Publisher: Dynamite
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Rapha Lobosco
Colourist: Chris O’Halloran
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

Call this a James Bond story? Where’s the cackling evil genius stroking a fluffy white cat? Where’s the scantily clad cutie covered in gold paint? Where’s the hulking bozo with metal dentures? Where’s the Aussie actor from the chocolate commercial who got a raw deal but did get to marry Mrs. Peel? None of these iconic Bond elements make an apperence in James Bond # 3.

On the plus side in James Bond # 3, the location is Japan, which is a good, exotic location for Bond brand and we even get to take in a sumo wrestling match; there is a ninja assassin called No Name which may be cool or just the writer being lazy, who’s into death masks on his tail; there are a few gadgets but since the real world has caught up with super-spy tech these days it’s difficult to make a big deal of that; Bond’s US counterpart Felix Leiter puts in an appearance and Bond has sort of teamed up with a cute but supposedly dead British Secret Service agent called Selah Sax who now works for the mysterious Group 13 and they’re being chased by the Yakusa. The main villain is called Saga Genji but his agenda is still a mystery but could be to do with data piracy – very now as motives go.

All this may work but the biggest flaw here is Bond himself. His quips are tired and he seems to be nothing more than a louche drunk, leering after every available female and trading schoolboy smirks with Major Boothroyd.

Not so much Licence to Kill as Licence near its expiry date.

 

 

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker