And the first Bond series from Dynamite comes to a close.
Creative Staff:
Story: Warren Ellis
Art: Jason Masters
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
EIDOLON, CHAPTER 6: The explosive conclusion to the second JAMES BOND 007 story – Eidolon are in the open, British Intelligence is cracked and in disarray, friends are dead and enemies seem unstoppable – can James Bond intercept the most direct strike of all, from the dead hand of SPECTRE to the heart of British government?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With it being just about a year since the James Bond series kicked off, it’s certainly been an interesting ride. Ellis has brought to life his own take on Bond that feels like elements of some of the others while being his own, yet kind of “faceless” in a way as well. What helped elevate it a good deal was Jason Masters on the artwork as making the adventures of bond with its movements, espionage, and car chases isn’t the easiest thing in the world. The framing of everything has to be just right to up the ante in terms of tension so that you feel it but even that’s easier than making a car chase across panels of a comic seem interesting. Yet Masters excelled at it more often than not and that just worked perfectly for me.
With this final issue of the storyline that did kick off back in the very first issue, it’s mostly action with a nice bit of intrigue. Though Cadence thinks her time is largely over and is just in the wrap-up phase, she’s not thinking things through a bit and is essentially just walking the streets to where she needs to be. We do know she’s being shadowed because she’s still a high-value target but that’s news to her. Welcome news, however, as while along the way she finds that Hawkwood is watching and following her. He’s got his own master plan to put into effect but he’s also intent on taking her down. That makes for a pretty exciting sequence as we see her on the run and the various MI6 assets attempting to stop him but failing.
Where the main piece here unfolds is that Bond is obviously following her as well and gives chase to Hawkwood. We see just how far Hawkwood is going and the chase is solid as is the more intimate action as the two fight it out once out of the vehicles. What works best, however, is that we get Hawkwood giving his end speech as they go at it and he makes it clear he’s not a classic villain with a world ending or conquest plan. He’s just looking to get paid and is more than happy to do this towards the government over how it treated him. It’s not revenge per se but it feels honest and true coming from him. The way Bond deals with him is spot on, right down to the last panel, as is how Hawkwood brings his own story to a grisly close.
In Summary:
The second storyline for the first ongoing Bond series is my favorite of the two as the first one just felt a bit off with what it was trying to do. There were things seeded into it that came into play here, which is how Ellis operates and it works well, but I still find that for a lot of people Bond is a hard character to bring to life outside of film. With so many fans of the films unable to connect with the original novels and lots of those that came later it’s just how people seem to be wired for the property, myself included at times. There’s a lot to like here overall and I’m hopeful for the approach of regular miniseries from a range of creators going forward as Dynamite has the potential for some good books that will reach a new audience in bookstores as well. This is a solid series overall with a very good ending installment.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: December 28th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
