class=”size-full wp-image-81863 alignleft” title=”james bond omnibus book” src=”https://www.heyuguys.com/images/2011/04/james-bond-omnibus-book.jpg” alt=”” width=”192″ height=”232″ />The second volume of the collected comic strip adventures of James Bond has been released by Titan Books, and for your money you’ll get an enjoyably alternative take on some of the spy’s most famous adventures.

The three panel comic strips were printed daily in the Express and then The Sunday Times during the early Sixties, a time when Sean Connery was making a name for himself in the big screen  incarnation of Ian Fleming’s most famous creation. The collected stories in this  omnibus are “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, “You Only Live Twice”, “The Man With the Golden Gun”, “The Living Daylights”, “Octopussy”, “The Hildebrand Rarity” and “The Spy Who Loved Me”, stories well known to any Bond fan but they may not have seen them told in quite this way.

It’s hard to see the stories completely fresh given how iconic the movie incarnation of Fleming’s spy has become yet the comic strip adaptations are their own beast and fans of the film series are treated to a different take on their favourite stories. Bond  is charming, ruthless and secretive, his opponents are the usual  grizzled gallery and there is nothing illuminating or sophisticated about the supporting cast but here he story is all. Though the scripting falls over occasionally, the quality of the artwork and frenzid pace never let up and it becomes an addictive dash from one story to the next.

The restrictive format of the daily panel takes a while become accustomed to, the need to recap as part of the first panel and end the final panel on a cliffhanger takes a slight toll on the fluidity of the stories but the work done by Henry Gammidge and Jim Lawrence is so enaging that it’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the stories. The artwork of John McLusky and Yaroslav Horak is detailed and inventive, and, in this format certainly, allow the stories to zip along at a fine pace and while there is the odd misstep in tone the action is brilliantly conveyed in the artwork and economic storytelling.