Not too many toys!
Creative Staff:
Story: Benjamin Percy
Art: Rapha Lobosco
Colors: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
The latest installment in the Black Box storyline will leave you breathless. An epic car chase through the gritty, neon wonderland of Tokyo gives way to a sexy layover near Mt. Fuji, where James Bond goes “undercover” with the mysterious assassin, Selah Sax. Little does 007 know his mission is about to change — and danger lurks in the nearby “Suicide Forest,” where he and Selah will be both the hunters and the hunted.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Percy and Lobosco’s run on James Bond has been pretty fun so far as it’s given us something that feels grounded and authentic in the modern sense. While we do want the toys and all that, there’s been more of a push in the recent fun of films to use them sparingly and that comes into play here as well. This issue is more about movement and set up than anything else and that allows Percy to keep it somewhat light and fluid, though an engaging read. What it does allow for is for Lobosco to really shine with one of the hardest things to do with comics, at least for me, is in making a car chase feel exciting.
Bond’s being chased by the yakuza takes up about half the book and it’s a thrill to watch unfold since it’s at night and the color work from O’Halloran really drives home a kind of intensity that’s hard to capture in film. The back and forth layouts of it all combined with Bond trying to survive as things get dicier is great. But I loved his call to Boothroyd trying to find out what the Aston Martin has been loaded with that could help him and being told that there isn’t much to it beyond speed. Of course, there is a little help but it’s the kind of thing that just saves him by the skin of his teeth before putting him into a worse position. That’s fun in itself as we get the limited gadget aspect and more of a human thing with Bond using his wits and skill to survive.
Having him end up with Selah and taking a slug to the back is about par for the course with Bond as it allows her to “nurse” him back to health a bit, mostly by wrapping him up and getting frisky afterward as he’s always up for undercover work. Selah’s story gets revealed a bit more here combined with what Bond knows of her and she’s definitely interesting as a form agent from a denied department that couldn’t handle the stain on her soul anymore and is going after other assassins. She and Bond make a good pair on several levels here and watching them going after Genji once again, this time having to go into the Suicide Forest place, sets up for a good chapter to follow. It’s Lobosco’s visuals that again sell both of these things as the sensual side brings out great things from Selah while the creepiness of night and O’Halloran’s coloring makes the Suicide Forest and its reveals disturbing.
In Summary:
With several James bond books in the mix over the last couple of years, the Black Box arc is definitely one of the better ones that can be read both as individual installments and as a complete story so far. Percy keeps things moving well with the action here before providing some trademark sex and sensuality and digging into the creepiness of the final act to come. Lobosco takes it all up to the next level with some great design and layout work here that allows O’Halloran to simply turn it into magic with the use of the heavy blacks and the color choices beyond that to accentuate it all. Very good stuff that has me excited for what’s next.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 7th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
