James Bond: Kill Chain HC
Andy Diggle
James Bond may have gotten into more trouble than he could handle. When is that not true. But this case is more because of his promiscuous ways and his orders conflict when his love interest is playing both sides. Thinking that she is selling secrets to the Americans, and finding that there is a plot to make the CIA and Mi6 at odds is not a new story. Neither is his promiscuous behavior that just might make a villian he can not just push over, shoot at, or just any other way attempt to kill.

A solid entry in the post-Fleming Bond era, Kill Chain combines some classic 007 motifs (SMERSH!) with a distinct and exciting style that makes this a great read for anyone who enjoys spy thrillers. It'd make a solid movie too.

Relevant and timely Bond story. Readers are likely to make parallels to current events, which only makes this book more exciting and engrossing.

This is yet another marvelous James Bond adventure. The story-line is interesting and the graphics are great. This graphic novel captures all the facets of Bond from his style to his action. I like the script for the comic book by Andy Diggle included at the end.I would definitely recommend this book.

How generic and forgettable can you get? Kill Chain is just your average actioner, full of unmemorable clichéd set pieces and wafer thin characters. I couldn’t have been more bored with this uninspired workmanlike effort – just rubbish.

James Bond in ‘Kill Chain’. As the book description notes: the spy world is in massive conflict, there’s a plot against NATO, MI6 and the CIA are in conflict, and the Russian SMERSH (seen a few times in the films, a lot more often in the books) is plotting against . . . well, the West. SMERSH being the Soviet Union spy service in WWII in real life, which was either disbanded or absorbed by the KGB after the war (I forget which), though found extended life in Fleming’s books and the Bond films. The book opens in Russia. Where some unknown man is talking to another unknown man – while that second man literally uses his fists on rocks (okay, not really, he slams two rocks together in his fists).

After unknown man 2 makes an arrow head, the scene shifts to two people fighting – a man and a woman. Presumably the man is James Bond, though, eh, I mostly say that because: 1) of the three men seen so far, he’s the closest to Bond’s looks; 2) he almost immediately gets sexual with the woman. You know, like Bond does. It’s his thing. Afterwards, and I’m only continuing this so I can mention – the woman takes a shower while wearing her clothing? I think? While she does that Bond robs the place. Because, hey, he’s a spy. All of this, by the way, the two men in Russia, and Bond & blonde woman in some undisclosed location – are the ‘precredits’ action. The after title credits action shifts ‘stuff’ to Rottendam. Which I mention because the book description notes that ‘operation in Rottendam goes catastrophically wrong’ so I guess I get to see that now. (Whereupon we learn that Bond and the blonde woman, later called ‘Rika’, were actually already in Rottendam).

Oh bloody hell – so action finally occurs and . .. Bond drives his car through a crowd? Seriously? After everything we’ve had happen lately with so many terrorists driving cars through crowds, the first actual action in this comic shows Bond driving a car through a crowd? Pfft. (counter: he’s trying to get away from a gunman in a boat; counter-counter – so? Just don’t show him driving the car through a crowd, but just along the road, racing away from the boat, while the boat fires at him, showing Bond drive through a crowd just seemed needless; wait, he was chasing the guy in the boat, not racing away . . crap, trying to figure out action in graphic comic form isn’t always easy, hehe).

Right, so, as said, conflict in the spy world – and that’s what the reader reads.

Oh, wait, what the heck is this book doing with SMERSH in it? If it’s set in modern times? At least that’s what I assume when Bond is given a cell phone. Gah – it’s not always easy to tell, some ‘continuation’ novels are set back in Fleming’s time period, some are set in ‘modern’ time periods (most recent ‘continuation’ book I read was set in Flemings time – 1969 – William Boyd’s Solo). Having SMERSH involved made me think this had to be set before the Soviet Union fell, but cell phone. You know what would have helped? Dates. What graphic novel forgets to include dates when giving location data? Pfft.

I’ll devote a second paragraph to this issue: not knowing the date is seriously annoying when trying to read a book. The world changes to bloody fast to be ‘generic 20th to 21st century Earth’. Mmphs. Though the evidence, including Leiter missing an arm, lost in that first Bond film I saw at a movie theatre, plus the cell phone, makes me think this really is 21st century ‘current present time’. Also Leiter mentions that the current administration hates things like NATO and the world. And England’s mentioned to be getting ‘out of Europe’. And Stuff. So, yes, modern times. Mention of SMERSH in book description, plus lack of dates really messed me up here.

Right so – one specific problem mentioned: the lack of dates and the mention of SMERSH without mention of the current date from beginning of book (you know, have ‘present day’ or ‘2018’ listed next to ‘Russia’ as every other graphic novel would do it), caused me issues. SMERSH being mentioned can be and was explained in the book. And I did eventually pick up that this was ‘present day’. The fact that I had to spend so much time thinking about it, though, is a major issue. Heh, I didn’t mean to have a third paragraph on dates. I meant this to be my: beyond that one specific problem, already mentioned, the book was interesting and good, paragraph.

Good strong story.

Rating: 3.68

March 11 2018

Bond traces down a rogue MI6 operative and journeys down a path that reveals someone framing MI6 organisation of such crimes that may reawaken the presumed dead Cold war.
Ian Fleming's renowned son James Bond has had many faces, stories and personalities. Like many others, I too used to prefer Sean Connery as the definitive Bond. He did action (but never too much), he had class (martini and all those things) and most importantly he had so much sass. It was much much later when I read Bond novels and comics (drawn by legendary John McLusky's) and realised what Bond truly is like. He is a ruthless agent with a dash of class and minimal sass.
Kill Chain is Andy Diggle’s love letter to Fleming and it shows. Occasionally I smirked at references but at the end I was left in awe of the brutality. James is merciless, bloody and a kill machine when required. The tension was high and the finishing was bombastic. Rarely have I come across graphic novels so good that I feel like re-reading it just after the first read. Only hiccup is that some pages are a bit too filled with dialogues.
But the real star for me is Luca Casalanguida. I was not just reading the comics with my eyes; the action, the mellow, the silence – I was almost experiencing every bit of the artwork. No jump-cuts, no shortcuts; the pages look like actual storyboards of action movie.
A must-read for 007 lovers and action junkies.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Old School Bond

Ian Fleming's James Bond was suave and sophisticated, but he was also a cold-hearted assassin with a bit of a cruel streak and a remorseless and brutal focus on his duty. 50's Bond gave readers a glimpse of the good life, but mostly reassured them that hard men were still on the front lines, maybe in shadow, protecting God and Country. Well, that's the type of Bond you'll get here.

The plot has a ripped-from-the-headlines feel, with America becoming more isolationist and unpredictable, NATO at loose ends, and Britain not sure exactly where it fits in to the new world order and conflicted about its reliance on its ties to the U.S.. It looks like only the reemergence of SMERSH will get everyone back on the same track again. The actual plot might not withstand close scrutiny, but it struck me as a perfectly fine frame upon which to hang the action.

And there's plenty of action. James travels all over the world, avoiding capture and death, meting out rough justice, and trying to frustrate and block SMERSH's evil plans. Along the way we encounter all of the old favorite supporting players, (Moneypenny, Felix Leiter, and so on), although much updated and modernized. The cheesecake that came to be identified with "Bond Girls" is absent, as is the over-reliance on goofy gadgets. This is stripped down, darker, faster, twistier, and colder than Bonds of the recent past. As I say, old school.

So, I enjoyed this as a reminder of who and what the Ian Fleming Bond was, and I enjoyed it just as an action/adventure spy comic. The work was well conceived, the tale was well written, and the art completely supported and enhanced the storytelling. Bond looked right, moods, atmosphere, and scenes were set expertly, action sequences were energetic but clear, and the characters were reasonably expressive. A well rounded and entertaining find.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Even Daniel Craig seems at last to have realised that the modern Bond films are a nothing, albeit a nothing happy to throw enough cash at him that he'll keep going through the motions for now. Thank heavens then for Dynamite, especially when they have Diggle and Casalanguida at the helm, a team able to provide the topical, exciting Bond cinemas no longer offer. Hammerhead was the big, spy-fi Bond, but this is the ruthless shadow warrior, fighting a desperate, disavowed rearguard action against SMERSH's scheme to set NATO at each other's throats and allow Russia a free hand. A scheme which, yes, is basically just the news. If only our world had Bond's like, eh?

(Netgalley ARC)