You know, if I could just open this review with this video, I definitely would.
Cut the theme! Shake the martinis! It’s our spoiler free of “James Bond” #1 by Warren Ellis and Jason Masters. Check it out below.
Written by Warren Ellis
Illustrated by Jason Masters
Beginning “VARGR”, the first story in the ongoing James Bond comic series by best-selling writer Warren Ellis! James Bond returns to London after a mission of vengeance in Helsinki, to take up the workload of a fallen 00 Section agent. But something evil is moving through the back streets of the city, and sinister plans are being laid for Bond in Berlin…
Something I’ve always found interesting about James Bond is how the popular interpretation of the character in popular culture is almost entirely unlike Ian Fleming’s original character. Fleming’s Bond was cold, contained and described by Fleming as “an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened… a blunt instrument.” This changed drastically with Sean Connery taking on the role for Dr. No and imbuing the character with a sense of rogueish wit that belayed a very dangerous nature. This developed over the years with actors like Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan bringing a playfulness to the character or Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig bringing a visciousness to the character’s portrayal of violence or George Lazenby… showing up. The point is that James Bond has gone from being a blunt instrument who drove complex espionage narratives that would often be a place for Fleming to talk about what he thought of the world to becoming a genuinely complex look at the link between masculinity, class and violence in the modern times.
With that in mind, I don’t think of a writer more suited to bringing the character to comics than Warren Ellis. Working with artist Jason Masters, Ellis has created an interpretation of Bond that is equal parts Fleming and Eon and has created a first issue that is the perfect jumping in point for any reader. Whether you’re a die hard fan of the novels or the films or you’re just jumping in for the hell of it, this is a clean slate that sets up everything you need to know about Ellis and Masters’ take on Bond’s world. It’s a very interesting take, too. With Spectre continuing the arc of showing a fledgling Bond taking up the mantle of 007 with his first run in with, well, SPECTRE, you would think Ellis and Masters would go for a similar take. Instead, this is a well established Bond who does feel more like Fleming’s character in a lot of ways than the film interpretations.
The only real downside to this being a first issue, despite it being such a solid introduction to this take on the character, is that it’s like watching the first ten minutes of a Bond film. You get the action-packed cold open, you get Bond’s obligatory briefings with M and Q and you get a brief hint of the villain he will face… and then the issue’s over. Sure, it’s a great way to hook a reader on to read the next chapter, but it felt like just I was getting into the issue it was over and I was left just a slight, biting disappointment because of it. It’s a strange, double-edged sword; on the one hand, you have an issue that’s a great introduction to the character and hits similar beats that a film introduction would and feels right for fans of the character, but on the other hand the issue is paced so that there isn’t much in the way of story development off the bat.
And, strangely enough, what development we do get is something we’ve seen before. It’s no surprise that a James Bond story in the 21st Century is going back to the well that is the “The 00 Project Is Old Fashioned And Must Be Shut Down” storyline, it’s just a shame that this take had to come out just after Spectre which does a very similar thing. Still, Ellis does bring a unique twist to it and even includes a nice nod to the dumb, messy bureaucracy that is British politics. Plus, it’s not like the issue is entirely about that as the much of the issue is actually focused on setting up the main mystery surrounding a new drug, but because that plot is currently so vague it’s hard for the whole Shutting Down The 00 Project subplot to muscle its way in.
Continued belowNow, while the story might be slightly hit or miss in places, it’s hard to argue that this issue isn’t gorgeous. Jason Masters definitely impresses in this debut issue, nailing the feeling of a hard espionage story with stark, violent action. The opening scene is a mostly dialogue-less action beat that has Bond chasing a man through Helsinki and it’s a masterclass in visual storytelling in action and intensity that feels like it could easily stand up with the best cold opens from the movies. While the issue never returns to an action beat after that, Masters continues to impress with sharp, clean lines that create meticulously detailed and spacious environments and carefully emotive characters. Masters utilises some rather abstract layouts at times, especially during the scene with Q which uses only two bordered panels while the rest of the page has various insets to show a moment at a number of different angles. It brings a unique feel to the look of the issue in a way that isn’t distracting or flashy.
Something that also brings a uniqueness to the look of the issue is the use of ben-day dots in the shading. It’s something that’s most noticeable in the opening scene because of the dark shadows, but it’s used throughout and it feels like a nice callback to the legacy of Bond and of comics themselves. It feels almost like an in-joke about the age of the Bond character and how he would be best suited to the kind of Golden Age pulp comics of the 50s that would have been around when Fleming first wrote ‘Casino Royale’. It’s a little touch, but one that brings a lot of depth to the visuals of the issues.
Overall, this is still a pretty solid debut and a very promising start. Though having such an extended action sequence right at the start of the issue meant that there was very little space left to really set up the the story in the rest of the issue, Ellis and Masters were still able to get their hooks in through an amazing interpretation of the James Bond characters and his world in a way that feels like it’s an ode to both Fleming’s writing and the film adaptations. If this promising start is anything to go by, it’s that Ellis and Masters know what they’re doing with the character and have a definite destination in mind, you just might not have much of an inclination of where that is after just this issue.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – A strong opening with a lot of potential to be amazing, but it’s a little early to really be able to tell.
