REVIEW: James Bond 007: Black Box #1

You have to give credit where credit is due.  In this case, Dynamite Comics continue to maximize the appeal of the eponymous British spy with another mini series.

In this issue, James Bond has been sent to assassinate  a bad guy who kills people.  As such, the target seems almost a mirror of Bond with only circumstance, perception and cause being the differences.  However, someone beats Bond to the shot, queuing a snow chase scene that is almost as much of a part Bond-lore as the Aston Martin.  Of course a couple of minor twists unfold and soon Bond has a mission and a new set of gadgets to help in his task to locate a digital dungeon, erase the information and terminate all those involved.

Benjamin Perry has been cutting a swathe through Green Arrow since DC’s Rebirth and doing an impressive job.  Sure there have been a couple of re-treaded ideas, but on the whole the run has been a fun romp that is not weighed down by the co-incidences and serendipity that seems to allow Oliver’s stories to run into each other.  Working on a limited book run such as Bond, should hopefully alleviate this quirk from Percy’s writing.  With 24 movies and seven different actors to base a book on, it seems that each separate run has the opportunity to show a slightly different Bond.  In this instance, for the most part this Bond certainly has different traits than those found in the Ellis Bond.  Not better or worse, just different.  One thing that does remain consistent is the fact that comic book Bond  has a grounding on the books by Ian Fleming; shown here to dislike himself and his choice of employment.

Rapha Lobosco is the artist tasked with bringing this Bond to life and he does so in a solid fashion.  Lobosco manages the action scenes well enough, with some nice easy transitions between the various panels.  When the action moves into the required “here is your mission 007″ territory, Lobosco works with panel layout and throws in some shadows to give the impression of the shadowy espionage environment that Bond excels in.  Chris O’Halloran provides the colors for the book, with a number of environs to contend with, flexes his muscles.

This book evokes memories of the Pierce Brosnan version of Bond, with an action first feel rather than the violent first idiom of Daniel Craig’s Bond. This is helped, by Q being drawn to resemble John Cleese and of course the pithy humour that seems to fit hand to glove with pre-soft reboot Bond.  Like any Bond fan, I have my favourite Bond and it seems that Dynamite are going out of their way to try and put books that appeal across the board.

Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 3.5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

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

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