James Bond Himeros #003

James Bond: Himeros #003

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Rodney Barnes

Illustrated by Pierluigi Minotti

Coloured by Adriano Augusto

Lettered by Social Myth Studios

James Bond continues to unravel the horror he’s uncovered as he makes his way to the center of it all – Wilhelm’s island - with the reluctant Sarah Richmond in tow. All the while: Kino continues to stalk the pair, awaiting his moment to strike!

I am a fan of this story because it really feels like it’s an adaptation of a novel that Ian Fleming would have written. To me it just embodies everything about Bond that we have come to associate with him and his demeanour and all that jazz. There are bad guys, a mission and a beautiful woman he cannot trust but doesn’t stop him from falling for some of her charms. Oh and there’s a man who looks like the unlikeliest of killers chasing him and he seems to be much more effective with this amazing dogged determination to kill Bond. Now this guy is someone I hope doesn’t die in this adventure because honestly I’d love to see him come back another time to really wreck more havoc on his life. There are few foes in Bond’s career that we tend to want to see more of or who somehow survive their encounter with him so here’s hoping that there’s a first time for everything.

I am very much enjoying how we see this being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in continuing to flesh out the personalities we see. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more involved and invested we become.

I am pretty impressed with the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I am also liking the way we see these layers open up new avenues to be explored. Kino for sure is one of those avenues. What these do is add some great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

We see some really nice use of backgrounds throughout the issue, which makes me wish we’d see more, and how they enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The linework that we see is strong and with the varying weights creating the detail we see within the work is nicely rendered. There’s a lot of heavy inking here as well and it does add some mystery to moments or blacks out the scenery to create different light sources. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a good strong eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a solid eye for colour.

​

I really like the way that we see these events unfold. I like how Sarah keeps lying and how James sees through it and takes some answers with a grain of salt and pushes her for the truth at other times. Their interchanges are interesting in that we don’t know what is going to be said or what’s going to happen but this level of mistrust and fear of saying too much is more than interesting to see play out. The writing is fantastic and the characterisation is spellbinding while the interiors are certainly their own unique style.