Today in Comics History, March 27: Happy birthday, Talisa Soto!

Happy birthday today to actress and model Talisa Soto from Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, The Mambo Kings, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, Vampirella, Harts of the West, and as Bond Girl Lupe Lamora in 1989's Licence to Kill! And the movie adaption to comics, too!


from Licence to Kill graphic novel (Eclipse, 1989); script by Richard Ashford; (adaptation); breakdowns by Mike Grell; pencils by Chuck Austen, Tom Yeates, and Stan Woch; inks by Tom Yeates and Stan Woch; colors by Sam Parsons, Sally Parsons, Mel Johnson, and Reuben Rude, letters by Wayne Truman
Altho' the graphic novel prominently features Lupe Lamora, it doesn't have any appearance by her pet iguana, and that's a darn shame.


Happy birthday, Talisa!

Today in Comics History, November 2, 2020: Villainous Russian's jetstream erases panel borders

from "The Hook" in James Bond: Reflections of Death (Dynamite, September 2020), script by Andy Diggle, pencils and inks by Luca Casalanguida, colors by Celeste Woods, letters by Ariana Maher

Today in Comics History, November 5, 2020: James Bond was too late to prevent the activation of the deadly gravity device

from "The Hook" in James Bond: Reflections of Death graphic novel (Dynamite, September 2020), script by Andy Diggle, pencils and inks by Luca Casalanguida, colors by Celeste Woods, letters by Ariana Maher

Today in Comics History, September 5: Happy birthday, George Lazenby!

Born on this day in 1939: George Lazenby, cinema's only James Bond!


cover of James Bond 007 v4: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Titan, August 2004), art by John McLusky
Happy birthday, George!


from Groo Meets Tarzan #3 (Dark Horse, September 2021), script by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, pencils and inks by Sergio, colors by Tom Luth, letters by Stan Sakai

Today in Comics History, June 15: The call goes out: "Hire Daniel Craig!"

from James Bond: Casino Royale (Dynamite, April 2018), script by Van Jensen, pencils and inks by Dennis Calero, colors by Chris O'Halloran, flats by James Penafiel, letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, May 28: Happy birthday, Ian Fleming!

Happy birthday today (born in 1908) to one of the great writers in literature, Ian Fleming, author of that classic of dangerous men and fast cars, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Oh, and he also wrote some books about some spy or somebody.


"The Man Behind the Typewriter" in Showcase #43 [Doctor No] (DC, March 1963), writer uncredited and unknown
Happy birthday, Ian!

Today in Comics History, May 16: Happy birthday to Pierce Brosnan, cinema's only James Bond!

cover of James Bond 007: Goldeneye #1 (Topps, January 1996), painted art by Brian Stelfreeze

Comics Do Shakespeare: The Tempest, Act 2: For heaven's sake, 007, stop interrupting my Shakespeare. And put some pants on.

from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest #2 (Top Shelf/Knockabout, August 2018), script by Alan Moore, pencils and inks by Kevin O'Neill, colors by Benedict Dimagmaliw, letters by Todd Klein

What's Bully Reading?: Thunderball by Ian Fleming

He always runs while others walk
He acts while other men just talk
He owns a sweater made of wool
And he strikes! Like Thunderbull!

Today in Comics History, March 27, 1941: Filming of that Kate Bush video does not go smoothly

from James Bond: Origin #2 (Dynamite, October 2018); script by Jeff Parker; pencils, inks, and colors by Bob Q; letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, March 26, 1941: Sgt. Pepper takes James Bond to a pretty lousy petting zoo

from James Bond: Origin #2 (Dynamite, October 2018); script by Jeff Parker; pencils, inks, and colors by Bob Q; letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, March 13, 1941: James Bond misses a train

from James Bond: Origin #1 (Dynamite, September 2018); script by Jeff Parker; pencils, inks, and colors by Bob Q; letters by Simon Bowland
(Click picture to The Big One-size)
PS: This is a real historical event.

Today in Comics History, March 12, 1941: Students are taught to critically analyze the lyrics to "In the Navy"

from James Bond: Origin #1 (Dynamite, September 2018); script by Jeff Parker; pencils, inks, and colors by Bob Q; letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, March 11, 1941: James Bond'll Tumble 4 Ya

from James Bond: Origin #1 (Dynamite, September 2018); script by Jeff Parker; pencils, inks, and colors by Bob Q; letters by Simon Bowland

Today in Comics History, January 28: Reading in the nude becomes popular, except upon Naugahyde

from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest #2 (Top Shelf/Knockabout, June 2018), script by Alan Moore, pencils and inks by Kevin O'Neill, colors by Ben Dimagmaliw, letters by Todd Klein

Today in Comics History, February 22, 1981: 007 regrets making death pun when he finds out it's that one guy's birthday

from James Bond: Hammerhead #2 (Dynamite, November 2016), script by Andy Diggle, pencils and inks by Luca Casalanguida, colors by Chris Blythe, letters by Simon Bowland

365 Days of Defiance, Day 196: No, Mister Bond, I expect you to defy

Panels from Licence to Kill graphic novel (Eclipse, June 1989); script by Richard Ashford; breakdowns by Mike Grell; finishes by Chuck Austen, Tom Yeates, and Stan Woch; colors by Sam Parsons, Sally Parsons, Mel Johnson, and Reuben Rude; letters by Wayne Truman

Today in Comics History, March 21: Happy birthday to Timothy Dalton, cinema's only James Bond!

from Licence to Kill one-shot (Eclipse, 1989); script by Richard Ashford; breakdowns by Mike Grell; finishes by Chuck Austen, Tom Yeates, and Stan Woch; colors by Sam Parsons, Sally Parsons, Mel Johnson, and Reuben Rude; letters by Wayne Truman;
and from Angel Love #1 (DC, August 1986); script and pencils by Barbara Slate, inks by John William Lopez, colors by Bob LeRose, letters by Bill Yoshida

I'm pretty sure that's not the actual definition of détente, 007

DC keeps trying to make the point that the All-New All-Different New 52 Starfire is comically ignorant of Earth's customs and all those familiar narrative clichès so celebrated by the TV Tropes webpage — but on the other hand, it's absolutely clear Kori's been watching James Bond movies.



Panels from Starfire (2015 series) #7 (February 2016), script by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, pencils by Emanuela Luppachino, pencil assists by Mirco Pierfederici, inks by Ray McCarthy and Sean Parsons, colors by Hi-Fi, letters by Tom Napalitano
To be precise, she's apparently caught, and sat enraptured through, 1981's Roger Moore showcase For Your Eyes Only.


(Here's the comic book version. Not quite word-for-word, is it?)

Panels from James Bond: For Your Eyes Only #2 (November 1981), script by Larry Hama, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Christie Scheele, letters by Jean Simek
Which only goes to prove: Princess Koriand'r may look like a Bond girl, but she's as smart as Daniel Craig. Or at least George Lazenby.

Play us off, Sheena Easton!

Batman Did It First: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)

Hey, I bet you remember this exciting action sequence from the worst James Bond movie, Octopussy Moonraker, in which 007 is trapped in one of NASA's high-speed G-force test centrifuges, in which the astronauts not only train but they also mix their delicious, cold refreshing Tang. How will James get out, how will he get out?


Oh. He used a gadget. Cheatypants. James Bond is a big cheatypants!

Well, that was pretty impressive, Mr. Simon Templar, but I think that you know what we say around here: Batman Did It First! And he did it in this story entitled "Batman Pounds a Beat!" Not to be confused with the tale of financial espionage and how Bruce Wayne supported the United Kingdom's move from cash sterling to the euro, entitled "Batman Beats the Pound!"



Panels from "Batman Pounds a Beat!" in Batman #77 (June-July 1953), Batman and Robin figure pencils by Bob Kane, other pencils by Lew Schwartz, inks by Charles Paris
Whoa, mama! Batman did that in 1953, and James Bond didn't do that until 1979. Later if you watched it on the ABC Sunday Night Movie! In fact, since Ian Fleming published the book of Moonraker in 1954, maybe he stole the idea from Batman! Huh? Huh? Did you ever think of that? Fleming, ya rotten bat-plagiarist! Except the novel Moonraker had nothing to do with the movie and is in fact the only James Bond novel which takes place entirely in England, without a single scene in any exotic locale such as Hong Kong, Jamaica, or Gotham City. So I guess we can't pin this crime on Ian Fleming. (Darnit!) And the novel has been reprinted many, many more times than the Batman story.


Why, you might even say that Batman is...too hot to handle!


NOW CUT THAT OUT MISTER FLEMING

Play us off, Dame Shirley!