Review: James Bond Omnibus 002 Collects Classic Strips

To discuss one's "favorite Bond" is to invite all manner of bickering and scorn, but - leaving aside for the moment that the one true bond is and always will be Sean Connery (unless you're a woman or a gay guy, and then by all means it's Daniel Craig - I didn't come here looking for a fight),  my favorite Bond is Ian Fleming's anachronistic super-spy as portrayed on the printed page, the unironic swingin' sex machine of days gone by, who is best captured not by a single actor but by the iconic opening numbers and animations that introduced the film adaptations of his literary exploits.

My favorite Bond is this guy right here.

This Bond was featured daily in comic strips written by Fleming himself, with art by  John McLusky and Yaroslav Horak (who illustrated the above picture), at a time when the superspy was still making his mark on pop culture, before name immediately conjured images of Connery, Moore, Bronson, Craig, or even the under- appreciated Timothy Dalton.

These spectacular strips, comprising adaptations of The Man With the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and others, which originally saw print in The Daily Express in the late 1950s and early '60s, are compiled in Titan Books' second James Bond Omnibus, The James Bond Omnibus 002, arriving in stores on April 12.

If you're a fan of Bond, The James Bond Omnibus 002 is priceless. This is pure Bond, in some ways more pure than all but a few of the films. A literal interpretation of the books, brought to life by Fleming himself alongside excellent, imaginative artistic partners, one strip at a time.