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Himeros #2:
Issue #2 continues the comic book adventures of the world’s most famous spy – James Bond! While the setting exudes the allure of sun, sand and fun, this deadly island is no playtime retreat! Its sun, sand and misery for all those who visit, and up to Bond to put an end to the deadly circle once and for all!
Featuring two amazing covers: Francesco Francavilla and the legendary Jackson Guice!
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/james-bond-and-beyond-dynamite-books?hmb_source=&hmb_medium=product_tile&hmb_campaign=mosaic_section_1_layout_index_2_layout_type_threes_tile_index_1_c_jamesbondandbeyonddynamite_bookbundle
Dutch ethno-nationalists using a Pokemon clone to smuggle data. I like it.
Yep, that's Epstein. And he didn't kill himself.
Guess the "Bad Man" wasn't Bond after all. It's Kino, our psychotic assassin henchman for this arc.
"She's an above average marksman who excels in Aikido and Jiu-Jitsu." Of course she is.
Action sequence is again a bit hard to follow spatially, but not as bad as the opening to "Agent of SPECTRE". I actually like the huge "BLAM" and "BRRT" lettering.
"I understand why you did what you did." We are talking about child sex trafficking here, right? Oof.
It seems like the fears that a Ghislaine Maxwell-type character is going to be the sympathetic damsel in distress. Or is she more of an Allison Mack? Both not good, I would say.
Did Kino kill Barnes there? There are these weird ink blots and the one frame that suddenly switches to a white background, but it is unclear. Barnes is played up as literally "the Heavy", so it would be an interesting diversion from formula, if he bit it in the first issue and Kino is our sole antagonist and not just a henchman.
Overall: Good, if slightly standard #1 I would say. Opening, exposition, action piece, cliff hanger, done. I am however very concerned about the moral positioning of our female lead. I was before and I still am. I trust Rodney Barnes to land that plane, but currently I don't see how her actions that we only get allusions to, could ever be redeemed. We'll see.
The art is ok, I think. I didn't like Fuso's turn in "The Body" and I have to revisit "Service", but this is "Dynamite's James Bond" house-style, I feel. His Bond is clearly different to f.e. Casalanguida's, but overall, I think it is very much in line with other work. There is a weird thing where we sometimes get what I can only describe as ink blots on frames and it is a bit unclear why they are there. Sometimes they might be blood, but in other cases they clearly aren't. That's strange.
Yes, our female lead has a fairly dubious moral positioning, but we'll see how that plays out. If she chooses to testify (due in part to Bond's urging, I'd expect) then she becomes a more sympathetic character, no?
And I have to say that there are indeed several instances of questionable "ink blots" in a number of positions on various pages. I suspect some sort of production error is to blame here. Still, all things considered, I think this is one of the better Bond #1s to come from the Dynamite imprint. I look forward to the rest of this storyline.
I still don't really understand, why he needs to protect her. It is, of course, never great for people to get murdered, but what exactly is the information they want to get from her? Something about a weapon's dealer who was in on the sex trafficking?
The art is a bit suspect here at several points. Her face during the car chase is bad.
The pacing and spacing of the action pieces is also not good. Kino (Kano? I've read this literally 3 minutes ago and can't remember) just showing up in the hotel room is pretty creepy - although I would have liked a little hint that you only realize when looking at the previous panels a second time. However, three people standing in a small hotel room; two of them elite assassins; multiple shots getting fired at pretty much point blank range and nobody is as much as hurt? And she can just leave the room to get the car at one point? And Kino is an elite assassin, but instead of killing his main source of trouble - Bond - when he has his back turned, he decides to style on Sarah a bit and do a slow execution or something?
And that final piece of them jumping out of the car over however far of a distance without their pursuer seeing them and while having a casual conversation is also pretty bad.
Thanks for this IG. Just read it for myself and it's a bit on the nose with... shall we say "relatively current affairs" ... I have to agree with much of what you said. I want to also chime in and say:
It feels a little tired and the pacing a bit weird. Right now I'm feeling a bit bored and with the ending of this issue...:
I feel like they also robbed this specific bit from one of the movies:
Have you read VARGR before Eidolon? If not, read that, as it is the first in basically this „continuity“ of Bond comics - although if you hated Eidolon you don’t need to bother with VARGR, they are quite similar in tone and style.
In publication order, the next one up is Hammerhead. I like that one a lot, so I recommend it as a next step in the „main series“. After that there is a bit if hit and miss, but Hammerhead is a good next step and then you can maybe figure out what you like and don’t like.
Then you also have the various side projects, spin-offs and whatnot. That really depends on what you are interested in in you Bond stories.
Many people recommend the Felix Leiter spin-off and it really is very good. Kind of a noir detective/spy story set in Japan.
I really like Origins, which is set during WWII and gives us stories of how a young James Bond became a spy in the first place.
I think „Case Files“ and „Reflections of Death“ only really make sense when you have gotten to know these characters a bit more, so leave that to the side for now, even though some of those stories are really good.
And if you liked Casino Royale the graphic novel and like or are interesting in Live and Let Die the novel, go with that as well. The story is the story and the art and execution are really good, I think.
So, long story short: VARGR, Hammerhead, Origins, Live and Let Die and maybe Felix Leiter.
Thanks. I really like the Casino Royale and interested in Live and let die too. How about the black box?
Personally, not a favourite of mine. I think the art is a bit strange. The story is quite over-the-top. If you’re into that, go for it. I don’t like it that much.
Thanks. Hammerhead looks interesting and Black Box too. I am a huge fan of the Brosnan era and I think I will enjoy Blackbox.
Black Box is really fun. It is the most comic booky out of all of them. As for one that hasn’t been mentioned, Solstice is fantastic. It’s a one shot so I don’t know if there’s any around, but it is in the James Bond case files and is well worth the price.
The rest of it is basically just treading water (some of the time literally).
We start with Bond and the woman he has to protect being temporarily away from the killer hunting them and not trusting each other and we end the episode there as well, only that they are now on their way to the island.
Michael Myers Kino will continue to appear wherever they turn up and the relationship between Bond and Sarah (?) will continue this way until she either does something to sacrifice herself or turns outright evil. I lean towards the former and they even seem to set up a romance between the two, which is weird.
Also, not really interesting action. Again we have nonsensical gunplay with Kino just standing on a dock with a huge sniper rifle picking off every extra, but not even getting close to hitting his actual targets.
Later we get some hand-to-hand between Bond and Kino in the water that could be cool, but is just yada-yadad with Bond just "losing" him off-page.
I am starting to think Kino has to purposefully not stop them, that's how incapable this supposedly elite assassin is.
And the synopsis :