The James Bond Film Comic Adaptations

As I read the James Bond novels and watch the James Bond films, I've also been reading the James Bond comics. I've previously discussed the Daily Express strips, but there are also the comic book adaptations of the films, of which there have been four (and a third).

The very first James Bond film comic was of the very first James Bond film. An adaptation of Dr. No was intended to be a Dell Movie Classic according to the Grand Comics Database, but I don't know why it wasn't. It was published in 1962 as part of the Classics Illustrated series in the UK. Though the UK series mostly reprinted the American one, they published (Wikipedia tells me) thirteen original stories, including this one. It seems a bit of an odd fit between Goethe's Faust and Tolstoy's Master and Man! Perhaps for this reason, it wasn't picked up by the American Classics Illustrated, and eventually found print in Showcase, DC's anthology series, in 1963. Again, it's an odd fit between stories about the Metal Men, Tommy Tomorrow, and Sergeant Rock.

I actually haven't read this comic: it goes for hundreds of dollars usually in any version. It has never been reprinted or officially digitized, though you can find scans if you poke around a bit.

In the 1980s, Marvel adapted two James Bond films into comic books. An adaptation of For Your Eyes Only was published as a 1981 issue of Marvel Super Special, a series that mostly consisted of adaptations of films. (For example, the previous issue adapted Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the following one, Dragonslayer.) It was then later reprinted as a two-issue miniseries of its own, which is the version I read. This one has an impressive creative team: Larry Hama scripts, Howard Chaykin pencils, and Vince Colletta inks. Surely if any comics illustrator was made to draw Bond, it's Chaykin, and surely if any illustrator was made to draw Bond girls, it's Colletta. But it's a pretty typical film-to-comic adaptation, in that it doesn't really breathe like it ought.

In 1983, another issue of Marvel Super Special contained an adaptation of Octopussy. This one is interesting to me as it was clearly the work of Marvel UK going by the creative team: Steve Moore, Paul Neary, and Annie Halfacree are all names I know from Doctor Who Magazine, Transformers UK, and Death's Head. I haven't ever found anything on the Internet to indicate why this arrangement might have come about. Again, it's a strong creative team, but again it's a pretty perfunctory adaptation.

The last complete James Bond film comic was an adaptation of Licence to Kill from Eclipse Comics. This was published as a standalone graphic novel, apparently in both trade paperback and hardcover (I have the former). It's oversized, as I think a lot of early graphic novels were. The cover trumpets it as being by Mike Grell, but it actually has a large number of contributors. Grell just did the breakdowns, while the script was by Robert Ashford, the pencils by three different artists, and the inks two.

Despite that, it's definitely the best of the three Bond film comics I've read. Grell, like Hama/Chaykin, seems like a creator born to do Bond, and this one does breathe as a comic book even if it has a lot of compression to fit the page length. (This is most notable in the very brief climax.) The art is strong and atmospheric, even if it seems to me that sometimes Bond looks like Timothy Dalton, sometimes he looks like Roger Moore, and sometimes he looks like the sort of generic, idealized Bond from the Daily Express strips. I assume the use of three different pencillers is responsible for this. Interestingly, he's often drawn with the facial scar he had in the books, but which was never used on screen! The painted style is a good fit for the atmosphere of Bond.

from James Bond 007: Licence To Kill:
The Official Comic Book Adaptation

The last Bond film comic was a three-issue adaptation of GoldenEye from Topps... the first issue of which was the only one to appear. I don't really feel motivated to track this down, to be honest.

I don't know what the rights issues are with any of these; it seems to me you could get a nice trade paperback out of bunging them all together. It's certainly the kind of omnibus I could imagine, say, Dark Horse or IDW doing. Boom has the Bond comics rights these days, and I don't know if they are interested in that sort of thing even if it is feasible. But if it meant I got to read "Doctor No," I would get it!

"James Bond: For Your Eyes Only" was originally published in issue #19 of Marvel Super Special (1981). It was republished as James Bond: For Your Eyes Only #1-2 (Oct.-Nov. 1981) The story was written by Larry Hama, pencilled by Howard Chaykin, inked by Vince Colletta, colored by Christie Scheele, lettered by Jean Simek, and edited by Dennis O'Neil.

"James Bond 007: Octopussy" was originally published in issue #26 of Marvel Super Special (1983). The story was written by Steve Moore, illustrated by Paul Neary, lettered by Annie Halfacree, and edited by John Barraclough. 

James Bond 007: Licence To Kill: The Official Comic Book Adaptation was originally published in 1989. The story had breakdowns by Mike Grell; a script by Richard Ashford; pencils by Chuck Austen, Tom Yeates, and Stan Woch; inks by Tom Yeates and Stan Woch; colors by Sam Parsons, Sally Parsons, Mel Jöhnson, and Reuben Rude; lettering by Wayne Truman; and editing by Dick Hansom and Cat Yronwode.