James Bond (Dynamite Entertainment)

James Bond (Dynamite Entertainment)

James Bond 007: VARGR (2015)
Retailer Incentive #2 Cover Art
by Stephen Mooney.
Publication information
Publisher Dynamite Entertainment
Genre
Publication date November 2015 – present
Number of issues 6 (as of April 2016 cover date)
Main character(s) James Bond
Creative team
Writer(s) Warren Ellis
Artist(s) Jason Masters
Letterer(s) Simon Bowland
Colorist(s) Guy Major
Editor(s) Joseph Rybandt
Collected editions
Volume 1: VARGR ISBN 1606909010

James Bond is an ongoing spy thriller comic book series by Dynamite Entertainment featuring the eponymous character originally created by Ian Fleming. It is licensed by Ian Fleming Publications and debuted in November 2015. Additional series and graphic novels are planned.

Publication history

Monthly series

In October 2014, Dynamite Entertainment announced plans to publish monthly James Bond comics as part of a ten year licensing deal with Ian Fleming Publications in 2015.[1][2] Warren Ellis was asked by the Fleming Estate to be the writer, and he requested Jason Masters be the artist.[3] Their first six issue story, VARGR, was announced July 2015.[4] Ellis read all the Fleming novels to prepare for the book, and he named Risico as a particular influence.[5] Masters based his design for Bond on Fleming's descriptions, a illustration commissioned by Fleming, and the work of John McLusky, the first artist to draw Bond in a comic.[5] When asked about the meaning of the title, Ellis explained "VARGR is an Old Norse word meaning variously wolf, evildoer or destroyer."[6]

The first was published November 4, 2015 to coincide with the release of Spectre[1] and offered nine variant covers.[7] It was the 69th best selling issue of the month with estimated orders of 35,600.[8] A hardcover collection of the first six issues is scheduled for June 21, 2016.[9]

The same day the hardcover is released, Dynamite will publish the first chapter of Ellis and Masters' followup story, Eidolon. The comic will feature a modern twist on SPECTRE, an evil organization Bond has previously encountered in both novels and films.[10] Ellis developed the plot after reading Umberto Eco's Numero Zero.[5]

Future plans

A forthcoming series will be a period piece expanding on Bond's life prior to the events of Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale.[11] An adaptation of Casino Royale is also in the works.[12]


Plot

VARGR

British Intelligence agent James Bond is assigned by his boss, M, to take up the workload of a deceased fellow agent who was working on a case related to a European drug smuggling syndicate. Following a lead to Berlin, Bond is met by Dharma Reach, who is posing as a CIA contact. She tries to kill him, but fails and escapes. Bond meets with Slaven Kurjak, a rich Serbian scientist who was disabled during the Kosovo War. Kurjak now develops advanced technology for prosthetics. When asked about the unusual drugs spreading across London and Europe, Kurjak directs Bond to a suspicious laboratory. Unbeknownst to 007, Kurjak is the one who sent Dharma to kill him.

At the laboratory, Bond engages in a firefight with a Lebanese crime clan. After the battle is over, Bond learns that he was tricked by Kurjak and the Lebanese were not connected to the drugs.

Meanwhile, Kurjak sends one of his henchmen, Bryan Masters to kill Bond, assuming he's at the Berlin MI-6 station but slaughters the staff instead with his target nowhere to be found. Masters waits for Bond to arrive at the station as required and introduces himself as a CIA agent, attempting to lure him into a trap by escorting him to a secure location since the Berlin Station was ambushed by the remains of the crime ring 007 attacked, and both of them depart to Kurjak's security resort, with Bond knowing that Masters is an enemy, yet he keeps it to himself. They find that Kurjak's staff are also slaughtered by what appears to be the effect caused by Kurjak's drug tests known as "Condition Vargr". Just as Masters is about to assassinate Bond, they clash in hand-to-hand combat, and the former seeming to be hard to defeat due to his advanced and lethal prosthetics. Bond gains the upper hand by injecting Masters with a drug syringe developed by Kurjak, which eventually kills the victim.

On his way out, Bond is cornered and trapped in a chamber sealed by Kurjak himself who explains his notorious plan regarding the drugs development, which has been the work of his lifetime dating back to the concentration camps held at the Kosovo War. The project started as a cure for cancer, gene-edited macrophages inside a carrier medium trained to engulf cancer cells, which didn't work, leading the bodies of the injected shred from inside. Kurjak's initial plan is to control world that is being run by experiments, and that the construction of the prosthetics is nothing but side operation. Activating a decontamination cycle process in the chamber at high temperature used to terminate all the remains of diseases on materialistic objects built as part of the safety cleaning in his laboratory, he leaves 007 to melt inside and departs. After struggling with finding an escape route through a hole in a thick glass window, Bond breaks out and evades the death trap in time.

Returning to London, Bond reports to the MI-6 Headquarters about the incidents circulating around Slaven Kurjak and whatever he learned from his operation, M sends him to liaise with MI-5 who have sealed all the places where the drugs have spread their disease at. While looking for the MI-5 team at the docks, Bond is attacked by a mysterious figure who appears to be a vengeful Dharma Reach, and they combatantly fight in extreme violence, only for 007 to gain the upper hand and send her down the water where her prosthetics affect her well being negatively and she explodes. Using the trackers in her prosthetics, MI-6 chief of staff Bill Tanner traces the origin of the piece onto a decommissioned Norwegian battleship called HNoMS Vargr.

Bond is immediately sent to explore whatever takes place on the ship and intercept it if dangerous. Dropped nearby the coast off Utvaer where the battleship was located, Bond infiltrates Vargr and discovers the existence of a laboratory where Kurjak's drugs are developed at. Planting explosive devices in every corner of the ship, his cover is soon blown when Kurjak himself identifies him as an intruder, leading all his prosthetic henchmen to violently confront Bond. After a long lasting firefight, Bond evacuates the ship and detonates the bombs, which sinks Vargr down to the water. Afterwards, Bond witnesses a merely survived Kurjak crawling on the shores and walks up to him, seeing as he's a madman who wants a chaotic world covered around him, Bond executes Kurjak with a bullet to the head and departs.

Eidolon

A recent trail of secrets leads James Bond to explore an old enemy new enemy, a blast from the past that sees army intelligence groups created ghost cells after World War II called "stay-behinds" across Europe in the event of a Warsaw Pact surge. It tells the story of the SPECTRE loyalists acting as sleepers until the time is right for the reformation and resurgence of the terrorist organization. The time is now.

Critical reception

According to review aggregator Comic Book Round Up, the first issue received an average score of 7.4/10.[13] Newsarama reviewer David Pepose thought Ellis' version of Bond was the "purest crystallization of the character ... since the original novels" and praised the removal of Bond's bigotry.[14] John McCubbin, reviewing for SnapPow, criticized the comic's pace and Bond's lack of flair while calling Master's art "the most impressive part about this opening issue."[15] Dom Reardon's cover for the first issue was re-used as the cover for the 21st issue of Bleeding Cool magazine, which was focused on war comics.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Tanner (September 3, 2016), "Warren Ellis Shares Tantalizing Details About His James Bond Comic Book," Double O Section (accessed April 16, 2016)
  2. ↑ "Comics, Dynamite Comics Gets JAMES BOND Worldwide License". Newsarama. October 7, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  3. ↑ Morris, Steve (August 31, 2015), "ELLIS & MASTERS' 007 HAS ALL THE VICES THE "JAMES BOND" FILMS NO LONGER ALLOW," Comic Book Resources (accessed April 16, 2016)
  4. ↑ "Exclusive: Warren Ellis brings genius storytelling to Dynamite's "James Bond 007"". Comic Book Resources. July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Renaud, Jeffrey (March 28, 2016), "INTERVIEW: WARREN ELLIS RENEWS HIS LICENSE TO KILL IN "JAMES BOND: EIDOLON"," Comic Book Resources (accessed April 16, 2016)
  6. ↑ "Warren Ellis Talks James Bond, How His Series Will Differ From The Movies And What Vargr Means". Bleeding Cool. September 1, 2015. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  7. ↑ Johnston, Rich (August 19, 2015), "All the Covers to James Bond: VARGR," Bleeding Cool (accessed April 16, 2016)
  8. ↑ "November 2015 Comic Book Sales Figures," Comichron.com (accessed April 16, 2016)
  9. ↑ "JAMES BOND: VARGR collected edition available for pre-order". The Book Bond. January 31, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Interview: Warren Ellis renews his license to kill in "James Bond: Eidolon"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Comics, Dynamite Comics Gets JAMES BOND Worldwide License". Newsarama. October 7, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Dynamite's first "James Bond 007" comic will be VARGR by Warren Ellis". The Book Bond. July 6, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  13. ↑ based on 29 reviews, "James Bond #1 on Comic Book Round Up," Comic Book Round Up (accessed March 12, 2016)
  14. ↑ Pepose, David (November 3, 2015). "Best Shots Advance Reviews: JAMES BOND #1, KLAUS #1, MONSTRESS #1". Newsarama. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  15. ↑ McCubbin, John (November 3, 2015). "James Bond #1 Review". Snap Pow. Retrieved March 12, 2016.

External links

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