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By Ian Fleming, Anthony Hern, Henry Gammidge & John McLusky (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84023-843-7
In Casino Royale Bond is ordered to gamble with and bankrupt Le Chiffre, a communist agent who has embezzled his Soviet masters’ operating capital in a moody tale of tension that results in torture and violent death, heady stuff for newspaper readers of 1958, when it first ran. Live and Let Die has 007 and US agent Felix Leiter tackle Mr. Big, another commie agent, who rules the Harlem underworld through Voodoo, and Moonraker concerns the attempt by Hugo Drax, a Nazi officer who has infiltrated the British aristocracy to drop a guided missile on London.
These editions of Titan Books’ 007 newspaper strip collections come from a period when the dependable John McLusky was developing a less formal approach, before going on to produce some of his best work, illustrating adaptations of Fleming’s tales. Casino Royale was the opening strip in a nearly twenty-five year run, and the somewhat muted artwork here shows an artist still not completely comfortable with his task. It was adapted and scripted by Anthony Hern, who had won the author’s approval after writing condensed prose versions of the novels for the Daily Express. Live and Let Die and Moonraker are both adapted by Henry Gammidge.
As the strip settles in for the long haul, McLusky warms to the potentialities of the job with cracking tales of Cold-War intrigue and fast, dangerous living set in a multitude of exotic locales. This is a welcome return to public gaze of some of the most influential – and exciting – comic strips in British history.
Strip © Express Newspapers Ltd. 1987. All Rights Reserved