This issue, very much like it predecessors, is almost a self-contained story, an almost closed room murder / closed room assignation attempt. Drinking whisky, playing with his “food” and practically shooting the breeze before the actual shooting starts, Bond is in a contemplative mood. There is not so much doubt in his bones, more a weariness that reflects on the character from literature rather than the action hero that he has become.
Ales Kot’s mini-series possesses a level of maturity that I have now come to expect. Sure there are action scenes, but the main thrust of the book is the various ideologies in play. For a lot of readers, there will be an absolute right and an absolute wrong drawn from the discussions. Kot allows the chat to develop, without shying away from certain elements, which in turn makes the villain of the piece more real, before James has had his fill and deals with him accordingly.
The art is by Rapha Lobosco and is a bit of a mixed bag if I am honest. Starting with the good, the actions scenes, when they finally occur, are done well with plenty of pace. The final image is as striking as you will see anywhere. For a large part of the story, characters are just sat around drinking; it is a sauna after all. It’s these elements that seem to cause Lobosco a few problems. With such a redundant backdrop, the art need to pop and become more creative. In an enclosed room, one way to achieve this would be to change the camera angles. As it is, the art looks flat, stagnant somewhat. This then makes reading the book harder, especially as there is a heavy word count. Colors are provided by the excellent Chris O’Halloran, delivering the goods consistently and letterer Thomas Napolitano uses the same sort of font and style seen in previous books to give a uniform look.
The various James Bond series from Dynamite have gone someway to helping the character obtain a new flock of fans, whilst we await Daniel Craig’s next cinematic outing. One of the virtues of the comics, is that they can feature viewpoints that could be potentially unattractive to cinema goers. Thankfully, comic books have a history of pushing boundaries. In that regard, Dynamite are certainly up to the tasks of Bond’s various missions against world villainy and subjective points of view.
Writing – 4 Stars
rt – 3 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Ales Kot
Art by; Rapha Lobosco
Colors by; Chris O’Halloran
Letters by; Thoms Napolitano
Published by; Dynamite Entertainment
Author Profile
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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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