An Atomic Moo Comic Book Review of The Complete Comic Strip Collection!
I have no idea if this is true or not, but a very long time ago my father told me why they decided to name me “Sean.” According to him; When my twin brother and I were born, they were not prepared for the extra kid. So, the first baby twin got the only name they had picked out: Jason. Which left me without a name for at least a month (knowing my parents, it was probably far longer, but we’ll go with a month…). I’m not sure what they called me during that time, but it wasn’t until my dad was at his work one day that he looked up and saw a James Bond flick playing out on the old TV. Seeing this, he called my mom and said, “why don’t we name him Sean? S-E-A-N?” Now, knowing my parents, I’m probably very lucky Green Acres wasn’t playing, otherwise I might have spent the last 39 years as a “Wilbur.” However, I got Sean, all thanks to one of the early Bond films. 
So, because of that, I’ve always had kind of an affinity towards the old, Connery, James Bond flicks. Not a tight connection, but enough to make me very grateful that my friends don’t know me as “Jethro” or “Gilligan.”
So, what this is all leading up to is: Titan Books has recently published this incredible new volume of collected Bond comic strips! Yeah, took me awhile to get there, but I wanted you to know that this book actually meant a lot to me for totally un-associated reasons. Ian Fleming’s James Bond: Spectre, the Complete comic strip collection, contains all the strips that appeared in newspapers from 1961 to 1966 with a forward by Spectre screenwriter, John Logan. Here’s the official synopsis:
The daring James Bond is back, this time in a lavishly put together collection celebrating the iconic SPECTRE storylines. Featuring 1. Thunderball 2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 3. You Only Live Twice 4. The Spy Who Loved Me.
These fully restored and thrilling stories are based on the original Ian Fleming James Bond novels.
Every part of this book is amazing! The design, and layout, of the volume is beautiful in a way that would make a Bond girl jealous. And that’s just the cover!
In between is a collection of wonderfully illustrated comic strips, most of which are illustrated by John McLusky, but some are done by artist know as Horak. Sounds kind of ominous… Like a guy with with razor wire hidden in one of his fingers… However; they’re still fun and they all have that classic “James Bond” feel to them. Also, they’re very detailed despite being in black and white. Modern day inkers (tracers) could learn a lot from McLusky’s style.
The entire book was a lot of fun to read. It’s like Mad Men but with spies, nukes, and dames! After reading the Spectre collection, I totally want to be the James Bond from that era! I want the secretary you can unabashedly flirt with, and the constant whiskeys, martinis, and cigarettes! I want to fly around the world having cool adventures with sexy broads! But, nope. I just get student loan debt and a few ugly ex-girl friends. damn. Anyways…
I’ve posted a couple of sample strips I found on the web, but if you find a copy of Spectre at a book store, I highly recommend picking it up and adding it to your collection! Also, go check out titanbooks.com to get your own copy!
Cheers!
