RED NEMESIS cover art revealed

Cover art for Steve Cole's fourth and final Young Bond adventure Red Nemesis has been revealed. The book will be released in paperback and as a limited edition hardcover on May 4, 2017.

James is on home soil when he receives a package with a message from beyond the grave. The package’s mysterious contents put James at the heart of a long-running plot that, if it runs its course, will paint London’s streets red with blood. Not only will James have to fight to stay alive and save the country he loves, but to clear the Bond family name, which he holds so dear. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and James doesn’t know who he can trust . . .

Pre-order Red Nemesis at Amazon.co.uk.

A SILENT ARMAGEDDON (1993)

In 1993 Dark Horse released A Silent Armageddon written by Simon Jowett with art by John M. Burns. The story finds Bond protecting a crippled 13-year-old girl while battling Erik Klebb of Cerberus (a new SPECTRE-like organization). Bond drives the Aston Martin Volente and romances Prof. Jessica Penrose. Locations included Oxford, New York City, and Hong Kong.

A Silent Armageddon was scheduled to appear in 4 parts. But only issues 1 and 2 were ever released. An urban legend claims the final issues were cancelled because they featured the son of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, but this is not true. Although fully scripted, the artist slipped so far behind deadline on issue #3 that the publishers refused to solicit either issue until #4 was also complete. The artist never delivered the art for that final issue, hence, the series was never completed.

In the canceled issues, Bond would have defeated Cerberus in a VR world where his crippled 13-year-old charge would metamorphoses into a typical “Bond Girl.”

A novel idea...

Literary-themed clothing outlet Out Of Print have released a line of t-shirts and sweatshirts featuring the cover designs from the Ian Fleming James Bond UK 1st editions. So far they've released Casino Royale, Live and Let Die and Moonraker. These are being promoted via the Ian Fleming Facebook and are official.

Check out all the styles and purchase at Out Of Print.

German SCORPIUS (1990)

Here's another interesting collision of the book and movie Bond. This is a 1990 German edition of John Gardner's 1988 continuation novel Scorpius. On the cover with have Roger Moore from For Your Eyes Only and Lois Chiles from Moonraker against what looks like The Living Daylights gunbarrel. A hot mess, but it gets the job done!

CASINO ROYALE (the movie) turns 10

Today marks the tenth anniversary of Daniel Craig's debut as James Bond in Casino Royale. The film was an adaptation of Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. A great book and a great film. Below is a trade paperback from Penguin which re-released the book with movie poster art.

For the record, the Bond book that year was Charlie Higson's Blood Fever, which many consider the best of the Young Bond novels. So this was a good year for Bond!

For more tie-in editions CLICK HERE.

What kind of mission is this exactly?

Here's a 1986 Spanish edition of John Gardner's Role of Honor (Misión de Honor) with pretty unusual cover art. One might be justified in thinking this is a sci-fi novel and 007's mission here is a mission to Mars!

Title: Misión de Honor

Author: John Gardner

Year: 1986

Publisher: Grijalbo

TITAN releases James Bond: The Classic Comic Strip Collection 1958-60

Titan Books has released The Complete James Bond: The Classic Comic Strip Collection 1958-60. The book is a hardcover and collects the vintage Daily Express comic strips of: Casino Royale, Live And Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Love and Dr No.

Purchase James Bond: The Complete Comic Strip Collection 1958-60 on Amazon.com (U.S.) and Amazon.co.uk (UK).

The James Bond MOVIE COMIC adaptations

Today I take a look back at the intermittent history of James Bond comic film adaptations.

Showcase's Doctor No.

Doctor No (1962)
The first American comic book to feature James Bond was originally drawn for the British Classics Illustrated series. It was reprinted in the U.S. as part of DC’s Showcase series to tie-in with the first James Bond film. The story was censored, deleting all racial skin color and dialogue thought to be demeaning. The 32-page comic follows the movie script and most of the characters are drawn to resemble their screen counterparts. It was also published in Greek and Swedish editions.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)
After a mysteriously long absence, 007 returned to U.S. comic books in an adaptation of the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only starring Roger Moore. Marvel Comics published FYEO in three versions: a two issue comic book, a magazine, and a mass market paperback which Marvel called an “illustrated book.”

Marvel's For You Eyes Only individual issues.

Marvel's For You Eyes Only magazine.

Mass market "illustrated book."

Octopussy (1983)
Marvel once again adapted the new Bond film Octopussy into a comic book, but this time it was only available in magazine form. The artwork by Paul Neary and layouts by Rita Cilia are excellent, maybe the best of all the Bond adaptations. It was also adapted in Scandinavia with original artwork, so Octopussy is unique for having two comic adaptations.

Marvel's Octopussy.

Scandinavian Octopussy with original art.

Never Say Never Again (1984)
Argentinean publisher Editora Columba, who published several original Spanish-language James Bond film adaptations in various D'artagnan comic magazines during the ‘60s and ‘70s, adapted the unofficial Thunderball remake Never Say Never Again starring Sean Connery in 1984.

A View To A Kill (1985)
The 15th James Bond film and the last to star Roger Moore was adapted as a comic in Scandinavia and Germany where it appeared as a trade magazine edition.

Scandinavian A View To A Kill.

The Living Daylights (1987)
The Bond film that introduced Timothy Dalton was also adapted in Scandinavia. A nice bonus here is that it features the “flying carpet” sequence cut from the final film.

Swedish The Living Daylights.

Licence To Kill (1989)
Eclipse brought Bond comics back to the U.S. with an adaptation of Licence To Kill by Permission To Die author Mike Grell. Published in a magazine size hardback and paperback, it’s been said that Timothy Dalton would not allow his likeness to be used, so a more generic Bond was used.

Eclipses Licence To Kill hardcover and paperback.

GoldenEye (1996)
Topps adaptation of the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye, which introduced Pierce Brosnan as 007, was originally meant to be in 3 parts, but only issue #1 ever appeared. A lengthy delay in getting approval for the racy illustration on the cover of issue #2 led to the series being cancelled prematurely. Topps was reportedly going to launch an ongoing series of original 007 adventures following publication of GoldenEye, but this also never materialized. GoldenEye marked the end, at least to date, of the James Bond film comic adaptations.

GoldenEye 00 Convention Special and issue #1.

The cancelled GoldenEye issues #2 and #3 covers.