Review: James Bond: 007 (2024) #1 from Dynamite

Javier E. Trujillo reviews the first issue of Dynamite’s 2024 volume of James Bond: 007, with a new creative team and celebrating ten years of publishing Bond comics!

James Bond faces a deadly biological threat, one that has been lurking for decades! What insights can he glean from a former Double-O?

Plot

Pablo Costanza, leader of a narcotics empire, swears revenge on James Bond in front of his family for the assassination of his son, Sebastian. Bond arrives and kills the lot.

Back at MI6 HQ, Bond arrives for a briefing from M. After getting minorly chastised for the Costanzas, M briefs 007 on the matter at hand. A new weapon, codenamed Stalvoda, has been stolen from the MOD science and technology lab at Porton Down. This weapon is the equivalent of ice napalm and instantly lethal. Bond is ordered to find it and kill the perpetrators.

After a brief meeting with Q, Bond heads to meet a retired MI6 agent, one Archibald Tryon. Tryon was the agent who brought the initial formula that Stalvoda is based on out of Soviet Russia fifty-two years ago. During their encounter on the beach, a team of assassins targets them, only to get instantly blown up when 007 detonates his car from afar.

Opinion

Well.

Garth Ennis has made quite a name for himself in pop culture, having either created or had famous runs on comics like Preacher, Hellblazer, Hitman, Punisher, and The Boys, several of which have had television and movie adaptations. And now he aims his sights on James Bond.

With an opening that feels straight out of his time on Marvel’s Punisher, a Mafia boss bloviates at length about each family member that surrounds him, only to turn around and realize they’ve all been despatched by Bond. Ennis devotes the beginning six pages of the twenty-two allotted to show you what a dispassionate killer Bond is, all while showcasing one of his signature elements – depraved crime lords meeting a bloody end. While Dynamite’s Bond comics have not shied away from depicting violence, Ennis is letting you know you haven’t seen anything yet.

The next portion of the issue puts the reader back in familiar territory, especially if you are accustomed to the tropes established in the Eon film series. Bond flirts with Moneypenny, gets briefed by a surly M, and annoys Q while one of his assistants tests out the latest weaponry. It’s familiar territory, yes, but Ennis knows the assignment and nails it, luring the audience into a state of comfortable recognition. After all, we know how this goes.

When Bond tracks down one of the few 00s who has lived to retire and tell about it, the beach location recalled the opening of 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service for me. Archie is no Tracy, though, and as Bond heads back to his car, he catches the light reflecting off the binoculars of his would-be assassins. Another film sprung to mind, For Your Eyes Only, as 007 activates the self-destruct on his vehicle, sending the attackers flying. The similarities stop there, though, as body parts and half-burned assailants land on the warm sand.

Here’s really where your mileage may vary. If all you are used to is the aforementioned Eon film series, the depiction of violence is going to catch you off-guard. Ennis’ Bond is not for the squeamish, as entrails take up the foreground and one man has a bloody stump with a bone protruding where there used to be a left arm. Dynamite’s Bond has definitely not sanitized the graphicness of the depiction of violence in their prior series, but there’s something about Ennis that somehow makes it feel more outrageous. As this arc progresses, I’m curious how others will react to his style. It’s not for the faint of heart.

Rapha Lobosco, artist on James Bond 007: Black Box, makes a welcome return. His compositions are strong, maintaining the Bond model with trademark scar and comma of black hair in the front. I’ve been critical in the past of the lack of backgrounds in some of the prior series and while there is some of that here, Lobosco provides plenty of detail in other panels, making it feel like time and effort were put in. This is a great looking issue, even if some of the imagery may be unpleasant.

So, where do I fall on this debut issue? While I don’t find myself offended by the violence, has Bond become so sanitized on the big screen that more accurate depictions of trauma catch me off guard when it comes to this character? Maybe. The opening may have gone on too long, but Ennis quickly gets things moving with a deadly and intriguing plot and Lobosco is no slouch in the art department, channeling his inner Steve Dillon at times. After the last two miniseries featured a Bond who was no longer 007, it’s nice to get back to some routine, even though I’m sure it won’t be long before Ennis turns the formula on its head. For now, this new start gets a cautious recommendation from me.