My latest comic book spy thriller following Brubaker’s Velvet and Waid’s Black Widow…is Dynamite’s new James Bond series by Warren Ellis. You can listen to Andrew and I “Bond-ing” over this series in Geek Hard’s Back Issue Bloodbath Episode 61.

I’m a fan of double-crosses and double-agents…the morality of spies is just fascinating.

Ellis’s James Bond is closer to Ian Fleming’s Bond novels which funny enough the public are not at all familiar with. I’ve seen all the Bond movies like I dunno how many times…never read a novel. Never even occurred to me to read a novel.

I recently interviewed Corey LeRue a Neon Dreams vocalist…he showed up to the interview rocking a sweet Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. watch (as in based on the tv show). I promptly asked him about his nerd leanings and he surprised me by admitting he only digs Marvel’s cinematic and tv products…hasn’t read a comic book…he doesn’t know a Jack Kirby from a Stan Lee. I found that fascinating…even though I’m like this with Bond (well Marvel has 75 years of published stories so it’s not quite the same).

In this interview Ellis confirms his Bond will have little to do with the films.. so no Bond girls (boo!) and no puns (boo!!) and basic spy gear (i.e. no cool gadgets! boo!!!). However we do score prosthetically enhanced henchmen in the first arc…so that’s something positive.

And!! Issue #4 ends with a death trap! Yo…that works for me. Not a booby trap but a death trap…are there other types of traps? Mouse traps?

It’s a fast read…artist Jason Masters does a lot of heavy lifting dynamically moving the story forward: I recommend it in trade. If my recommendation is not enough to buy it…the Brian K. Vaughan calls it “the best contemporary take on 007.” Hashtag BFFs.

Couple of Fun Facts:
“VARGR (the first arc and first 6 issues of James Bond) is an old Norse word meaning wolf, evildoer or destroyer.” ooooh.

“Eidolon (the second arc) is ancient Greek for ‘an image or representation of an idea’ or a ‘phantom’ or ‘ghost.” This arc addressed…a-hem: SPECTRE. oooooh.

If you’re gonna geek out, GEEK HARD!

Sammy Younan @ W • T • F

Ziggy Was Here January 8, 1947 – January 10, 2016

Also published on Medium.