It’s the new James Bond mini-series from Dynamite, this comic entitled 007 #1.
Yes, Bond returns, revisited with new adventures, new molls, bruises, and bad guys. This time around, Bond is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson.
Johnson starts us off with action. An informant has been discovered, is uncovered, and chased. Artist Marco Finnigan shows us action in darkened office corridors, (dayglo and no-glow grey colouring by Dearbhla Kelly), and letterer Jeff Eckleberry ‘Splooshes’ and ‘Blams’ us with effects. Bond is “chucked under the bus” in no time, exhausted, battered, and fried. And fired. Very compelling.
The story flows well, has plenty of drama, but there is a bit of visual confusion. When we read the fight scenes, it’s hard to distinguish which black-suited guy is shooting which other black-suited guy. And the flashbacks of Gwendolyn Gann, with their slightly larger ‘dot screen’ in the colouring are hard to decipher. We are puzzled by the technique, so it would be better to just say “two years ago” instead.
No real surprises, no other tipping of the comic apple cart here, but issue #1 remains a tightly wound narrative with bold “Dick Tracy’ type of graphics, relying heavily on black masses and shadows. Your thriller instincts will be shaken and stirred with this new venture into the dark world of Bond.
Dynamite Comics, James Bond 007 #1, $3.99 for 24 pages of content.
Newsdesk