The past reflected.
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Marc Laming
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Ariana Maher
What They Say:
The ODD JOB epic continues, by superstars GREG PAK (Planet Hulk, Mech Cadet Yu) and MARC LAMING (Star Wars, Wonder Woman)! Somewhere in the world, a smuggler is trying to deliver a mysterious briefcase to the world’s most deadly terrorists. 007 must get this case and is licensed to kill anyone that gets in his way. This is the story of the man who gets in his way.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I’m still on the fence about needing an ongoing Bond series when there have been so many great miniseries, I enjoyed what Pak and Laming opened up with. The story is still fairly light at this point, which is expected as we get into what’s going on, but I like the touches to the past here as it plays with timeline and familiarity in a good way. I’m also enjoying it for Marc Laming’s artwork as the action sequences here are strong throughout, especially with Triona Farrell’s color work, but I’m definitely digging his design for John Lee. Now it’s just hoping that the character isn’t someone that I end up rooting against once we learn the truth about him.
The opening is a fun bit as we get a tale from Agent Edmundson talking about his encounter with Odd Jobb thirty years prior, which highlights the similarities to the man that Bond was attacked by previously. Giving us the “classic” Odd Job look for that is definitely intriguing and fun and seeing the weight of it on Edmundson’s face and how he deals with Bond works well, especially with Bond telling him that he’ll clean the slate for both of them with this modern one. Less enjoyable is the time with the Armourer as Bond gets the usual run through about playing with the gadgets simply because the Armourer for this, which just feels weird to say, doesn’t feel rightly connected here. It’s a familiar piece of the usual storyline but something doesn’t click in presentation and with the way it’s just so tense and almost ominous.
The real fun is Bond out in the field, heading to Indonesia under the watchful eye of Moneypenny through remote video cameras. She’s a presence in his ear for a lot of this, which is amusing when while staking out for the Russian with the case he ends up coming across John Lee again. They both have the same target with similar but somewhat different goals associated with him but they’re damn well not working together. It’s not easy making a speedboat chase work in comics form but Laming nails it here with the flow of it and then the shift to a land based hand to hand fight with the goons that are protecting the Russian. It does provide a nod toward some of what’s going on with the way they’re doped up for obedience and some of this is where the Bond series will struggle as the years go on in how things come across as more science fiction than they used to.
In Summary:
While I may grouse a bit about the need for an ongoing Bond series based on how well the minis have worked after the original ongoing was problematic, I’m not holding that against Pak or Laming. The pair with Triona Farrell have put in a solid couple of issues here that has me interested in seeing where it goes and how big it is, though part of me is worried about it being written for trade-length and the restrictions that come from that. That said, there’s lots of potential here and this issue delivers really well in terms of action and nods to the past. A few areas feel a bit rough for me but it’s largely giving me exactly what I want.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: December 19th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
