disconcertingly lop-sided narrative is actually made all the worse by the Essex-born author’s seemingly intentional portrayal of an incredibly impotent 007. For despite his role in a ferocious fire-fight fought within the cramped confines of a lavish lounge, as well as the agent spending the better half of the magazine chasing after the ‘Heathrow Hitter’ Hawkwood in a pulse-pounding car chase through the English countryside, the secret serviceman’s sole success comes courtesy of his close-range shooting of Sir Stephen Mackmain in the back, and even then the spy's marksmanship is so surprisingly poor that the blue-suited traitor requires a subsequent ‘head-tap’ before he’s truly ‘out of the picture’…

So poor a showing by Bond behind both the wheel of a Bentley and a hand-held firing piece must genuinely have dismayed many of this comic’s 11,340 readers, and frustratingly seems to take place simply to ensure that the adventure continues into a sixth, arguably unnecessary, instalment. There certainly doesn’t appear to be any other justification as to why Ellis depicts James being unusually presumptuous in writing off a nemesis who has tried to kill him repeatedly and has access to “a volumetric vacuum bomb”; “Hawkwood’s in the wind. But he’s the last member of the Eidolon cell. What can he do on his own?”

Disappointingly, Jason Masters artwork for this somewhat underwhelming script is just as inconsistent as its writing. True, the South African’s pencilling for the majority of the shoot-outs is pretty dynamically drawn, just as his breakdowns of the car chase appear to genuinely emanate a sense of racing, break-neck speed. But his two-dimensional illustrations of Miss Sharma overpowering Hawkwood’s heavily-armed goons, followed by an awkward-looking Bond running for a car are amateurish in appearance at best.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #10 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 10, September 2016

Hand-picked by the Fleming Estate to be the writer for this “ongoing spy thriller comic book series” it is clear from the British operative's ruthless killing of his foes deep inside an underground steam locomotive station that Warren Ellis’ incarnation of the titular character for Issue Ten of “James Bond” is arguably the “purest crystallization” of the fictional secret agent “since the original novels”. However even the franchise’s most ardent followers must surely have felt that the Eagle Award-winner’s depiction of 007 seemingly enjoying skinning a captive Gareth Cullen with a Stanley knife in order to “make nice chamois leather rags to polish our cars with” was taking the cold-blooded intelligence officer’s callousness a little too far. Certainly the torturous scene, graphically illustrated by Jason Masters and laden with (gallows) humour as Tanner complains about getting “all the blood out from my nails”, would seem more appropriate behaviour for one of the Secret Serviceman’s sadistic arch-villains rather than the title’s heroic lead?

Sadly, such a disconcertingly memorable sequence is also this magazine’s only real glimpse of “Jimmy” in action, not counting his ‘head shot’ of Hawkwood’s last remaining goon at the start of the comic, as the Essex-born author’s storyline interesting shifts its focus away from the Royal Naval Reserve Commander and instead settles upon the exploits of Bond’s mysterious superior M at “designated Safehouse India Uniform Lima.” Admittedly this surprising change of direction in the book’s writing does provide the audience with an opportunity to see just how formidable a gun-mistress the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service’s personal assistant Miss Moneypenny really is. But it also slows down the plot’s pacing with some quite disinteresting conversational pieces between the Intelligence Services Commissioner and Sir Stephen Mackmain; the majority of which strangely seem to make this twenty-two page periodical’s final third reminiscent of General Georgi Koskov’s somewhat lack-lustre post-defection debriefing in the 1987 motion picture “The Living Daylights”.

Jason Masters artwork for this particular instalment of “Eidolon” is equally as inconsistent as its script, on account of the South African pencilling a fantastically dynamic shoot-out between Bond and Cullen during the magazine’s opening, and then seemingly struggling to reliably illustrate the bearded Head of MI5 throughout the rest of the publication. Indeed, considering the poor quality of some of his panels, especially those involving the facially-disfigured Hawkwood, it is hard to imagine just why Ellis personally “requested” him to be “the artist” on the title…

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #9 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 9, August 2016

Initially somewhat slow, yet nonetheless tense as frustrated senior MI5 field officer Eve Sharma gets uncomfortably close to M’s desk, Warren Ellis' narrative for Issue Nine of “James Bond” doesn’t really liven up until halfway through the comic book, and even then it arguably has the titular character doing little except noiselessly manoeuvre himself through “a maze of tunnels under a hill and quarry” where “a fleet of steam locomotives” is being held in case there is ever “a nuclear attack on Britain.” Happily however, such disappointing inactivity does finally come to an end once the British Secret Service “tourist” is spotted by Eidolon’s heavily-armed freelancers and the horribly disfigured Hawkwood instructs his goons to “Bring me a corpse. I’ll pay a bonus.”

Such high-octane antics as the spy barrelling his way amongst the long-abandoned trains, gunning down the occasional long-bearded braggart despite their conspicuous body armour or hurling “a cheeky grenade or three” really must have pleased this comic’s 12,917 readers after such a dialogue-heavy and meandering start. Yet any such exhilaration caused by Cullen’s sour-faced ne’er-do-wells getting their comeuppance is frustratingly cut-short by Jason Master’s pencilling an unarmed titular character confronting a gun-toting mercenary in one bottom panel and “Dynamite Entertainment” ‘bolting on’ a “special preview of James Bond Hammerhead #1” into the next…  

This sudden and most unwelcome conclusion to the twenty-two page book is made all the more infuriating by the publisher’s bizarre decision to actually print a scene from their ‘new mini-series’ which is very similar in appearance and action to the darkly atmospheric firefight of “Eidolon”. As a result it isn’t until Luca Casalanguida’s noticeably different (and arguably inferior) art style sinks home that it becomes evident that Bond is not only no longer staving off the well-paid automatic weapon-carrying lackeys of SPECTRE. But is instead fighting a totally unknown group of foes from a totally unrelated periodical.

Potentially unenthused by so sedentary a script, Master’s breakdowns for much of this magazine are disappointingly lifeless and in many instances, such as when Tanner secrets a penknife down his sleeve in M’s office, contain some extremely stiff-looking, wooden drawings. Fortunately though, the South African’s artwork improves immeasurably once the Royal Naval Reserve Commander stealthily enters the “secret underground town” Box Tunnel and starts killing Cullen’s wilful dogs of war.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #8 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 8, July 2016

Whilst hardly the quiet before the storm, on account of Warren Ellis’ script containing both a powerful punch-up within the confines of a lift and a startlingly sudden mortar attack just outside Heathrow Airport's entrance, Issue Eight of “James Bond” arguably must have proved a far more tranquil read for its audience than some of the title’s previous fast-moving publications. In fact, for the vast majority of this twenty-two page periodical the British spy is somewhat simplistically shown just smooth-talking his way from one conversation to another, as he innocuously pushes the plot along at a somewhat pedestrian pace right up until the book’s inevitable cliff-hanger, when an armed agent from the “compromised intelligence service” decides to pay M an unexpected visit at his office.

Fortunately, this void left behind by the Eagle Award-winner’s decision to scale down his narrative’s pulse-pounding action is rather delightfully filled with the sort of enthralling interdepartmental intrigue involving MI6 that captivated cinema goers watching the 2015 motion picture “Spectre”, as well as a similar nod to the titular character’s earlier silver screen appearances. Certainly franchise aficionados must have enjoyed the interplay between the secret serviceman and his latest female ward, Miss Birdwhistle, when the Royal Naval Reserve Commander discovers his seemingly naïve, vulnerable-looking charge is actually a secret sadomasochistic Mistress who suddenly manhandles him in a manner reminiscent to that of Grace Jones’ May Day from the fourteenth spy film “A View To A Kill”; “Can I just stop to say Ouch?”

This book’s greatest draw however, is undoubtedly the silent multi-panelled sequence set within Los Angeles International Airport where Bond single-handedly dispatches two CIA agents tasked to murder him and his Diplomatic Section ‘lady friend’. Blisteringly brutal as James breaks noses, stamps heads and twists necks, the entire episode is as savagely violent as it is swiftly resolved, with Jason Masters’ bone-crunching illustrations of heads being mercilessly slammed into walls or feet repeatedly battering skulls genuinely making the reader feel every single vicious blow.

Admittedly not all of the South African’s drawings are quite as dynamic, with his lack-lustre pencilling for the sedentary scene depicting M’s voicing of his concerns over “the discovery of the dark money” and unhappiness that “Eidolon is another word for… spectre” proving particularly prosaic. But such aberrations are readily forgivable when one considers the effort storyboarding the breakdowns depicting Ian Fleming’s creation escaping “two men… using CB carbines with UGL grenade launchers” must have taken.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #7 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 7, June 2016

Perplexingly publicised by “Dynamite Entertainment” as the first instalment of a story about a ghost cell “of SPECTRE loyalists acting as sleepers until the time is right for a SPECTRE reformation and resurgence”, Warren Ellis’ narrative for Issue Seven of “James Bond” doesn’t actually provide even the slightest hint of Ian Fleming’s “fictional global criminal syndicate and terrorist organisation”. But instead focuses upon what initially appears to be a fairly straightforward extraction by the titular character of a compromised British “agent from the Diplomatic Wing of MI6 from her post in the Turkish Consulate here in Los Angeles.”

Fortunately for this title’s 14,046 readers however, the Essex-born author soon impregnates his twenty-two page storyline with plenty of pulse-pounding action by having the well-dressed secret serviceman clash with a Milli Istihbarat Teskilati kill team. A somewhat “fraught” situation which quickly results in “the OO Section” operative speedily throwing his hire car into reverse, and splattering enemy operatives’ brains all over the place with some well-timed shots from his “girl’s popgun of choice.”

Quite delightfully, the Sideways Award-winner (for Alternate History) also finds the space within “Eidolon” to incorporate a potentially poignant cameo by Bond’s CIA ally and friend, Felix Leiter. Matching Fleming’s original description of the man from his 1953 novel “Casino Royale”, the inclusion of this “thin, tall… former member of the U.S. Marine Corps… [with] a mop of straw-coloured hair…” should certainly have pleased Bond aficionados everywhere, especially as the American agent openly discusses losing his arm and leg to a shark (as depicted within the 1954 novel “Live And Let Die”). Furthermore those bibliophiles familiar with James’ previous comic book adventure “Vargr” must doubtless have smiled as the former Royal Naval Reserve Commander realises his colleague's limbs have both been replaced with Slaven Kurjak prosthetics; “… I hear that maybe I might have problems with the repair warranty in the future. Thanks, buddy.”

All of this action and intrigue is competently drawn by Jason Masters, whose knack of implying sound effects through the use of imagery has never been better illustrated than when he pencils the disfigured Mister Hawkwood pulling a victim’s head backwards to the point where the neck horrifyingly snaps and the throat bloodily tears open.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #6 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 6, April 2016

Focussing almost exclusively upon the movements of its titular character, this concluding instalment to “the debut storyline in the all-new James Bond comic book series” certainly brings Warren Ellis’ multi-issue narrative to a thrilling, rather blood-thirsty end as the British spy single-handedly storms a privately-owned battleship docked in Norwegian waters and ultimately blows it up. But such a dynamic resolution disconcertingly, never actually explains what motivated Slaven Kurjak to go to such extraordinary criminal lengths and put “a disease inside a drug” in the first place?

In fact, even the secret serviceman asks his mortally wounded foe as to just “why you did all this… The real reason. No justifications…” at the very end of the twenty-two page periodical and rather frustrating receives a nonsensical uninformative response from the bleeding villainous mastermind about him wanting “to be happy with friends and doing beautiful things.” It is little wonder therefore that the black-clad occasional assassin immediately shoots the crook neatly through the head once he’s presumably finished talking.

Plot holes as to his heavy’s incentive aside however, the Essex-born writer’s script for Issue Six of “James Bond” swiftly throws its 15,287 strong audience straight into the thick of things by having the former Royal Naval Reserve Commander utilise the “Russian collapsible suppressed sniper rifle” his Quartermaster has given him, and ruthlessly dispatch two of Vargr’s land-based guards with grisly throat shots. Indeed it’s hard to imagine a more pitiless cold-blooded incarceration of the main protagonist as the one Ellis has stalk the corridors of the German-owned “live action role playing” vessel, indiscriminately shooting men, women and unarmed laboratory technicians through the brains; “What the hell is going on --”

Impressively all of this pulse-pounding action is wonderfully illustrated by Jason Masters, whose pencilling of Bond furiously rushing through the ship’s sparsely decorated walkways, dodging bullets and eliminating his well-armed pursuers, quickly makes it evident as to why the comic pop culture website “Comic Crusaders” described the publication as containing “strong action pieces… full of pace and movement.” Certainly the South African’s detailed panels depicting the fragmentation of the secret agent’s bullets as they enter the heads, mouths and soft body organs of his victims are as insanely impactive as they are arguably ghoulish.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #5 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 5, March 2016

Somewhat slower in places than its previous instalments, and certainly far wordier once the titular character returns to the relative safety of his superior’s office on the Albert Embankment in London, Warren Ellis’ narrative for Issue Five of “James Bond” still manages to imitate the franchise’s recognisable motion picture formula of sinister espionage and mastermind machinations by presenting a genuinely thrilling, no-nonsense grudge fight between the British secret agent and his nemesis Kurjak’s main assassin, the cybernetically enhanced ex-marine Dharma Reach.

Indeed, the sociocultural commentator dedicates almost the entire second half of this twenty-two page periodical to resolving the pair’s final confrontation, and even self-indulges in a thirteen panel sequence depicting the former Royal Naval Reserve Commander’s own motor vehicle being ambushed by his opponent as its being driven “through one of the old docks in the east.” There’s even room for the multiple Eagle Award-winner to illustrate Bond’s darker side by having the groggy, battered spy sadistically tell his would-be murderess that he actually tortured her homicidal lover Bryan Masters before killing him; something which understandably throws the woman into an uncontrollable rage and thus buys 007 some much-needed time in order to scramble free of the debilitating car wreckage.

Ellis is also able to incorporate the occasional reference to his subject matter’s previous adventures into the mix, such as having the intelligence officer’s driver at Heathrow use James’ “Diamonds Are Forever” alias “Peter Franks” on the arrivals placard; “You’re a funny man, Bill. I’d come over there and shoot you if I still had a gun.” Such delightful nods to the secret serviceman's formidable history doubtless caused a knowing smile amongst many of this publication’s 15,667 strong audience, as must have M’s familiar spikiness when he dispatches his unarmed operative to liaise with some MI5 colleagues, and reminds Bond he’ll have just his wits to rely upon.

Equally as impressive, despite having to handle a somewhat sedentary script, is Jason Masters’ artwork. The South African penciller really manages to capture the fierce manly arrogance of Sean Connery’s silver screen performance, without his protagonist actually bearing the actor’s physical features. As a result, a dapperly dressed 007 appears wonderfully at ease during the animated action sequences, and later dangerously constricted within the confines of his suit when moodily sat during a debriefing.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #4 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 4, February 2016

Frustratingly published a week later than “Dynamite Entertainment” originally announced, and sporting a rather unappealing Dom Reardon cover illustration that disappointingly provides few hints as to the stupendous slug-fest occurring within the comic’s interior. Issue Four of “James Bond” must have come as something of a scintillating surprise to the 16,838 collectors who bought the magazine in February 2016 and found themselves enthrallingly embroiled in a ten-page long punch-up with the murderous Mister Masters that ably demonstrates just how earnest writer Warren Ellis was in trying to replicate “the original, brutal, damaged Bond of the books” within his “Vargr” narrative.

In fact in many ways the Essex-born author uses this particular publication to depict Ian Fleming’s iconic creation at his most savagely vulnerable by having the secret serviceman “alone in Berlin, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the gun in his hand” repeatedly injecting his insensible foe with a massive overdose of heavily contaminated Oxytocin. It’s certainly hard to visual Sir Roger Moore’s more “light-hearted” incarnation of the Royal Naval Reserve Commander ruthlessly dispatching his vanquished ever-pleading opponent in such a grisly blood-splattered manner; “Oh god. Please don’t. I don’t know what’s happening. Please. I’m begging you. Please don’t do this.”

Fortunately once the fight is over, and Bond faces the evil mastermind behind putting “a disease inside a drug”, Slaven Kurjak, this twenty-two page periodical doesn’t become any less engrossing an experience, courtesy of some wonderfully written and professionally polite dialogue. Indeed, there’s a real sense of enforced calm to the conversation between the two adversaries as James’ lab coat-wearing enemy merrily chats away to him about how originally the researcher had been “looking for a cancer cure worth selling”, whilst the British spy matter-of-factly tries shooting at him through bullet-proof glass.

Arguably this comic book’s greatest testament however, is the utter exasperation its abrupt ending undoubtedly brought its readers. Sealed tight within a laboratory about to undergo the “extreme cleaning process” of “three hundred degrees Celsius [and] nitrogen dioxide jets”, Bond momentarily appears to be about to break free when his efforts using a homemade oxy-fuel cutter come to naught. Realising his labours have failed, a cursing intelligence officer turns to face his demise and without warning confronts eight-pages of advertisements before the magazine’s back cover infuriatingly confirms the cliff-hanger ending…

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Jason Masters, and Colors: Guy Major

James Bond #3 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 3, January 2016

It is hard to understand just why such a phenomenally action-packed comic book as Issue Three of “James Bond” saw its distribution fall by approximately four thousand copies in January 2016. For whilst the initial marketing advertisement for this edition by “Dynamite Entertainment” doesn’t sound like one of the spy’s most most-thrilling adventures, on account of its declaration that “Bond is on his way to [simply] break up a small, agile drug-trafficking operation in Berlin.” The twenty-two page periodical, with its a significant body count, grisly blood-splattering head-shots and gratuitously rendered cold-blooded killings, soon depicts a British Secret Serviceman considerably “bigger, scarier and much more lethal” than arguably anything shown on the modern-day silver screen.

Indeed the vast majority of “Vargr” does little to actually advance the ongoing saga’s “debut chapter” concerning a London-based flesh-eating biological contamination at all, and instead solely concentrates on just how deadly and utterly ruthless “industry legend” Warren Ellis’ incarnation of the titular character is by having him single-handedly take on a heavily-armed gang of “people [who] saw other people’s heads off for fun.” Admittedly the intelligence officer, realising he’s walked into a trap and is badly outgunned, does initially attempt to make a hasty retreat through the rear door of the warehouse he’s unwisely entered. But when that is blocked by two bulky members of Al-Zein, Bond simply riddles the closest of his targets with a hail of bullets and then almost nonchalantly head-taps the other.

Unsurprisingly such a startlingly loud announcement as to his presence within their hideout soon has James being chased through the factory floor by more of the Lebanese-German crime clan… And for the next third of the magazine it is genuinely doubtful whether many readers even managed to take a breath as the well-groomed Englishman dives amongst stacked shelving units and ducks automatic weapons fire.

Undoubtedly this comic’s biggest attraction though is Jason Master’s wonderful ability to imbue the Royal Naval Reserve Commander with plenty of grim-faced dynamism throughout so frantically-paced a sequence. The South African artist’s pencilling for the more mundane scenes is still somewhat suspect and wooden. Yet as soon as the secret agent realises he’s been “sent to the wrong party by Felix’ friend” the former Ad Agency Art Designer’s sketching takes on a vibrant life of its own, such as his imaginative, clinically illustrated ‘x-ray’ of Bond’s bullet tearing through the throat of one of the drug-runners.

The variant cover art of "JAMES BOND" No. 3 by Gabriel Hardman

James Bond #2 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 2, December 2015

In many ways this second instalment of a “brand new six-issue arc” “created by Warren Ellis and Jason Masters for Dynamic Comics” follows the exact same formula as that employed by the vast majority of the early “James Bond” motion pictures produced by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. To begin with its narrative starts with the secret agent being met in Berlin by what initially he believes to be “other people in our company” yet who predictably turn out to be deadly enemy assassins, and ends with the British Intelligence Officer besting his opponents by using his brawn and fighting savvy, as opposed to the overused technical gadgetry of the latter-day films. The storyline even includes 007 ‘allowing’ a strikingly attractive femme fatale to escape (presumably so as to allow a future rematch), as well as him partaking in a polite professional meeting with the very chap who's actually just tried to have the serviceman cold-bloodedly slain.

So many similarities to past adventures must arguably have given many of this publication’s 21,254 readers an ominous feeling of déjà vu with the Essex-born writer’s script and this sense of dread probably could only have been heightened when the murderous Dharma Reach, supposedly a child of “Eighties hippie parents in Vermont”, displays the classic hallmarks of Ian Fleming’s first fictional villain, Doctor Julius No, by having metal prosthetic hands. Fortunately however, in spite of such foreboding familiarity, the plot to “Vargr” does still contain just enough innovativity, such as the “bad batch” of drugs which quickly turns its users into decomposing corpses, to make it a somewhat fresh, entertaining read.

Indeed Ellis’ ‘modernisation’ of the secret agent’s world, a place where “an actual OO officer… [is] like some rare species you only learned of from fairy tales”, is rather reassuring and amply demonstrates that the Sidewise Award-winner, “himself a fan of 007” and “no stranger to spy-thriller stories”, intends to pen a version of the “iconic British spy” which is faithful to Bond being little more than a “blunt instrument” as opposed to some sort of super-hero “bristling with guns and covered in scars.”

Sadly this comic is let down, somewhat badly in places too, by Jason Masters’ occasionally dynamic but oft-times awkward-looking one-dimensional artwork. Admittedly the former “Batman: The Dark Knight” penciller can clearly draw an incredibly frantic, action-packed scrap in the back of a moving car and imbues this fast-paced sequence with all the desperation one would expect as the agent is slowing being choked to death. But his subsequent illustrations, such as the well-dressed agent's appointment with Slaven Kurjak and Cal's grisly demise back in his London flat look amateurishly sketched at best. 

The variant cover art of "JAMES BOND" No. 2 by Francesco Francavilla

James Bond #1 - Dynamite Entertainment

JAMES BOND No. 1, NOVEMBER 2015

Published in tandem with the theatrical release of the 2015 “Eon Productions” motion picture “Spectre”, this opening issue of “the first James Bond comic book series in twenty years” begins with all the panache, brutality and pulse-pounding action any fan of Ian Fleming’s fictional British Secret Serviceman would expect. Indeed it is arguable that all this magazine’s initial ten pages are missing, is the inclusion of the film’s iconic ‘gun barrel’ introduction sequence.

Disappointingly however once the main narrative to Warren Ellis’ “Vargr” starts properly and the action abruptly shifts from a building site in Helsinki to the stuffy offices of MI6 Headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, the storyline’s pace rather abruptly slows down and eventually actually peters out as the suave suited agent bizarrely discusses his latest assignment with Bill Tanner whilst eating inside a semi-packed staff canteen, complete with bottled water and plastic chairs… Such a modest meal and somewhat surreal location genuinely jars with the opulent lavishness the titular character is famous for and sadly brings this twenty-two page periodical to a mind-numbingly tedious and undramatic ending.

Fortunately despite such shortcomings the Essex-born author still manages to include a few references within this increasingly dreary dialogue-laden tome so as to delight many “a giant Bond fanatic”. The scene between James and ‘Q’, where the armourer bemoans the spy’s use of a “gun for ladies” and tries to convince him to replace the “prostitute’s shooting instrument” for “a proper gun”, is very reminiscent of an early scene in “Dr. No” where 'M' orders the hero to hand over his underpowered Beretta and is assigned a Walther PPK. Whilst the villain of the piece, Mister Masters, “continues to exhibit chronic chemical anhedonia” and thus is incapable of experiencing “pleasure in any way” similar to how Victor ‘Renard’ Zokas proved immune to pain in “The World Is Not Enough”.

Ultimately though this comic’s greatest weakness is Jason Masters rather unconvincing and inconsistent pencilling. The occasional “DC Comics” variant cover artist certainly pulls few punches during this book’s beginning as he dynamically depicts the tattooed killer of 008 being savagely beaten (and surprisingly mutilated) by a cold-blooded Bond. But as with the plot, once James returns home the illustrator’s panels become decidedly lack-lustre and something of a disappointment. Even if his version of Major Boothroyd does look uncannily like the popular ‘big screen’ incarnation of the Quartermaster as played by actor John Cleese.

The variant cover art of "JAMES BOND" No. 1 by Joe Jusko