What’s in the Book/Omnibus:
Collected comic strips that ran in British newspapers of 7 stories by the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming.

The Omnibus 002:
Wow, that was my first impression when I saw this book. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of omnibus’ and collected versions of comics and comic strips and this was the first time that now only was I seriously impressed with the look of it but at first I didn’t think it was an omnibus of the comic strips. This had to be some sort of photo book from the films that was made, not the comic strips.
First off, the cover is very impressive with the photo used, the way it’s made, and how it feels. If just looked at without touched this looks more like a hardcover book instead of it being the soft cover that it is. Second, the photo used of the woman holding a golden gun, it’s so sharp and clear that it really would fit better in a photo book instead of being the cover to a book of comic strips. Lastly, it’s the gloss of the cover that brings it all together. From the look of this book I would have guessed it’s price at being around $50 not what it really is, $19.95.
As good as the cover is though the insides are so much better. Here are 7 stories that was created by Ian Fleming but have been adapted by Henry Gammidge and Jim Lawrence and put in newspaper comic strip format. The stories feature everyone’s favorite British spy, James Bond doing his normal thing of going around trying to stop the bad guy as he gets the woman, sorry I mean women.

The Writing:
I’ve seen every James Bond movie that has been made, sadly I have not read any of the books, so I can’t tell the difference between the written character of James Bond and the film version. Though it’s always known that the written version is different from the film version and so with that in my head I can understand why here in this omnibus of the comic strips James Bond is different than what I’m used to.
All of the 7 stories are a lot of fun to read, they follow along like how they would in a movie, in a way, but the personality of James Bond is slightly different. There’s times that the character would question himself, not have a clue that someone was watching him do something, or just seemed too callous. I’ve always thought of Bond as the film version where he knows everything, only questions others, and though is distant with others he’s only rude to the villains. Seeing this version of him threw me for a loop and I was glad, though now the super spy I used to know is now one that seems more realistic then he did before.

But see that’s just how good the writing is in these comic strips. Though I really liked how the story just flows along like a movie but without any of the unnecessary junk in it. Such as when Bond is needing to go to a different room, going outside, or flying to another country, it’s not shown only what is needed to be seen is told in the comic strip. Without any of these meaningless fillers the story is always showing the important moments, giving out the clues that would help or hurt hero and villain, and keeping the action of the story going without ever getting bored.
Here the 7 stories are really intriguing and interesting to read and of course filled with spy stuff and James Bond getting the woman. I was more impressed with the writing and the flow of it more so than I was with the art. Though when the story is wrote in such a streamline fashion that is told in a way that keeps the reader wanting more, it’s hard to be beat.

The Art:
Thing is with the art is that it’s a newspaper comic strip. There’s talent here but the work is still a little rough. Don’t get me wrong, the visuals of the art is great and the details given to the strips is shown, but it still has that dark, rough, edge that newspaper comic strips have.
Though it’s not the detail of the art that made it to my con list, it was the fact that the look of Bond is so far from what I’m used to. Starting with story 1, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, James Bond looks more like a 50’sish man instead of a 30’sish to early 40’sish man. When I saw him I though he looked more like a character from a family strip where he would be the dad or maybe the boss, not a super secret spy who is supposed to be suave and good looking.

However, the character does not stay looking like this through out the whole omnibus. By the middle to the end of the book he had come to look like a late 40’sish man, though one that wasn’t so rough looking as the Bond of the first story. Even with not liking how the character looked, it didn’t hurt the story where I didn’t like reading it.
What I didn’t like with the way it’s drawn is the panel’s format. There’s some panels in the strips where it seems not much is going on. Now I know I said early that it’s a story that flows without the unnecessary bits, and it is, but there are a few strips that though it’s scene that needs to be told it’s just told in the bare minimum. Like having 3 panels where all Bond does is get in a car to tell the woman he found something as the drive off in the third panel. I needed to know if he did find or didn’t find anything but as far as that goes there’s nothing else in the strip of importance.

My Thoughts on Omnibus 002:
I really liked it, a lot. From the way the stories are wrote, how the plot flows nicely without losing any information that would be needed, the strips keeping me interested in them as I read, and just looking nice, I liked it all. It’s really easy to read and fast, I mean I finished this thing in days. Then again I could have finished it so fast because it was so much fun to read that when I had it in my hands I just wanted to read it and when I put it down I would pick it up because I wanted to know how the story was going to unfold in the next strip. Before now I had no clue that there were newspaper comic strips of the James Bond stories but this was a great way to find out that there was.