Dynamite Entertainment 2017
Written by Andy Diggle
Illustrated by Luca Casalanguida
Coloured by Chris Blythe
Lettered by Simon Bowland
When a counterespionage operation in Rotterdam goes catastrophically wrong, James Bond finds himself in the crosshairs of a plot to smash NATO. Someone is assassinating allied agents, and 007 is the next target in the kill chain. Having kept the peace for decades, the old alliance is collapsing, pitting MI6 against its former ally - the CIA!
Welcome back Andy to the Bond franchise! Well no matter what it would seem that the Russian’s are always going to be our biggest threat and frenemy. However that being said I like what Andy is doing here because the spy game is more about strategy and cunning than it is blunt force. So much like a chess game where you have to outthink your opponent and be several moves ahead of them the entire time. Is that is happening here? A long con game coming to fruition, well we’ll see.
In the meantime it should come as no surprise that James’ weakness would be exploited time and again. By that of course I mean women. I mean c’mon is there a skirt out there he hasn’t tried to bed? So that Rika is able to set him up and onto the chain of events so easily here well i’d like to be surprised or disappointed but it’s James Bond so I can’t be. He’s easy to get to in this fashion though once he learns the game is afoot in a manner he wasn’t expecting he is more dangerous than a Lioness protecting her cubs so it’ll be interesting to see that come into play.
Luca brings this nice vibe to the interior artwork. Not really a throwback to the Noir or Pulp days but they have their influence in what he does. The linework is impressive and has a great weight to it and brings the characters to life beautifully. Plus the way page layouts are used through their angles and perspective not to mention the utilisation of backgrounds here are phenomenal! I mean the Rotterdam as the backdrop is gorgeous and strikes the right amount of awe, wonder and possibility.
Now aside from the fact that this is a modern day representation of James Bond and yes he has a licence to kill he’s still the world’s premiere spy. That means he’s all about stopping the bad in the world, righting the wrongs no one knows about and looking damn good doing it. I like this modern take on him that Andy brings to the character, granted he should have several std’s by now but that’s another story.
From what we see here there’s are strings being pulled and while we have that idea of who is behind it we aren’t 100% sure. Plus there’s the whole thing with Rika and who she’s working for and how the CIA will play into all this. Someone is going through a lot of trouble to make this as convoluted as possible and it’ll be fun to watch as one by one the strings are revealed and James manages to figure it all out. This is why you learn multiple languages, stay in school and do well and of course train like an olympic athlete because everyone wants to be like Bond!