Dynamite Entertainment
Creators: Warren Ellis, Jason Masters, Guy Major and Simon Bowland
Release date: 2018
I have a complicated relationship with 007. Most people seem to fall squarely into the “love it” or “couldn’t care less” camps when it comes to Ian Fleming’s creation. I’m more in the gray in-between area.
I never saw a Bond film in the theater until Pierce Brosnan was allowed to take on the role; I was a fan of “Remington Steele” growing up and was happy to see him finally be allowed to play the famous British MI6 agent. Brosnan’s four films were also the only Bond films I have ever owned on VHS, although I did not replace them when I updated my collection to DVDs.
While Brosnan rates a very high second-place, my personal favorite Bond is and likely always will be Sean Connery, the first and best. I have seen all of his turns as 007, some many times, but never in a theater and never did I feel the need to own them. But I’ve watched them all on television.
Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby never had much impact in the role for me, and Roger Moore’s Bond always seemed more tongue-in-cheek. Nothing wrong with that really. Bond has always had his humorous side, to varying degrees. But Moore seemed to take it to an extreme and to be playing the role more as a farce than anything else.
That just leaves Daniel Craig. Reportedly, his take on Bond is quite good, but again, I haven’t caught any of his Bond films in the theater. I want to see them, but I prefer to see them in order. And I still can’t find his version of “Casino Royale,” the first in which Craig played James Bond, without having to pay a high fee for the privilege. So I have yet to see any of the Daniel Craig Bond films, but I have seen and enjoyed Craig in other roles.
During my time as a comics collector, several companies have tried to translate James Bond in comics form. I’ve yet to feel strongly enough about any of them to purchase them, though, with the exception of a three-issue prestige format Bond tale that Mike Grell wrote and drew titled “Permission to Die.” I own that series, but bought it secondhand and still have yet to read it.
All of that serves as my introductory thoughts on the character when I heard that Dynamite was going to publish a James Bond ongoing written by Warren Ellis. Ellis can be hit-and-miss with me, but I happened to see a few preview pages online of the first story arc, “VARGR.” Both the name and the preview pages intrigued me, as they were meant to do. Those preview pages, by the way, are some of the 10-page opener for the first issue and serve as the Bond film-style opener that has nothing to do with the story proper. Bond pursues the man who killed 008 and puts that case to rest, then roll the opening credits.
What follows is a solid tale that has a number of twists and turns; appearances by a number of familiar Bond characters like Moneypenny, M and Q; the inclusion of bionic body parts (another intriguing aspect of the story); and several instances of sharp, quick-witted dialogue that seem perfectly in character for this famous British espionage agent. I could see this story being made into a film quite handily.
In fact, I liked this first 007 story arc enough that I have ordered the second trade, “Eidolon,” and another Dynamite James Bond trade from a different creative team, this one based largely on the name — “Hammerhead” — and the obvious aquatic theme.
Good job, all! I hope the future volumes continue the trend of quality.
No comments:
Post a Comment