With the financing made clear means, it’s time to move forward.
Creative Staff:
Story: Andy Diggle
Art: Luca Casalanguida
Colors: Chris Blythe
Letters: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
As tensions rise between MI6 and CIA, James Bond investigates the death of a fellow agent. Someone is smuggling military-grade weapons to European neo-Nazis, an arms pipeline stretching from the gutters of Munich to the upper echelons of Swiss high society. The trail will lead 007 to an old friend, a deadly betrayal, and an enigmatic art connoisseur named Chantal Chevalier.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While not overly convoluted, the monthly schedule for the Bond books continues to be the only downside to them as it really makes me wish they were done as original graphic novels and pushed in that form, especially if you’re reading a lot of books on a regular basis. Andy Diggle has been a fantastic addition to the writers working on the property and Kill Chain has been thoroughly engaging since it started, especially with Luca Casalanguida’s artwork that has a great flow to the action and some fantastic character designs that has me doing all sorts of casting for it as a film. That’s a big plus to it because these do feel like a good blend of novel and film in a way, taking the time to breathe and explore areas but also delivering up some great set pieces.
Bond’s attempts at figuring out what’s going on with the way that the organizations are tense to say the least has him dealing with Chevalier again. A lot of what’s going on in this book is just figuring out who is who and what the larger play may be, particularly as he thinks Chevalier may just be the money man for what’s going on when it comes to these newly surfaced art pieces and treasures. When we discover that she’s actually French intelligence it provides for a nice new angle to work with, one that I hope the books explore more since the various organizations all operate in interesting ways and we’ve seen how things in the real world are shaping the British/US working relationship. Suffice to say, Bond doesn’t make out well at first for mistaking who Chevalier is but she’s also going to use him to her advantage.
This gives the two a chance to provide for a car chase sequence together as they evade the real threat that’s out there, one that has them landing a van full of lost or unknown treasures – including a Monet. This ties us back into the funding that’s going on and opens up some new paths for Bond to explore while Chevalier’s able to get the goods away and to someplace safe so they can be properly dealt with. Bond’s story almost feels more violent than it needs to be, more of an assassination than anything else, but it segues into what the real masterminds of everything are up to. This feels a touch hazy but part of that stems from it being over a month since I read the previous issue and trying to recall every detail is a bit rough, especially with several Bond books ongoing recently. This just reinforces why it’s worth re-reading the series at the end or waiting until it’s all out.
In Summary:
Kill Chain has had a pretty solid story so far and this installment works to put Bond and Chevalier on the same page. It’s a standard kind of working alliance that you expect and it left me wanting to know more about her and again hoping that Dynamite has the ability to expand on their works with more original properties that delves into Bond’s world without always focusing on Bond. The story is unfolding at a good pace here and there’s a lot to like with the pieces that are coming into focus more. I also continue to love how Casalanguida presents his work with this series as the car chase material is tense and exciting but I also adore his character designs as they step away from some of the real world elements of earlier books in a light way but enough to make them properly stylish and appealing.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 20th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
