A new twist in the game.
Creative Staff:
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Stephen Mooney
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Ariana Maher
What They Say:
The modern Bond epic continues by superstars GREG PAK (Planet Hulk, Firefly) and STEPHEN MOONEY (Grayson, The Dead Hand). Secrets are revealed, allegiances confirmed. Bond and Oddjob learn the awful truth of the terrorist organization ORU, and how they’re helpless to prevent the destruction of global infrastructure as we know it…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This opening arc has had some interesting moments to it but what’s appealed the most is how Greg Pak has worked the John Lee character. Getting characters out there to stand against and alongside Bond, to really give him a challenge and a headache, and last at it is a hard thing to do. I’ve liked Lee so far even if there’s just way too much uncertainty about him. But that’s what makes him effective. And it’s a character that Stephen Mooney has brought to life well, especially with that infectious grin, as it has left me wanting more and more of him both on his own and as a thorn and help for Bond along the way. This installment gives is just a little bit more of him in all the right ways.
While the back and forth framing of this isn’t my friend, I do like that we again see just how Bond operates once caught. He and Lee made their escape only to be accosted by others and that had Bond making further progress with the case only to get picked up by Australian intelligence. Not giving them anything was likely easy on his part but it just adds to the fun of it all as he makes his way back to MI6 only to discover that Lee had swapped the goods on him once again. That the two of them have this kind of “I’m going to kill him” thing going on for a bit has been delightful and you can hear that in the way Bond not only talks about him but in actually talking to him as he sets things up to try and get the Golden Dragon back from him once again.
Setting events in Oxford for the back half here, it delves once again into the Oru side with what they’re doing in creating more mind-controlled puppets to operate with. It’s a disturbing play to be made but I’m still grappling with Oru just a bit to begin with, which I suspect will flow a bit better when this arc is read in full. The dynamic between Bond and Lee plays exceptionally well here as the almost jocular aspect of Lee contrasts well with Bond’s cooler humor even in the face of such disturbing events – and in dealing with the Oru splinter cell that’s there. But it’s how Lee manages to slip away again (somewhat) and we get the nod of another force he’s working with in Goldfinger. That’s dominating the next installment as it events wrap up here and I’m excited to see how they twist some of these known commodities into something new.
In Summary:
Greg Pak has a lot going on in his opening arc and I think it was just a touch too convoluted to really flow as strongly as it could. But it was populated by some really good characters and they had no problem in removing others along the way. I’m hopeful that as the next main arc gets underway there’s a bit of growth in the overall storytelling form after getting a handle on Bond as I want to see where Pak takes him and the characters next. This installment brings the Golden Dragon storyline to a close with some really interesting moments but it has a lot of action and a lot of fun character material along the way to keep it interesting and often exciting.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: April 17th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
