James Bond – Grab This Book

Comic Book Catch-up

As comic book heroes command more and more screen time at our local cinemas, and it now seems cool to be a “comic book nerd”,- I have been spending some time recently reading through the source material…proper comic books.

I have been reading comics for over 30 years and I am loving seeing the heroes I grew up with suddenly finding their way into so many new households. As a book blogger it would be remiss of me not to showcase some of the great graphic novels I have enjoyed (mainly) recently.

JAMES BOND – VARGR

After a mission of vengeance in Helsinki, James Bond returns to London and assumes the workload of a fallen 00 Section agent. His new mission takes him to Berlin, presumably to break up an agile drug-trafficking operation. But Bond has no idea of the forces gathered in secret against him, the full scope of an operation that’s much scarier and more lethal than he could possibly imagine. Berlin is about to catch fire… and James Bond is trapped inside. Dynamite Entertainment proudly presents VARGR, the debut storyline in the all-new James Bond comic book series, as crafted by masterful writer Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, The Authority) and artist Jason Masters (Batman Incorporated, Guardians of the Galaxy).

If a good story on audiobook can be ruined by the narrator then the equivalent issue for graphic novels is that the art can let down a book. Here we are with Vargr. It is a James Bond story from the talented Warren Ellis and I really liked his take on Bond (darker and edgy). The bad guys were perfectly pitched, the danger Bond faces felt very appropriate within the franchise and I liked how the peril shifts as the books develop.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy the artwork in the book and this tainted the reading experience for me. If a story is going to rely upon images revealing some of the twists and surprises and is not dialogue driven then the pictures need to be sufficiently clear to appreciate these twists.

Good story, not a great book, but I would read more in this series.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS SUICIDE SQUAD

The members of the Justice League are Earth’s most powerful and famous superheroes…but they aren’t the only team in town.

The Suicide Squad strikes from the shadows and does the jobs too dirty for superheroes to handle. Under the iron fist of Director Amanda Waller, these monsters and maniacs have operated in total secrecy…until now. Batman is on their trail and the Squad’s existence isn’t something he or the Justice League can tolerate. It must be shut down.

But while the heroes and antiheroes are distracted fighting each other, twisted mastermind Maxwell Lord assembles a nightmarish army of DC’s deadliest villains to take out both teams!

I love a big “event” and when DC bring together the Justice League and the Suicide Squad that can certainly be considered a BIG story to get to grips with. Full credit to writer Joshua Williamson as he does a great job with a large cast and he keeps the story zipping along.

Action happens after the recent DC Rebirth events (to allow you to place the timing) and despite being billed as Justice League vs Suicide Squad there is a lot more going on in this book than a simple head to head smackdown.

We do get the expected confrontation quite early into the book, however, once the dust settles we have a significant story flip and some of the dynamic changes between characters. I really enjoyed the opportunity to see some of these DC characters put into this spotlight.

Artwork is a boost to the book too. Colourful, clear and with reader enjoyment put to the fore it was a gorgeous reading experience, no squinting at shaded sketches to try decipher what was happening!

The story collects Justice League vs Suicide Squad 1-6, Suicide Squad 8,9 and 10 and also Justice League 12 and 13…a good number of issues which makes this a longer read for us to enjoy.

SPIDER-MAN: TORMENT

Collects Spider-Man #1-5. Webs, fangs and voodoo drums! A vengeance-seeking villain binds another Spider-Man foe to her will, but can they really resurrect a third to triple-team the wall-crawler?

Torment was the story which flipped me from occasional comic book reader to serious comic collector. I remember being blown away by Todd McFarlane’s artwork and this story of The Lizard on a relentless drive to kill Spider-man was not like any story I had encountered before.

Has time been kind to Torment? It was 1990 when I first read it and Spidey has gone through some major changes since then but I was happy to find that I enjoyed revisiting this story.

A series of brutal murders in New York leads Peter Parker to suspect that a monster is stalking the city. The Lizard appears the most likely suspect, however, the brutality of the killings is not typical of his old foe.

Readers see that The Lizard is being influenced by a witch using blood and voodoo rituals to control her “pet”. Her motives become clear as the story develops but her magic is powerful and Spider-man is weakened and vulnerable as his battles with The Lizard have drained him – can Spider-man overcome the ferocity of these foes and get home to Mary Jane?

Art is distinctive. The story a powerful introduction to a new title and as a single volume it was a great read.

Category: From The Bookshelf, Graphic Novels | Comments Off

May 4

Guest Post – Alan Jones: Serial Heroes

Day Three of Serial Heroes and after Steven Dunne and Caroline Mitchell both discussed authors that have had success in print and on the silver screen I find that my latest guest is keeping that trend running.

When I first asked Alan Jones if he would like to contribute to my Serial Heroes feature his first response was that he didn’t really follow any series of books or characters . However, I don’t think 60 seconds had passed before he suggested a name – possibly one of the most famous names from literature – and from that point I don’t think I gave him the option to back out. Thanks Alan, it’s over to you to explain:

The series of books I love most may be a surprise to many. If I tell you that they are action stories based loosely around crime and the cold war, and involve a lot of shooting, car chases and beautiful women with a cool and sophisticated protagonist, you’ve probably narrowed the list down a bit.

But if I told you that at one point in the series, the main character suffers the death of a loved one in violent circumstances and has mental health issues because of it, culminating in a breakdown and a period in his life when he goes completely off the rails and works for the other side of the ‘law’, would that make you think again. Maybe something Scandinavian or old school American Noir?

The books have all been made into films; tremendously successful but each one in the series getting further and further away from the books, which would make those unlikely.

To confuse you further, the author of this series also wrote a very successful children’s book, published after his death, that also led to a major blockbuster when it hit the big screen.

The lead character is an English gentleman and manners play a big part in all the books of the series.

The series?

When Ian Fleming penned ‘Casino Royale.’, the first of the series of sixteen books that introduced James Bond to the world, he could have no idea that he would spawn on of the longest running and most successful screen franchises ever, with each film outdoing the one before in terms of gadgets, stunts and humour.

And yet, the books themselves are a great read, giving an insight into how the establishment in the post war period saw themselves. Bond, an Englishman in the books, is ever so well mannered, even when he is killing his villains. The books are partly a throwback to the days of the British Empire but underneath it all, they are short detective stories set in exotic locations, usually with world peace and prosperity at stake.

They’re deeper than you would think, and Bond even gets married in one of them. And he has that nervous breakdown, starts working for the Russians and even goes back to nature, living as a fisherman for a year on a Japanese Island.

There is an element of gadgetry, fast cars and gorgeous ladies, but the storylines are grounded enough to make you believe they could almost have happened, and read incredibly well. Bond on paper, in contrast to his screen persona, is darker. He still has that cruel, ruthless streak, he’s decadent, with a lack of ethics, he’s sadistic and he’s a snob. But Ian Fleming injects a little bit of glamour and a hint of humanity into him, and the reader ends up rooting for this flawed but fascinating and exciting character.

My personal favourites are On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, where Bond is at his most human, and the next one after that, ‘You Only Live Twice, which tells of Bond’s descent to probably his lowest point in the whole series.

But they’re all good. Short, succinct, exciting and clever. And if you can find copies with covers from the fifties and sixties, they look bloody great in your bookcase!

And that children’s book?

It surprised me to find out, years after I’d read both it and The James Bond series, that Ian Fleming had also written ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’!

Alan Jones’s Amazon page is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alan-Jones/e/B00ONBKHLE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1462315938&sr=1-2-ent where you can order copies of all his books.

Alan’s latest book BLOQ scored a 5/5 when I reviewed it recently, you can order a copy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloq-Alan-Jones-ebook/dp/B01CLH5AUE?ie=UTF8&keywords=bloq&qid=1462316048&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

You can find Alan on Twitter @alanjonesbooks or at his own website: http://www.alanjonesbooks.co.uk/

Category: Guests, Uncategorized | Comments Off