Dynamite Reveals Art from Upcoming CASINO ROYALE Graphic Novel

When it was first announced back in 2015 that Dynamite had landed the license to produce James Bond comics, part of that announcement was that the publisher would release period-set graphic novel adaptations of the Ian Fleming novels. The first, Casino Royale, was originally set for publication last year with a different artist, then delayed several times. Now, at least, it is almost here! Dynamite will release the 160-page graphic novel Casino Royale, adapted by Van Jansen and illustrated by Dennis Calero, on October 17, 2017, under a stunning cover by Fay Dalton. Dalton's involvement is a nice bit of synergy for Ian Fleming Publications, as she also illustrates the beautiful slip-cased Folio Society editions of the Bond novels. (Indeed, her slipcase art for Folio's Casino Royale, below depicts the same characters as her comic cover!) This week Dynamite provided a first glimpse at Calero's interior artwork in Previews. The final art will be in color.

VARGR Contest Winner

It was great yesterday to have not one, but two new James Bond comics out from Dynamite (Warren Ellis's "EIDOLON" and Andy Diggle's "Hammerhead"). The hardest part was deciding which one to read first, but they both turned out to be totally satisfying! Yesterday also concluded the first Double O Section 10th Anniversary Contest, which means that one lucky reader won a copy of the beautiful hardcover edition of Ellis's first 007 story arc for Dynamite, "VARGR." And that winner is...

Andrew A., of Boulder, CO. Congratulations, Andrew!

Thank you to everyone who entered. Stay tuned for another cool Bond contest coming up in a few days. And for those who didn't win this one, James Bond 007: VARGR is available from Amazon and I highly recommend it!

Read my review of James Bond 007: VARGR #1 here.
Read my interview with writer Warren Ellis here.

Exclusive Interview With James Bond Comic Book Writer Warren Ellis

This is a big week for James Bond fans. Tomorrow sees the release of both the collected edition of the first new 007 comic book storyline in more than twenty years, VARGR, and the first issue of Dynamite's second storyline, EIDOLON, both written by comics superstar Warren Ellis (Global Frequency, RED). The gorgeous VARGR hardcover (which includes a gallery of all of the series' beautiful variant covers as well as some stunning concept art by series artist Jason Masters) will look great on the shelf alongside all your other Bond continuation novels.

With British author Warren Ellis, Dynamite seemed to land the perfect writer for a new generation of contemporary 007 comics. Ellis achieved great acclaim for his original series like Transmetropolitan and Planetary, as well as his work on mainstream superhero titles like Iron Man and Excaliber. But it was his previous forays into the paranoid world of spies and espionage in series like Global Frequency, RED (which was turned into a 2010 movie starring Bruce Willis which in turn spawned a sequel) and Reload (with former James Bond artist Paul Gulacy) that made Ellis ideally suited for Ian Fleming's superspy.

He recently took a moment for a brief exclusive interview with the Double O Section to answer some deep-cut, hardcore Bond nerd questions, and to discuss his work on "VARGR" and what we can expect from "EIDOLON" (which reintroduces SPECTRE to the world of the literary 007!).

00: You've taken on the Bond myth before in some other guises. How is your Bond different from the Bond/Nick Fury analogue in Planetary, John Stone? 

Ellis: Well, that character was much more of a specific riff on Marvel's Nick Fury character from the 1960s -- its only relationship to Bond was in the things that Nick Fury's writers and artists took from Bond. My Bond is the Bond of the books, by design and agreement with the Ian Fleming estate, and there's not, to my eye, a lot of connection there beyond the superficial. 

00: Obviously you re-read a lot of Fleming to prepare for this series. Since you're now an official 007 continuation author, working with the Fleming estate, did you delve at all into the work of any previous continuation authors, like Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, or William Boyd? Or is it necessary to consciously avoid that? 

Ellis: I decided to consciously avoid that. The remit was very much to live within the Bond of the books, and my decision was to only read the Fleming. Going in, I was terrified of pastiche or dilution, and to read the continuation books would put me at a remove from the central texts. The only non-Fleming reading I did was Amis' non-fiction appreciation of Bond [The James Bond Dossier], just to complement my own notes.

I never really thought of myself as an "official" 007 continuation author before. I quite like that. Thank you. 

00: You're welcome! It's a great group to be in. There are some elements very much present in Fleming, but which have become exaggerated in the films – notably the gadgets (attaché cases with hidden weapons as opposed to invisible cars) and humor (wry observations rather than puns). How do you walk that line between the book and film takes on those things, and will we see more of either in EIDOLON? 

Ellis: There were one or two gags I couldn't resist, just as I couldn't resist opening VARGR with a movie-style cold open. I'm never going to get another opportunity to write one of those, after all. But, in general, I cleave much more towards the more reserved tone of the books. Not perfectly, I know -- I leaven the text when the opportunity presents itself, not least because it opens up Bond's personality. I don't have access to the ease of interiority that prose provides, so I take advantage of dialogue interplay and body language, the affordances of comics.

EIDOLON might be a little "lighter" than VARGR, as I allow myself a few Fleming-isms that I avoided in VARGR. "Dharma Reach" was a fun name in VARGR, for instance, but there's a female character in EIDOLON with a far more full-on Fleming-y name.  As in Fleming, it's the little details that make it live.

Be sure to pick up the collected edition of VARGR if you haven't already to revel in those little details, and check out James Bond 007 #7, in comic shops June 22, to read Ellis's latest Bond adventure. Thank you to Warren Ellis for taking the time for this interview and to Dynamite Entertainment for making it happen.

Read my review of James Bond 007 #1, the premiere issue of VARGR, here.
Read about the recently reissued 1960s James Bond manga collections here.
Pre-order James Bond 007: VARGR from Amazon here.

SPECTRE Returns in Warren Ellis' Second James Bond Comics Arc

According to the solicitation copy for Dynamite's James Bond 007 #7, in stores June 15, Warren Ellis's second 007 arc will see the return of the villainous organization SPECTRE to the pages of comics. Indeed, as the comics are licensed from Ian Fleming Publications and based on the Fleming novels rather than the films, the storyline "EIDOLON," also marks the first appearance of SPECTRE in print (in the world of the literary Bond) since John Gardner's tenure as the official continuation author back in the 1980s! Here's the description:

After World War Two, army intelligence groups created ghost cells called "stay-behinds" across Europe in the event of a Warsaw Pact surge. “EIDOLON” is the story of a SPECTRE stay-behind structure – ghost cells of SPECTRE loyalists acting as sleepers until the time is right for a SPECTRE reformation and resurgence. The time is now.

Ellis gave an interview with Comic Book Resources, revealing slightly more about the story. "SPECTRE is over as a threat at this time in Bond's life, and Blofeld is gone," he tells the website, promising, "This is something new." The inspiration for "EIDOLON" (a Greek word meaning "ghost," "phantom," or... "specter"), he reveals, draws as much upon current events as it does on those WWII stay-behind units. "I'd been looking for a way to introduce asymmetrical warfare and modern combat conditions into Bond without being too clunky about it -- AQ, Daesh, the movement of money, all the stuff that didn't necessarily pertain when Fleming was writing," he told CBR.

And while we might not be seeing Ernst Stavro Blofeld rise from the ashes, Ellis does promise one figure from Bond's past. Fans can look forward to CIA agent (or former CIA agent, depending on which part of Fleming's timeline Ellis ends up drawing from) Felix Leiter popping up in "EIDOLON."

Meanwhile, Ellis's first James Bond 007 storyline, "VARGR," will be collected in hardcover this summer, in stores June 28 and available for pre-order on Amazon.

Dynamite's James Bond: More Exclusive Variant VARGR Covers Revealed

With Warren Ellis' and Jason Masters' new James Bond comic, "VARGR," in stores today, Dynamite has revealed all of the various retailer exclusive variant covers in the back of the comic—and on their website. Here are some of the most impressive, including this spectacular movie poster-style one by the great Joe Jusko (above), which is exclusive to 1st Print Comics. (There's also a "virgin" version, with no logos or titles.) There's also another one by the incredibly talented Francesco Francavilla (better than his regular incentive cover, in my opinion) exclusive to Fried Pie Comics, a very cool profile picture by Ben Oliver for My Geek Box UK, a moody monochrome image from Sherlock Holmes artist Aaron Campbell for Madness Games, and a cool, colorful cover by Timothy Lim for Heroes and Fantasies. Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 #1, kicking off the "VARGR" story arc, is in stores now. Read my review here.

Comic Book Review: James Bond 007 #1

After an excruciating twenty year absence from the medium of comics, I am absolutely thrilled to report that, thanks to Warren Ellis, Jason Masters and Dynamite, James Bond is back! By which I don’t merely mean that, in a factual sense (as any regular reader of this blog surely already knows), there is a new 007 comic book, but that there’s a new 007 comic book that really delivers 007! Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 #1, which kicks off the 6-part “VARGR” storyline, met and even exceeded my high expectations for the character in this medium. I hope the following issues live up to the exacting standard established here!

Although this Bond is very much the literary Bond of Ian Fleming (and also quite noticeably of Kinglsey Amis, John Gardner and Raymond Benson, in certain respects), licensed by Ian Fleming Publications, “VARGR” does make some concessions to the film version of the character—as any new take on the secret agent really must. Certain things like a Q scene (though this particular one comes directly from Fleming; Major Boothroyd gives Benson’s Walther P99 the same withering treatment he once gave Bond’s old Beretta, saying, “This is a gun for ladies, 007. And not very nice ladies at that.”) or flirting with Moneypenny (is her line here, “I remember when you were charming!” intended as a dig at Daniel Craig?) were never de rigeur in Fleming’s novels, but thanks to the films it’s impossible to imagine a Bond story without these elements. In a presumed nod to Naomie Harris, the current screen Moneypenny, this comic’s Miss Moneypenny is black. In an interesting first, so is the comic’s M, though skin color is just about the only thing different with him. In most respects, Ellis’ M seems very much like Fleming’s irritable yet fatherly Secret Service supervisor. (His office, however, is startlingly bare. I would have liked to have seen a painting of a ship or two on the wall. It’s also odd that his guest chair looks like it came from IKEA, but maybe that’s intentional so that no one he’s interviewing can ever get very comfortable.)

What Ellis gives us is, like other Bond comics before it, a nice blend of the literary and film Bonds, but it also goes beyond that, establishing itself in just one issue as a fairly unique take on 007. While past Bond comics have given us some wonderful variations on the familiar tropes of the character, Ellis manages to deliver quite a few moments of sheer originality. I can’t recall witnessing a job search for a new 00 agent before in any medium (which is not the only element present that brings shades of Greg Rucka’s Queen & Country, the ne plus ultra of spy comics, into Bond’s world), and that subplot begun in this issue looks promising. I also can’t recall Bond ever identifying himself to a doomed enemy in quite such a fashion as he does here. When a scuzzy assassin with a tattoo that may be an homage to Ellis’s Transmetropolitan character Spider Jerusalem finds himself staring up the barrel of James Bond’s gun, he asks, “Who are you?” We might be expecting the familiar response that Mr. White got to that question at the end of Casino Royale, but instead Bond answers, “You killed 008. And I’m 007.” That’s really quite a chilling response! The assassin needn’t know what a Double O prefix means to know he’s in deep trouble when he hears that.

We even get scenes of Bond and Bill Tanner eating in the MI6 canteen. That’s another moment that feels like it could come out of Queen & Country (as is a new Service rule that agents must draw weapons on station rather than travelling armed, much to Bond’s chagrin), but it’s also entirely appropriate to Fleming’s Bond, and serves both to humanize the character and to establish his friendship with Tanner.

Overall I was a fan of Jason Masters’ artwork, though that’s also the main area in which I have a few criticisms. I found some of the action difficult to follow thanks to confusing breakdowns, particularly in the opening action sequence. Moreover, the only thing this comic book incarnation of 007 is really lacking is a visually iconic James Bond. Both Mike Grell and Paul Gulacy delivered pretty iconic versions of the character in their respective 90s comics. Masters’ Bond is certainly not bad in any way (he sort of reminds me of a leaner Henry Cavill), but he isn’t definitive either. And his slouchy body language when in conference with M didn’t ring quite true for me. Fleming’s Bond was always more respectful in the presence of his boss, and while he sometimes verged on insubordination, he was also generally eager to please. Other than those minor gripes, however, the art is top notch. And even if I didn’t find his Bond iconic, Masters excels at conveying the character’s humor through his facial expressions, which is crucial in making Bond likeable.

All things considered, I really couldn’t be more pleased with the debut issue of Dynamite’s James Bond 007 series. The final page leaves us with our first glimpse of the villain and a definite desire to see where the storyline takes us next. I have a really good feeling that it’s going to be a great ride. Yes, Bond is definitely back!

Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 #1 is available in comic shops everywhere today, with many different variant covers.

Covers for Dynamite's James Bond #3, Plus One More for #1

Midtown Comics has revealed an exclusive Robert Hack cover for Dynamite's James Bond 007 #1 comic book, kicking off the "VARGR" storyline by Warren Ellis and Jason Masters. And, in my opinion, it's the best one yet! Don't be fooled by the throwback look though. That's just this retro cover. Ellis's take on Agent 007 is thoroughly modern, though based on the character as portrayed in Ian Fleming's novels, not the movies. The writer has spoken extensively about what to expect from his run on Bond, which will last at least twelve issues. The Robert Hack cover is available only from Midtown Comics, and can be pre-ordered through their website. James Bond 007 #1 comes out next Wednesday, November 4.

Meanwhile, on Dynamite's own website they've revealed two covers and a story synopsis for issue #3, due out January 6. According to the solicitation, "Bond is on his way to break up a small, agile drug-trafficking operation in Berlin. The truth about what he's walking into is bigger, scarier and much more lethal. Berlin is about to catch fire, and James Bond is trapped inside. Dynamite Entertainment proudly continues the 'VARGR' storyline, the debut chapter of the ongoing James Bond saga as written by industry legend Warren Ellis and illustrated by Jason Masters!" The main cover is by Dom Reardon (below), with a variant (right) by Gabriel Hardman.

First Look at Dynamite's James Bond #2, Featuring an Aston Martin

The latest issue of Diamond Previews (the print version only, unfortunately) offers comic book readers a first glimpse at the second issue of Dynamite Entertainment's James Bond 007, including four variant covers. According to the solicitation copy, "James Bond is in Berlin, alone, unarmed and with no idea of the forces ranged in secret against him. If he can make it to the Embassy, he might survive for a few hours more. But he’s getting into that car with that woman, which means he has only minutes to live…"

Is "that car" an Aston Martin? Cover A, by Dom Reardon (high-res version courtesy of Bleeding Cool), certainly shows one. This is a little surprising because all the publicity surrounding this comic book, by writer Warren Ellis (RED, Global Frequency) and artist Jason Masters, plays up how it's based on the literary James Bond of the Ian Fleming novels, and not the movie Bond. Yet Fleming's Bond only ever drove an Aston Martin once, in Goldfinger. It's clearly a modern model depicted on the cover, similar to the DBS V12 Daniel Craig drove in Quantum of Solace. While a Bentley might have been a more expected choice of vehicle for the Bond of the books, there is certainly precedent for 007 to drive an Aston Martin in comics. In the never completed 1993 Dark Horse Bond comic "A Silent Armageddon" by Simon Jowett and John Burns, 007 drove a dark green V8 Vantage similar to the one Timothy Dalton drove in The Living Daylights. (I sure would like to see Dynamite print the supposedly finished but never published final two issues of that series!) Of course the car in the description is not Bond's car anyway, but one driven by a mysterious woman—presumably the Selina Kyle-looking Bond girl making her public debut on these covers. So perhaps she drives an Aston as a cute nod to the films. Or perhaps the car on the cover isn't even featured inside the comic, and is just the artist's touch! We'll find out December 2 when part 2 of Ellis's inaugural storyline "VARGR" hits shelves.

Warren Ellis Gives Good Bond Interviews

Anthony Horowitz is a brilliant writer, but proved himself a less brilliant interviewee a few weeks ago when he put his foot in his mouth promoting his new James Bond novel Trigger Mortis and the Internet didn't like it. He also made some odd statements about how he viewed the character of Bond, but fortunately his novel doesn't bear them out. Warren Ellis, on the other hand, whose new 007 comic book debuts November 4, speaks quite eloquently about Bond in every interview I've read so far. Read this latest, with Bleeding Cool, for example. He even navigates the tricky waters of what Sarah Palin would call "gotcha questions," like "Seen through a contemporary lens, Bond comes across as misogynistic at times; how do you deal with that misogyny in a modern series?" Other Bond writers have stumbled over such questions in the past, but Ellis handles it as well as any I've seen, saying:

A lot of this, of course, is about postwar British mores: many of them were still around when I was growing up in the Seventies. The attitude to people of colour, the notion that lesbians really just needed a good seeing-to to fix them… all depressingly familiar. Contemporising Bond, for me, requires the writer to move that baseline — on a simple level, it was possible for the Bond of Casino Royale to have grown up with those views inculcated into him, because Bond was conceived of as an “ordinary” man, but the Bond of VARGR [the title of Ellis' first story arc] could not have grown up like that.

All that said: yes, I believe there to be a streak of misogyny in Bond, but I think a contemporary reading exposes much (but not all) of that as misanthropy. I suspect Bill Tanner is Bond’s one single friend.

I think that's a very interesting response! Be sure to read the entire interview.

James Bond 007 #1, from Dynamite Entertainment, hits comics shops November 4, days before SPECTRE opens in theaters.

First Look at Interior Art for New James Bond Comic Book VARGR

Dynamite Entertainment unleashed its advertising campaign for its upcoming James Bond 007 comic book today. All Dynamite comics out this week include a double page spread in the middle promoting the upcoming 007 series, and it includes our first glimpse of Jason Masters' interior artwork for the Warren Ellis-penned book, stylishly reformatted into the shape of a pistol.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg. On their website, Dynamite has revealed three whole textless pages of sequential interior art in black and white. It's unclear whether these pages will also be in black and white in the comic itself, and whether or not they'll have text. If they are black and white, the technique would recall the opening sequence of Casino Royale (2006), which depicted a similar scene in monochrome. And if they are textless, they would recall the most famous sequence in spy comics, Steranko's three page "silent" opening to Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1. These Bond pages appear to come from what Ellis recently described as the book's "cold open," a duel in a Helsinki building site. Head over to the Dynamite site to see them all. Read more about the first storyline, VARGR, and see the various covers here.

Warren Ellis Shares Tantalizing Details About His James Bond Comic Book

New James Bond continuation author Anthony Horowitz's ideas about James Bond's character have been getting a lot of play on the Internet lately for all the wrong reasons, but another new Bond writer has also shared his ideas about who 007 is this week in a couple of interviews. It was announced in July that Warren Ellis would be the first writer on Dynamite's flagship James Bond comic book series, and that was fantastic news. I was hoping (and guessing) the company would spring for a big name on at least the first arc, and Ellis is among the biggest. He's also, happily, a terrific writer, and no stranger to spies having written RED (which formed the basis for the Bruce Willis movies), Reload (with former Bond comic illustrator Paul Gulacy), and his magnum opus Planetary, which featured a Bond/Nick Fury analogue. Speaking with Sarah and Dan's Extra Edition on BBC radio on August 4, Ellis revealed that although his Bond is very much Ian Fleming's literary character, and not the movie Bond, he couldn't resist one homage to the movies - a thrilling, pre-credits sequence-style "cold open." ("It's a duel in a building site outside Helsinki in Finland"). He also gave a description of his first arc, entitled VARGR.

"006 has died," Ellis explained. "And 007 is given his workload to carry on with until 006 can be replaced. And this fine thing going into a situation without the correct preparation. And what he thought was a very simple counterespionage gig involving the drugs trade turns out to be something far, far larger and a direct attack on the British Isles. It's set, as I say, in Finland; it's set in Berlin in the winter, and it's set on a tiny island off the Norwegian coast." He also revealed that the villain of the piece, a Serbian, would be named Slavan Kurjak.

In a more in-depth interview this week with Dynamic Forces, Ellis shared even more. He confirmed that he will be staying with the title for at least one more arc beyond the first six issues, and revealed some of the supporting characters from Fleming's novels who will turn up in VARGR. "You can’t do Bond without M, Moneypenny and Bill Tanner. And Major Boothroyd. I haven’t decided on the second volume yet, but I’d like to work the Felix Leiter of the novels in there." He also explained the somewhat mystifying title (which I had thought was an acronym), saying, "VARGR is an Old Norse word meaning variously wolf, evildoer or destroyer." Proving his cred for writing 007, Ellis shared his own five favorite Fleming novels (all excellent choices, if you ask me!), concluding that "You Only Live Twice is possibly my favorite because it shows Bond at his most lost and broken," which may offer a good indication of the sort of 007 we can expect to see in his comic. Perhaps most interestingly of all, he offers his take on Bond's character, and, proving that there are many valid interpretations of a given text, it's in some ways at odds with Horowitz's analysis. Read the entire interview for all the juicy details and more hints of what we can expect this fall from Ellis and artist Jason Masters.

When it was first announced last year that Dynamite would publish new James Bond comics, it seemed inevitable that we could expect multiple variant covers. (The company loves them.) Now, with the comic due out November 4 (just as SPECTRE hits theaters), we've got our first glimpse of them! Comic Book Resources debuted a handful of variants and retailer incentives that will drive 007 completists crazy tracking them all down this fall, some of which illustrate this story. See the others at CBR. I have to say, I love the title treatment! Maybe not quite as much as I loved Dark Horse's Bond comics title treatment in the 90s, but this one is very contemporary and very striking.

All in all, I can't quite pinpoint whether I'm more excited about Horowitz's 1950s-set novel Trigger Mortis, or Ellis's present-day continuation comic VARGR! It's going to be a great fall for Bond fans.

Besides the contemporary flagship series, Dynamite also plans a period "Year One"-type 007 origin story by a different, yet to be announced writer set in Fleming's original timeline (placing it either in the Forties or Fifties), and a series of graphic novel adaptations of Fleming's novels. Their deal with Ian Fleming Publications lasts ten years, so we can look forward to a lot of Bond comics in the coming decade - hopefully enough to make up for the past two decades in which Agent 007 has been completely absent from comics shelves! (Excepting a one-off graphic novel adaptation of the first Young Bond adventure, Silverfin.)
Thanks to Jack and Maurice!

JAMES BOND RETURNS TO COMICS!!!

It's been almost nineteen years since the last time James Bond saw print in a comic book – and even longer since the superspy's last original adventure in that medium. All that is about to change. Today, on the eve of the New York Comic Con, Ian Fleming Publications, Limited and Dynamite Entertainment announced a new partnership to bring 007 back to comics in 2015! According to the press release, "Dynamite has been granted worldwide rights to publish comic books, digital comics and graphic novels starring 007." The deal gives the New Jersey-based publisher the right to produce both "fresh visual adaptations of the classic Bond stories" and "to create a series of brand new adventures" for Fleming's inimitable secret agent. It also grants them the opportunity to publish "original graphic novels and collections." No creators have yet been announced.

Among its first projects, Dynamite plans to explore Bond's early days, pre-Casino Royale. According to the press release, "some other familiar faces from the expansive 007 mythos will also make appearances in this series – criminal masterminds, hired henchmen, glamorous Bond Girls and secret service allies – alongside all-new characters." Nothing else specific was announced about the new James Bond comics, but we can perhaps infer a bit about the publisher's strategy from looking at how they've handled other licensed properties. The origin story is not a surprising move. The publisher has had a lot of success doing "Year One" storylines about heroes like The Shadow, The Green Hornet and Zorro. (Often comics superstar Matt Wagner has been involved in these Year One stories. Could he be boning up on his Fleming?) Given that success, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the series dealing with Bond's early days ends up being called James Bond: Year One. Some of Dynamite's Year One comics have been as long as ten issues.

What might a James Bond: Year One story entail? In citing the year of Casino Royale's publication (1953), the press release (which can be read in its entirety at The Book Bond) seems to hint at a period setting. Fleming himself hinted in his first novel that Bond's career began during WWII. While recovering from his wounds at the hands of Le Chiffre, 007 recounts to his friend Mathis how he earned his Double O prefix. The first man he killed was a Japanese cipher expert working on the 36th floor of the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center in New York. Bond shot him from 300 yards away, in another skyscraper. (This incident was based on Fleming's own wartime experiences breaking into a Japanese cipher expert's offices in that building with his friend, the man called Intrepid, William Stephenson. There was no killing involved.) "The next time in Stockholm wasn't so pretty," Bond tells Mathis. "I had to kill a Norwegian who was doubling against us for the Germans.... For various reasons it had to be an absolutely silent job. I chose the bedroom of his flat and a knife. And, well, he just didn't die very quickly." The year of these killings isn't stated, but if Bond was killing a Japanese cipher expert and an agent who was doubling for the Germans, I think we can easily infer that these exploits took place during WWII. Furthermore, Fleming asserts that those two were Bond's only kills up until that point, which rather inconveniently leaves a gap of at least eight years during which 007 didn't kill anyone, which isn't very conducive to new adventures set in the early days of the Cold War. (I would assume, however, and even hope, that Dynamite will find a way to work around that.) So I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume that Dynamite's origins tale will depict Bond in action during the war, which is something we've never seen before in print or on film. Or in comics. (Well, aside from a brief flashback during William Boyd's 2013 continuation novel Solo, in which the author cast Bond as a member of Fleming's own real-life commando squad 30 Assault Unit.) So that would be exciting!

While this origins story was the only comic book specifically discussed in the press release, does that mean that that's the only James Bond comic we should expect from Dynamite next year? I highly doubt it! Fortunately for Bond fans and comics fans, the publisher has a long track record of being highly prolific with their other licensed properties! At one point this year there were as many as three separate ongoing Shadow series being published at once, maybe four. They previously published three different Green Hornet comics concurrently as well, all set in entirely different timelines no less. (One in the past, one in the present, and one in the future.) That's another thing they've got no trepidation about doing. We've also seen Battlestar Gallactica and Shadow series set in different periods and different timelines being published simultaneously. So just because an origins story might be set in the 1940s doesn't mean that Dynamite won't be publishing contemporary James Bond adventures as well. (This would also be in keeping with IFP's recent policy. They reportedly offer each continuation author the choice of setting his novel during Fleming's timeline or today, which has yielded both results.)

Another thing that Dynamite likes to do is publish spinoff titles. This, too, was hinted at in today's press release, when Dynamite Editor Mike Lake mused, "The Bond villains are some of the most memorable figures in popular culture…where did they come from? And in some cases, where did they go?" Again, I'm speculating, but this tantalizing question would seem to me to indicate that we might see spinoff comics about various Bond villains. And no doubt we'll see certain Bond Girls get their own titles as well. Strong, sexy women are historically Dynamite's favorite fodder for spinoffs. A Dejah Thoris title spun off from Warlord of Mars (based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter books) has, I believe, outlasted the original flagship series. I have little doubt that Dynamite CEO Nick Barucci intends to put a comic called Pussy Galore on store shelves at some point in the near future! But what other characters could be spun off into their own series, miniseries, or one-shots? There's precedent for Moneypenny to take center stage in Samantha Weinberg's excellent trilogy of Moneypenny Diaries novels. Blofeld seems like a natural. But, personally, I'd most like to see a series focusing on Bond's CIA ally, Felix Leiter!

The other thing Dynamite loves to do, historically, with their licensed properties is crossovers. This one I'm not so sure we'll see with Bond. I suspect that IFP will maintain a pretty tight leash on such things, but the possibilities are intriguing. Personally, I have zero interest in seeing 007 relegated to a supporting role in a major mash-up with other characters, which Dynamite is fond of. (Masks unites The Shadow, The Spider, Green Hornet, Miss Fury and even Zorro, among other pulp heroes, into one big jam. Justice Inc. reads like an intriguing pulp-era Justice League, teaming The Shadow with Doc Savage and The Avenger.) But I must admit, certain team-ups with other licensed characters on the Dynamite roster do intrigue me. (It might sound crazy, but I'd love to see Bond team up with Tarzan! I think it could work! And though some time trickery would probably be necessary, I also wouldn't mind seeing 007 thrust into Dynamite's usual team-up - a meeting with Sherlock Holmes! Hey, there's precedent for that one, in the elusive publication "Holmes Meets 007.") And Dynamite doesn't limit their crossovers to their own characters. They're also fond of inter-company crossovers, like Batman '66/Green Hornet, published in conjunction with DC, or Spider-man/Red Sonja, published with Marvel. I can't imagine something like James Bond Meets Batman working (and can't imagine IFP would sign off on it), but imagine a Sixties-set 007/Nick Fury team-up on an over-the-top You Only Live Twice scale? That I can picture... and would love to read! In fact, it just makes sense. And I bet the great Jim Steranko could even be tempted to revisit the character he's most famously associated and provide a cover with the tantalizing addition of James Bond...

Finally, Dynamite also has a history of publishing collected editions of comics about their licensed characters originally put out by other companies. They've released trade paperbacks of some of DC's 1980s Shadow comics (including the unmissable if bizarre then-contemporary story Seven Deadly Finns) and Marvel's original Red Sonja stories, and a hardcover of Marvel Doc Savage tales. So I'm very hopeful that they might reprint some or all of James Bond's past comic adventures. If you stick to the English language material, there's really not that much. Mike Grell's Permission to Die (originally published by Eclipse in the early Nineties) and Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's Serpent's Tooth are the two best Bond comic stories to date. Both were collected in trade paperbacks in their day, but both are now long out of print and much deserving of new editions. Other Dark Horse Bond comics have never been collected, including the unfinished (but highly promising) A Silent Armageddon. I've heard rumors that the other two issues were actually drawn, even if they weren't published. Wouldn't it be great if Dynamite managed to present that and Topps' GoldenEye (for which pencils were also completed) in their entirety for the first time anywhere? Furthermore, the various movie adaptations over the years have never been collected. There haven't been that many, so it would be easy to include DC's Dr. No, Marvel's For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, and Eclipse's Licence To Kill (ideally along with the complete GoldenEye) in a single Omnibus volume. And if I want to get really greedy, how great would it be if they eventually published translations of the rare Bond comics from other countries that have never seen print in English? For some reason 007 has enjoyed more success in other countries like Sweden and Argentina and India than in the English speaking world. I'd love to see the Semic or Zigzag titles collected in English for the first time! Or, best of all, the Japanese manga versions of Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service from the Sixties! But now I must be dreaming... For starters I'd be happy just to see Serpent's Tooth back on shelves.

So the only real, solid news that we have is that James Bond is returning to comics for the first time since Topps' aborted GoldenEye adaptation (which the publisher had promised was not just a film adaptation, but the beginning of a brand new ongoing James Bond series... which never happened) in 1995 (excluding a Young Bond graphic novel adaptation of Silverfin in 2008, which wasn't published in standard comic book format). But, with the possible exception of the crossovers, I suspect that my speculation based on Dynamite's past behavior may prove to be more true than not. But unfortunately we'll have to wait until at least next year to find out!

Read more about Dynamite's James Bond announcement at:
The Book Bond
The Hollywood Reporter
Comic Book Resources