Review: James Bond Agent of Spectre #1

One of the biggest hits for Dynamite in recent years was the high quality James Bond books. Now, despite the pandemic having scheduling impacts on both the next movie and this series, we are finally getting…… at least one of them.

To say that the title of this new series kind of gives the game away is a bit of an understatement. Bond is sent to infiltrate a secret Spectre meeting, with the plan of capturing a hinted at mole in MI-6, thats the government department not the last Tom Cruise movie. But in the world of spies and espionage, truths are a half truths hidden in by lies, convenience and perceptions. when a Spectre civil war could threaten innocent lives and his only friend, Bond makes a shocking decision quicker than you can say “Hail Hydra!”

Christos Gage, a veteran comic and TV writer looks to deliver an impressively epic story line that looks to challenge Bond in ways that we haven’t seen previously. One of the things that I like about Dynamite’s Bond series’ is that it takes the source material from the novels of Ian Fleming rather than the movies. It gives a darker Bond for sure. The psycho babble fits the character and serves to alienate Bond from the ideal that he holds for himself. “For Queen and country”, may be one thing but what about for Bond himself. All this introspection and intrigues comes with a price; the book is extremely wordy. What is surprising is that as necessary as the tension building is, it doesn’t impact the pace of the story. In all the word bubbles, there is may be one that kind of scream exposition rather than the characters voice. Not bad going when you see the amount of verbiage in this first issue.

Having spent time on previous James Bond books, it is good to see the return of Luca Casalanguida. Here Caslanguida sets the table for the story with aplomb. The early action scenes have a dirty feel to them, which fits the sombre mood. As the panels move to the various conversation pieces, Casalanguida uses different camera angles and focuses on the facial elements between Bond, M and Moneypenny. This becomes the books strength in the Blofeld and Bond confrontation. For a dark book, you need a dark color scheme. Step up Heather Moore who uses a kind of white wash effect to take some of the brightness from the scheme. Light sources are used in surprising ways. One of Dynamites go to letterers, Simon Bowland, provides a font that is easy to read, a real talent when you see the amount of words in this book. Yet Bowland makes sure that the font never detracts from the tenseness of the pace of the book.

I for one am pleased that Bond, James Bond is back on the rack. With a clever setup, Gage may have made it hard for himself to right the ship. It will certainly be an interesting ride. All we need now are some fancy gadgets, a cool car and a Bond girl to make things perfectly 007!

Writing – 5 Stars

Art – 5 Stars

Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Christos Gage
Art by; Luca Casalanguida
Colors by; Heather Moore
Letters by; Simon Bowland
Published by; Dynamite Entertainment

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network