As more art theft stories get underway, interest wanes.
Creative Staff:
Story: Vita Ayala, Danny Lore
Art: Brent Peeples
Colors: Roshan Kurichiyanil
Letterer: Ariana Maher
What They Say:
Fakes are everywhere. 007 has no clue who to trust. His training and intuition are all that stand between the shadows and the light.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This incarnation of James Bond had me struggling with it for the first few issues so having a three-month gap was not going to help it. I had gotten into a lot of what Vita Ayala had written elsewhere but the storyline here with Danny Lore just hasn’t been working for me across the board. To make matters worse, after the first three issues a new artist was brought in. And then with this issue we get another artist with Brent Peeples, whose work I like but doesn’t feel like it works quite as well as it should here. The trio of artists we’ve had so far haven’t been strongly similar overall so there’s a minor level of jarring to it. Peeples has a great eye for design but I don’t think this incarnation of Bond is the best thing to pair him with.
With Bond and Brandy on their current phase of the investigation and having disrupted things previously, the art show they’re in has her recognizing that a lot of the paintings are fakes and that the messages within them are as well. She’s got a professional admiration for all of this and ends up getting an invite from a woman named Nadya to see something that might impress her more. That has her going off on her own and Nadya reveals she recognized her from elsewhere and is intent on eliminating her so as to not disrupt the plans that are in motion. It’s a very strong fight in terms of the dynamics and it feels like Peeples artwork is a lot more confident and assured here with just a couple of characters and not leaning into the background design in a big way as the fight is intense and the choreography solid as the two go back and forth at it in a really good way.
Bond, having picked up a few ideas of who all is involved here, figures a new path to approach to find out who the real boss is and sets up a simple plan in the bathroom to go after the bodyguard to get the goods. It’s again a solid fight sequence with classic Bond in his brawler mode and it looks stylish in the suit he’s wearing as well. Learning of Gallia being behind things sets him on the next phase of his mission, but losing touch with Brandy alters things only for the reveal of Big at the end, knowing Bond for who he is and removing him from causing any further trouble. Splitting the leads is a standard tactic to be sure and it works well enough as there’s some strong color design in both fights and how they wrap up but it also just feels too familiar.
In Summary:
Though this series frustrates me there are strong moments to be had in this installment. The story itself just hasn’t clicked at all and I feel like we’re going in circles with it. But when you break it into the individual scenes there’s a lot to like. Brandy toying with Bond over the way he views art is amusing, even if I prefer the more suave version of Bond that’s worldly. His fight with the bodyguard is some solid brawler work and I really enjoyed what we got out of Brandy and Nadya going up against each other. I just wish it was part of a better and more compelling storyline than what we have here.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 10th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
