Thursday, December 18, 2008

James Bond: The History Of The Illustrated 007

Now for the first time, the complete history of the illustrated James Bond is chronicled by pop culture historian Alan J. Porter in James Bond: The History Of The Illustrated 007. Porter’s new book examines James Bond’s adventures in newspaper strips and comic books.

Before Bond became world famous with his movie series, the character was the subject of successful English newspaper strips and later in comic books. With the explosion of Bond on the screen the character and his exploits become even more popular in comic strip and comic book versions all over the world. James Bond: The History Of The Illustrated 007 examines it all, and covers Bond’s newspaper strip and comic book appearances from the 1950s to the present.

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Closer look at the HURRICANE GOLD prototype cover

Publisher Disney Hyperion have posted on their website Kev Walker’s prototype artwork for the U.S. hardcover edition of Hurricane Gold, due for release April 7, 2009. This is a much larger image than what was revealed on the official Young Bond site back in June.


Mind you, this is not the final art (as it says on the cover itself). The final art will reflect the “Bond vs. Villain” theme as seen on Double or Die and the new paperback editions of SilverFin and Blood Fever due for release next year.

Still, this is beautiful work by Walker (who’s work can be seen in the new SilverFin Graphic Novel) and it’s nice to get a closer look. We hope to bring you the FINAL cover sometime this month.

The Hurricane Gold hardcover is available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Monday, December 8, 2008

DOUBLE OR DIE cover concept sketch

Illustrated 007 strikes again, this time showing us Kev Walker’s original cover concept sketch for the U.S. hardcover edition of Charlie Higson’s Double or Die.


This art appeared largely unchanged on the hardcover released in 2007 and, as we revealed last week, will also appear on the paperback edition due out on March 10, 2009.

This cover proved so popular that Disney asked Kev to redesign the covers of SilverFin and Blood Fever using a similar “Bond vs Villain” theme for new paperback editions due next year.

Thanks to Illustrated 007 for sharing this rare art.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Original BLOOD FEVER concept cover art

Illustrated 007, a terrific website devoted to James Bond artwork of all kinds, has uncovered rare original Kev Walker concept art for the U.S. hardcover edition of Charlie Higson’s Blood Fever.


As with unused titles, I find this kind of thing fascinating. While the final Blood Fever hardcover did follow this basic design, there are still some notable differences.

First, Young Bond is holding a gun in hand. While this certainly gives it a Bondian flare, Charlie once told us that guns were forbidden on the cover of kids books, so it’s understandable why this needed to be changed.

Second, the title case runs together as one word, similar to the UK edition. Happily, this was changed, as there is still sometimes confusion whether the book is called Blood Fever (two words) or BloodFever (one word). We can also glimpse the name of the ship in this artwork, which did not appear on the final design.

Thanks to Illustrated 007 for sharing this rare art.

Monday, December 1, 2008

New Young Bond US cover art

The Young Bond Dossier has revealed all-new cover art for the US editions of Charlie Higson's SilverFin and Blood Fever. These new editions will be released alongside the US paperback Double or Die on March 10, 2009.
















UPDATE: The Young Bond Dossier has now revealed the final cover art for the U.S. hardcover edition of Hurricane Gold (due April 7, 2009). CLICK HERE to view.