James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me [Paperback]

Ian Fleming (Author), Jim Lawrence (Author), Yaroslav Horak (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

The legend continues! Stand by for more adventures with the world's greatest secret agent, as some of his most thrilling missions are collected for the first time ever! When a Canadian test pilot is blackmailed by a revitalised S.P.E.C.T.R.E., Bond is called in to help - but a treacherous girlfriend is preparing to put him in the line of fire! And as if that weren't enough, Bond becomes embroiled in an insurance scam which quickly becomes a lethal game of cat and mouse! This new edition also collects the very first post-lan Fleming Bond strip, The Harpies! Not only that, it also features a new introduction, an exclusive interview with writer Jim Lawrence, and the first part of a feature examining the post-Fleming comics!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A cracking graphic novel." - SFX Magazine" Brentwood Gazette 14 Dec 2005: "These classic reads transcend the apparent limitations of a daily three-panel strip format, multi- layered, action-packed character pieces.."

About the Author

Ian Fleming is the world-famous novelist and creator of James Bond. James Lawrence began his writing career scripting training films for the US Armed Forces, and moved on to write features including Buck Rogers and Joe Palooka. Yaroslav Horak created the outback adventure strip Mike Steel for the Sydney Morning Herald, and illustrated all the Bond feature adventures bar Casino Royale.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184576174X
• ISBN-13: 978-1845761745
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 0.4 x 11.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,552,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIRST TIME IN PRINT IN ALMOST 40 YEARS!, January 13, 2006

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me (Paperback)

The Spy Who Loved Me ran from late 1967 to 1968 in strip format and is re-printed here for the very first time. One of the most popular Bond Girls, Caroline Munro provides the introduction to this volume which also includes the first post-Ian Fleming Bond strip, "The Harpies".

In the "Spy Who Love Me", a Canadian Test Pilot is the target of a blackmail scheme. He's demanded to turn over secrets about a new experiment test plane called the GhostHawk. If he refuses to cooperate, his blackmailers will turn over evidence to French law authorities linking him to the death of a woman. Bond is called to investigate. The pilot, Mike Farrar, admits he was there when the girl died, but that her death was an accident and he fled when he got scared. Bond's investigations lead him to believe that the terrorist group S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is behind the blackmail plot.

This story is a bit slower paced than other Bond stories and not as action oriented as some might like but as always the art by Yaroslav Horak is op notch and has that great, 60's spy look to it. The better story to me was "The Harpies" that had a spectacular plot more in tune with the Bond films. A brilliant Dr. Phineus develops a death ray but says it should be destroyed. A wealthy aeronautics industrialist named Nero kidnaps Phineus to obtain the ray. Bond goes undercover as the new chief of security in Nero's plant to rescue the doctor. This story was much more briskly paced with a great, megalomaniacal villain in Nero, beautiful women, and lots of action.

The Harpies is seeing print for the first time in almost 40 years, having originally run in British newspapers from October 1968 to June 1969. Writer Jim Lawrence here shows he's capable of working within Flemings framework, but also crafting an intriguing storyline. Horak provides the beautiful art once again. For those who have never read the Bond strips, these collections from Titan Books are wonderful and preserve what otherwise may have been completely forgotten.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

5.0 out of 5 stars Cant get enough!, March 9, 2011

By 

Knife G "Knife G" (Saudi Arabia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me (Paperback)

Like my other reviews, i found this classic bond. i like them because they are closer to the novels than the movies. dont get me wrong, i love the moives too, but this gives you a picture of what Fleming was thinking.

I am almost finished the official stories and hope the other, non Fleming stories are just as good.

5.0 out of 5 stars More stellar quality gems from Jim Lawrence & Yaroslav Horak, June 24, 2006

By 

The One "Neo" (The Matrix) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me (Paperback)

I have the original issue of this graphic novel that was published by Titan in the 80s. Comparing the print quality of that edition with this latest one, I see one major problem:

The print quality was excellent in the first edition, while this edition seems to have been printed using an ink-jet printer from computer scanned JPEG images. On close scrutiny, the lines of the drawings look clean and crisp in the older edition, while they look jagged (as if made up of computer graphic pixels) in the new edition. This is a problem that I see repeated in the entire series of re-issued Bond strips from Titan in the 2000's. One more problem I see in all the Titan Bond series is that the ink is alternately very dark and very light in alternate pages in Colonel Sun, TSWLM, OHMSS & Goldfinger. Very annoying.

That having been said, the paper quality, cover thickness and binding are excellent.

One piece of good news is that this edition of TSWLM now includes panel #721 which was omitted from the 1989 version, because Titan did not want to include an extra page for just one panel.

The stories themselves are excellent in every manner and drawn to realistic perfection by Larry Horak. Jim Lawrence's adaptation of the Fleming Material is superb as always.

The Titan Bond series is a must-have for Bond fans and comic book enthusiasts. Highly recommended.