James Bond Volume 1: VARGR

by Warren Ellis

Jason Masters (Artist)

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 ranged in secret against him, the full range 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).

Reviews:

"We are officially spoiled when it comes to the adventures of Agent 007, for casual and diehard fans of the character alike." - Ain't It Cool News

"Tense and fast-moving." - Comic Book Resources

"This debut from Dynamite Entertainment is everything I could have wanted." - Newsarama

"An amazing interpretation of the James Bond characters and his world in a way that feels like it's an ode to both Fleming's writing and the film adaptations." - Multiversity Comics

"A slick, action-packed action thriller... Bloody entertaining." - Big Comic Page

"The art team of Jason Masters and Guy Majors steals the show." - Geek Tyrant

"Strong action pieces... full of pace and movement." - Comic Crusaders

"This is classic Bond here. Odd, strong henchmen, brutal fighting, lots of bodies, and a maniacal mastermind leaving Bond in a deathtrap..." - Bleeding Cool

"Wonderfully highlight(s) character and motivations for 007 and his foes." - Comic Buzz

• ISBN10: 1524104809
• ISBN13: 9781524104801
• Publish Date: 28 November 2017 (first published 5 July 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dynamite Entertainment
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 176
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

When I heard that Warren Ellis was the writer (author behind Hellblazer, Iron Man Extremis, and and Castlevania) I absolutely have to give this a try. Perhaps I made the mistake of letting my expectations get too high, and that is why I ended up not loving this? It’s a decent story with solid artwork and action scenes. Mostly it just wasn’t my cup of tea.



I should probably mention that gratuitous violence first. If you’ve read Hellblazer or seen Castlevania, this really shouldn’t come as a shock. Though the truth is the number of heads shots and amount of gore that came with them…was excessive. I normally binge through an entire volume in one sitting, but with this one I ended up parsing it out between a couple of days. I just kept needing breaks from the gore. So consider yourself warned.
That may make it seem like I have a problem with gore. Okay, so I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of it, but to be honest if it’s done well and serves the purpose of the plot I really don’t mind it. In this case however, it just didn’t feel like a James Bond fight scene. The franchise isn’t exactly known for its gore levels (though it is known for many other things). That’s really my biggest complaint about it.
Speaking of it not feeling like a James Bond story, perhaps it’s just me, but he didn’t actually strike me as the typical expectation of James Bond. Sure, he was interesting. But he was also a little bit silly, for lack of a better description. Perhaps Warren was trying to take a different spin with this James Bond? I’m not sure. I think if he had spent some more time working it through it could have worked – maybe this shows more in later volumes? I may have to take a peek at them and see.
There are some highlights worth mentioning, like the obligatory Moneypenny cameo or the gun humor. Those were more true to what I was expecting. Especially Moneypenny’s personality and jokes. Ironically, after all my complaints about James Bond not feeling like, well James Bond, I have the opposite complaint about his villain. He was just too on the nose for my liking – saying the exact phrases you’d expect from a Bond villain. Then again, maybe I’m being harsh because I love Warren and expected better?
I think perhaps one volume wasn’t enough to get a fair idea of this series. I have a rule for trying new TV shows: give it three episodes before you give up on it. Normally my rule for graphic novels is three issues (and there’s almost always more than that in a volume) but this may be an exception to the rule. I’ll try volume two out and see what I think.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks