Dynamite's Bond comics and graphic novels

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  • Posts: 123
    00Agent wrote: »
    JAMES BOND: THE BODY #6 (of 6)
    Cover A: Luca Casalanguida | Writer: Aleš Kot | Art: Luca Casalanguida

    A pub. A meeting between old friends. But is it just what it seems? All threads of The Body converge, and Bond has to face the consequence of his actions.

    So each issue is connected after all.
  • After the avalanche of complaints for The Body #2 I was hoping for a few moderately positive reviews regarding #3. Anybody? (*crickets, nothing but crickets*) Well then, here: this one wasn't half-bad. I'm not entirely against Diamond trying something outside the ordinary with the Bond license, and this title seems to at least be trying for a little originality. We'll see what the collected edition plays out like.

    And as far as Casino Royale goes: I'm willing to wait. I've got plenty of other stuff to read/watch/play in the meantime. In the age-old question, "Do you want it good or do you want it Tuesday?" you can put me down as a firm vote for the Good.
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited March 2018 Posts: 5,185
    After the avalanche of complaints for The Body #2 I was hoping for a few moderately positive reviews regarding #3. Anybody? (*crickets, nothing but crickets*) Well then, here: this one wasn't half-bad. I'm not entirely against Diamond trying something outside the ordinary with the Bond license, and this title seems to at least be trying for a little originality. We'll see what the collected edition plays out like.

    I agree that Dynamite should try something out of the ordinary, and that will always be needed in the franchise, no matter if its movies or books or comics, but of course not every idea will be a good one or universally liked. (Vargr was a good example of how to try something new successfully)

    Body #3 was a big improvement over #2 which is really not much of an accomplishment. There were a few bits in the first half that had me laughing. But overall i was still underwhelmed.

    Having this type of unconnected structure isn't helping the book either because it doesn't feel like it's building up to anything. I think The Body can only be fairly reviewed when it's completed.
  • One problem I can see in trying to do Bond as a serialized floppy comic is that you just don't have the room to include everything a proper Bond story should have. With that in mind, a Bond comic book (as opposed to a graphic novel or collected TPB) is bound to be somewhat disappointing. "Sure, this issue had some action and a great villain, but where's the sexy girl? Where's the shaken-not-stirred martini and the scenes with Q or M?" I suspect that the disconnected structure of this particular storyline is an attempt to use the floppy format as a strength rather than a weakness this time around. Whether or not it works is a question that can only be answered once the tale has been fully told, as you note above -- but at least they're trying something different, and I can't fault them for that.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited March 2018 Posts: 15,423
    I definitely don't want to ruin the experience for other Bond fans who are getting into the comics, but I have bailed out on The Body and think Ales Kot is a godawful writer. He's doing what Nick Spencer has done to the Marvel comics. My suspicions were right about this guy. Can't wait to see a newer Bond comic getting revealed and released, because I am not interested in this.
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited March 2018 Posts: 5,185
    One problem I can see in trying to do Bond as a serialized floppy comic is that you just don't have the room to include everything a proper Bond story should have. With that in mind, a Bond comic book (as opposed to a graphic novel or collected TPB) is bound to be somewhat disappointing. "Sure, this issue had some action and a great villain, but where's the sexy girl? Where's the shaken-not-stirred martini and the scenes with Q or M?" I suspect that the disconnected structure of this particular storyline is an attempt to use the floppy format as a strength rather than a weakness this time around. Whether or not it works is a question that can only be answered once the tale has been fully told, as you note above -- but at least they're trying something different, and I can't fault them for that.

    Definitly not. I am always intrigued if EoN, IFP or in this case Dynamite tries something unusual, like hiring Ales Kot as writer (same with the Danny Boyle news.)

    In this case though i am really not a fan of his style so far. Out of the 3 released issues i only liked the first one, not a good average. He is not trying to write a good Bond adventure. His stories focus way to much on delivering moral lessons and being reflections on contemporary politics, while Bond is just there to receive or deliver a lecture on something.

    Diggle dealt heavily with contemporary politics in both his comic arcs, but he is infinitly smarter about it and much more subtle. For example both Kill Chain #2 and The Body #3 deal with Nazis, but Kill Chain does it so much better and bondian. Also Diggle never looses the plot out of sight and remembers to deliver the goods! Namely cool and suave Bond moments and great action set pieces (the stuff why i read Bond comics in the first place). Ales Kot on the other hand, i don't really know what he is trying to accomplish. Maybe i'll figure it out by the time #6 is released.

    Personally, my only wish would have been to have again 2 series running in parallel, like a second Felix Leiter arc for example because right now we only have The Body until June (ok and Casino Royale with a 2 year delay) to me this feels like the biggest drought we had since this series startet in 2015 and there is no info what will come after.
    But i do hope Diggle gets to do a 3rd story arc with Casalanguida, and i would love to see Ibrahim Moustafa writing a full story arc after his outstanding short story Solstice.


    I think he read your comments @ClarkDevlin :)) gotta love the internet

  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Haha, he doesn't have to worry about my comments. He has to worry about his writing. :))
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    He was raging quite a bit on Twitter today about it lol. Aplarently lots of people have complained about this issue
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited March 2018 Posts: 15,423
    A lot of people hate him, actually. I learned about that before the first issue of The Body made its debut. They hate him for the same reason they hate Nick Spencer. What next? Making James Bond the son of a Nazi sympathizer who was killed, then little James saw "the truth" and decided to take a "different path"? I wouldn't put it past those two guys.
  • edited March 2018 Posts: 17,241
    Shame to read about the recent storylines not being so good. Which stories should I avoid reading? Have only read VARGR, Eidolon and Hammerhead so far.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Only The Body, @Torgeirtrap. The rest, you should be reading them all too smoothly. Well, Service and Moneypenny are a bit dire, but still... Better than the recent entry we've been getting.
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    Shame to read about the recent storylines not being so good. Which stories should I avoid reading? Have only read VARGR, Eidolon and Hammerhead so far.

    It's only the most recent one that is a bit odd.
    Personally i can recommend all the others.
    You should definitly read Kill Chain,Felix Leiter, Black Box, and the one shot Solstice, as well as M.
    Those are all good.
  • edited March 2018 Posts: 17,241
    Only The Body, @Torgeirtrap. The rest, you should be reading them all too smoothly. Well, Service and Moneypenny are a bit dire, but still... Better than the recent entry we've been getting.

    Thanks, I'll make sure to check out everything but The Body! (strange title…) What's the latest on the CR adaption?
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    Only The Body, @Torgeirtrap. The rest, you should be reading them all too smoothly. Well, Service and Moneypenny are a bit dire, but still... Better than the recent entry we've been getting.

    Thanks, I'll make sure to check out everything but The Body! (strange title…) What's the latest on the CR adaption?

    Dynamite said on twitter the definitive shipping date is 11th April.
    so we'll wait and see
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    The upcoming Case Files compendium doesn t include any Casalanguida stories, does it? I know he drew Hammerhead, what else?
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    @Thunderfinger He also did Kill Chain, and it'll be coming out on a hardcover format sometime in April, I believe.
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited March 2018 Posts: 5,185
    yeah Kill Chain, and he also did the first Issue for The Body, which wasn't half bad to be honest. At least you can't say anything bad about the art.
    But to answer your question @Thunderfinger, no he did not draw anything from the Case files.
    But Ibrahim Moustafa drew Solstice, who in my eyes is on par with Casalanguida.
  • edited March 2018 Posts: 17,241
    00Agent wrote: »
    Only The Body, @Torgeirtrap. The rest, you should be reading them all too smoothly. Well, Service and Moneypenny are a bit dire, but still... Better than the recent entry we've been getting.

    Thanks, I'll make sure to check out everything but The Body! (strange title…) What's the latest on the CR adaption?

    Dynamite said on twitter the definitive shipping date is 11th April.
    so we'll wait and see

    A to be confirmed date, I take it? Looking forward to the artwork by Dennis Calero. Those previews from a while back looked promising!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Thanks, both. I will see if any of it gets available here.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Just happened to read some of Ales Kot's comments on Twitter. The guy is obviously deranged. :))
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited March 2018 Posts: 5,185
    00Agent wrote: »
    Only The Body, @Torgeirtrap. The rest, you should be reading them all too smoothly. Well, Service and Moneypenny are a bit dire, but still... Better than the recent entry we've been getting.

    Thanks, I'll make sure to check out everything but The Body! (strange title…) What's the latest on the CR adaption?

    Dynamite said on twitter the definitive shipping date is 11th April.
    so we'll wait and see

    A to be confirmed date, I take it? Looking forward to the artwork by Dennis Calero. Those previews from a while back looked promising!

    It's the confirmed date, the only question remains whether they delay it again as usual.
    But this time i am fairly confident that it will be released, or at least mid April.
    Here is the original tweet again as some people must have missed it:



  • Posts: 17,241
    00Agent wrote: »
    00Agent wrote: »
    Only The Body, @Torgeirtrap. The rest, you should be reading them all too smoothly. Well, Service and Moneypenny are a bit dire, but still... Better than the recent entry we've been getting.

    Thanks, I'll make sure to check out everything but The Body! (strange title…) What's the latest on the CR adaption?

    Dynamite said on twitter the definitive shipping date is 11th April.
    so we'll wait and see

    A to be confirmed date, I take it? Looking forward to the artwork by Dennis Calero. Those previews from a while back looked promising!

    It's the confirmed date, the only question remains whether they delay it again as usual.
    But this time i am fairly confident that it will be released, or at least mid April.
    Here is the original tweet again as some people must have missed it:



    Nice! Will be fun to (finally) read it. :)
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Dynamite clearly know many fans were getting tired of waiting for CR. I just hope they've not rushed to meet demand, and deliver a strong book. Those little previews I saw were brilliant, with some of the best atypical comics coloring I've seen since the 70s!
  • Posts: 17,241
    Like to colouring in the previews, too. It's very toned down, and doesn't have many flashy details - which I like. Don't know how the rest of the pages will look, though.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited March 2018 Posts: 15,423
    Agreed, the CR graphic novel looks very vintage and beautiful.

    Also, did anybody notice the change of colors and shades?

    548441._SX1280_QL80_TTD_.jpg
  • 00Agent wrote: »
    Only The Body, @Torgeirtrap. The rest, you should be reading them all too smoothly. Well, Service and Moneypenny are a bit dire, but still... Better than the recent entry we've been getting.

    Thanks, I'll make sure to check out everything but The Body! (strange title…) What's the latest on the CR adaption?

    Dynamite said on twitter the definitive shipping date is 11th April.
    so we'll wait and see

    Happy birthday to me! I'll be 64 years old on 4/11/18! "When I get older, losing my hair..."
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    @ClarkDevlin, I'm trying to work out which CR cover is the final one. I hope it's the one that has some of the text colored red, just to balance out the design.
  • edited March 2018 Posts: 17,241
    Agreed, the CR graphic novel looks very vintage and beautiful.

    Also, did anybody notice the change of colors and shades?

    548441._SX1280_QL80_TTD_.jpg

    Without knowing what colours Fay Dalton used originally, I can somewhat understand the change of colours and shades. Might be to make the cover "pop" just a little more.

    This however is not the thing that caught my eye the most. It looks like they've boxed the artwork with the title outside the artwork. Must be to have the title stand out a little more than in the previous cover, where the red text blended a little too much with the background. I do hope that dark texture outside the boxed artwork is real, though. If that's just an effect, they really shouldn't have bothered. Would make the cover look cheap.

    As for the missing red coloured text, I'm not a fan of red on black myself, but I agree with @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 that the typography could have been balanced out a bit more.
  • SkyfallCraigSkyfallCraig Rome, Italy
    Posts: 630
    In the end! i have preordered this like 6 months ago and every two weeks i receive a mail from them changing the release date.
  • So I was at my LCS (local comics store) today picking up the latest releases, and asked the dealer when they are expecting to receive CASINO ROYALE. 4/11/18 is indeed the date that Diamond Comics Distribution is telling retailers they will have this tome in the stores. I don't generally order books in advance, but I asked him to save one for me. I was...shall we say, alarmed... to learn how few copies this would leave for him to put out on display. If you're wanting a First Printing of this book and you haven't put in an order yet, word to the wise: do it soon. Like, tomorrow. And urge your dealer to reorder in advance of release. You'll thank me on my birthday...
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