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By Jim Lawrence & Yaroslav Horak (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84576-517-6
The turbulent printing history of the James Bond newspaper strip leads to a novel bonus for British fans as two of the stories reprinted here are technically appearing for the first time.
‘When the Wizard Awakes’ ran originally only in the Sunday Express (January 30th – May 22nd 1977) and the next two tales had no UK home. These Bond adventures (which we’ll presumably see in the next book) only appeared in overseas editions. Finally a new British daily newspaper revived his career, and in 1981 the series returned in the Daily Star. We’ll deal with that in due course. This volume, however, features the first two ‘lost’ stories, ‘Sea Dragon’ and ‘Death Wing’.
Sadly, the disruption caused in production seems to have put the supremely talented creative team off their stroke somewhat, as these tales are far below the quality we have come to expect. ‘When the Wizard Awakes’ returns to the theme of the criminal masquerading as the supernatural, when a the body of a Hungarian spy, dead for twenty years walks out of his tomb and begins a reign of terror, that eventually involves S.P.E.C.T.R.E., the Mafia and the KGB. This is a, taut, action packed mystery, but somehow Horak’s usual graphic spark is not working, and the art seems tired and cluttered.
‘Sea Dragon’, produced for European syndication, is maritime adventure with geo-political overtones as crazed billionairess ‘Big Mama Mather’ tries to corner the World Oil market with sex, murder and Sea Serpents. Whilst the art seems to recover some of its verve, this time the script is a little lacklustre, with less tension and much more skin on show for those more cosmopolitan foreign readers.
‘Death Wing’ continues this lamentable gradual decline as Bond is needed to solve the mystery of a new and deadly super-weapon employed by the Mafia for both smuggling and assassination. However, although the story set-up might be below par, the climactic end sequence is superb, as the undercover agent finds himself trapped, a flying human bomb aimed at the heart of New York City. His escape and destruction of the eccentric hit-man ‘Mr. Wing’ is an undoubted series highpoint.
Despite the regrettable diminution of quality, Bond still remains a highly enjoyable strip, and there is still a huge amount to admire and enjoy in this splendid spy spectacular. And besides you do want a COMPLETE set of these great books don’t you?
© 1977, 1978, 1987 Glidrose Productions Ltd/ Express Newspapers Ltd. All Rights Reserved