James Bond: Origin is an ongoing mini-series published by Dynamite. As the name implies the story is a retelling of Bond’s origin as the world’s favorite fictional spy. Jeff Parker writes the series and features art by Bob Q. The issue comes out on January 16th, 2019.
Dynamite has released an array of mini-series focusing on James Bond, most of which have been extraordinary. They’ve even released one-shot stories expanding on side characters sich as M and Moneypenny. It’s clear that expanding on the 007 universe is an important task to them.
The Story So Far
We are five issues into this story and it still just feels like more build-up. The main plot is really only now starting to unravel, which in general is kind of a bummer for a story. Five issues is just too long for an origin to reach its main point.
The Writing
The writing is just sort of average. It engages the reader and gets them through to the end of the issue. But it doesn’t do much more than that. There isn’t anything that lands particularly well. No humor or intense moments that help the reader feel what the characters are feeling.
It’s just average comic book dialogue that takes you from point A to point B. The writing is particularly disappointing when compared to Dynamite’s other Bond stories.
The story itself isn’t anything special either. It’s a boring World War II tale. Something I’ve never really considered existing before, as I’m deeply fond of that era for fiction. But this issue basically fumbles around. Even the most exciting moments fall flat due to the mediocre dialogue.
The Artwork
The issue features lovely cover art by John Cassaday. It has multiple variants as well, all of which are stunning. The interiors on the other hand, can’t have the same said for them.
Unfortunately, the art is bad. It’s not horrible. More average than anything, and it gets the job done. It doesn’t necessarily detract from the experience but it fails to enhance it. The faces are a mess. There isn’t very much detail. The action is also boring. And it just doesn’t possess the same kind of aesthetic that worked so well in previous Bond stories.
The best part of the pages comes from some usage of paneling that isn’t just your basic squares and rectangles all perfectly aligned. Even that is rather minor and rare for the issue itself. This still helped to elevate certain moments in the comic past the level of average that most other aspects either failed to reach or barely met.
Final Thoughts
I wanted to like this issue. I loved the previous James Bond stories by Dynamite. But this issue is a large disappointment. Mediocre writing and art plagues and issue with a plot stretched too thin. It lacks all of the charm, quality, and uniqueness that has proven so successful in other Dynamite Bond stories. It instead survives on mediocrity. I would not suggest this issue to basically anyone but very seriously collectors. Not that it will ever go up in quality, but for those who like to have everything Bond. I would instead suggest you look into some of Dynamite’s other Bond series. Warren Ellis’ James Bond run in particular, was amazing.
Review Summary
The issue is generally just mediocre. Most aspects are around or just below average. However, these aspects placed together, with nothing holding the issue up, really cause it to fall. Hard.
