MI6 reviews the recently reissued graphic novel "James Bond 007: The Spy Who Loved Me" from Titan Books written by written by Ian Fleming, James Lawrence and Yaroslav Horak.

"James Bond 007: The Spy Who Loved Me" Review
14th September 2005

James Bond fever gripped the world in the 1960's. He was everywhere, including national tabloids and broadsheets. Titan's seventh book in their run - "The Spy Who Loved Me" - is made up of two strips, which featured in series one of the newspaper strip: "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "The Harpies". Making James Bond a daily adventure meant that each story had to be uniquely structured carefully communicating location, plot and character development to the reader. Each strip normal comprised of three cells or even two on occasion.

Features

Loving The Spy - Introduction Bond vixen Caroline Munro looks back to 1977 and her fond memories during the production of "The Spy Who Loved Me". She reflects on the film's premiere and its memorable opening with the Union Jack parachute. "Bond’s appeal for me is the sheer exuberant fantasy of it all" - Caroline Munro A New Vision Of A Hero This feature explores Lawrence's additions to the Bond universe and the difference between the writers and artist who re-created Fleming’s character and original materials and the individual traits. Writer Paul Simpson has created a insightful overview of the evolution of the strips which could be further explored.

Above: Cell from "The Spy Who Loved Me"

The Spy Who Loved Me - James Bond’s Strangest Adventure
One of the weakest offerings of Titan's special features to date looks at Fleming’s answer to his literary critics and how the dwindling box office returns from adapted stories lead to a new original James Bond film. As well as explaining Fleming's rationale for moving away from his usual formula, it also briefly explains how the strip evolved away from the source material and the motion picture.
Click here for the MI6 article on "The Spy Who Loved Me" script history

Above: Panel from"The Spy Who Loved Me"

James Bond Titan Reissue Checklist
A summary of the past six issues cover, title, authors and stories.

The Complete James Bond Syndicated Newspaper Checklist
Rounding off this reissue is a checklist of every Bond newspaper strip including dates of print and reference numbers in a table format

Above: Panel from"The Harpies"

The Spy Who Loved Me: Graphic Novel
Handing Lawrence a challenge, Fleming didn’t wish to have "The Spy Who Loved Me" adapted as with his previous stories - but stated it must fit within the continuum of the novels. The story sees Bond on the heels of SPECTRE and its new leader Madame Spectra with an original plot by Lawrence that precedes the final events of the book. Overall the quality of the strip is outstanding and is expanded upon from there early 80’s release of the strip.

The Harpies: Graphic Novel The first original non-Fleming story written by Lawrence is a mixture of adventure and fantasy that sees a troupe of acrobatic fly vixens face off against Bond. The opening panel feels similar to Bob Kane’s infamous Batman and is soon dispatched as the story expands. Horak's detailed and well constructed fights carry force and energy through the strip as Bond faces off against numerous opponents. The quality of the 221 panels varies just enough to distract from the read.

Above: Panel from "The Harpies"