An offer Bond can’t refuse.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christos Gage
Art: Luca Casalanguida
Colors: Heather Moore
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
AGENT OF SPECTRE Part 1! There’s a civil war brewing within SPECTRE. An upstart American member of the international criminal organization is attempting a coup, threatening to depose Ernst Stavro Blofeld. She’s on guard against Blofeld’s men, so to take her out, Blofeld recruits a wild card – James Bond! With Blofeld threatening the life of Bond’s friend Felix Leiter as leverage, Bond agrees…but he has a plan to use this internal strife to bring SPECTRE down once and for all. Will he succeed, or is this a dark path from which even 007 can’t return?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s been a while since Dynamite put out a Bond series it feels like and I’m glad to see the character back, especially under the hands of Christos Gage. I don’t get to see much of his work in general and have liked what I’ve read, so getting him to take on Bond for something like this is definitely up my alley. What made it even more exciting, however, is that we’ve got Luca Casalanguida here. They’ve done some great stuff over the years across the board but I love their Dynamite work with Bond as it has a really strong and distinctive style without it being completely out of place for the property. The result is that we get someone who can really handle the action, give Bond the right kind of presence, and handle the quieter scenes expertly.
With this taking place within the larger Bond storyline, we have a good opening sequence that involves him trying to deal with an agent of Spectre that he’s tracked down and has taken the briefcase from. It’s a tense back and forth aboard a ferry and you have the agent, Winstone, making it clear that he won’t be changing sides because MI6 isn’t even capable of handling their own, referencing the Eidolon affair. For Bond, this makes it clear that only he, M, and Moneypenny can be trusted at this point with what they know and they’re doing their best to keep it as secret as possible. I like the continuation of this and that it leans on some of what the movies were doing as well. The sequence between the trio as they work through this, talking about what they know of Spectre, its hierarchy and the reveal of Blofeld being the one in charge now moves things along well.
The mission to Paris to try and get in between Blofeld and his mole is definitely interesting for a couple of reasons. The first is that we get to see a very different Blofeld, for which I’m appreciative as he’s a bit of a brick-type character with some age to him as well. Through him we learn about how there’s a civil war brewing within Spectre as the number seven has opted to try and take power for herself with an internal splinter group. The other is that we get Blofeld stopping the action quickly between the two of them and going for conversation instead. All while making it clear that he really does know Bond and his type, hence making him an offer that will essentially benefit MI6 by shortening the Spectre civil war while tempting him with a lot of money for a new life afterward because middle-age isn’t an abstract thing anymore for Bond. Of course, we have to believe he’s just running an op here, but these books have an opportunity to take some real chances.
In Summary:
I continue to enjoy the James Bond books that Dynamite puts out and we’ve got a strong creative on this series. That it’s digging into the Spectre material in a creative way definitely has me excited to see where they go with it. This issue sets the groundwork very well with the right kind of downtime and exposition to give it the weight it needs to move forward. Bond is always engaging and I’m digging what Gage is putting to the page with the character that Casalanguida brings to life. I’m excited to see what comes next.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 3rd, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
