Author Ian Fleming's British super-spy James Bond is one of the most iconic characters in modern fiction, and thanks to the Daniel Craig-led reboot that began with the movie Casino Royale in 2006, he's as popular today as he's ever been. Dynamite Entertainment hopes to tap in to that popularity, as it announced today that it has acquired the worldwide rights to publish James Bond comics in print and digital, starting in 2015.

This is big news for Dynamite as it heads in to New York Comic-Con. The publisher is well versed in licensed properties, including Flash Gordon, Red Sonja, and Tarzan; but Bond has the potential to be their biggest license, with the best name recognition and audience reach.

Dynamite has not announced any creators, and has only confirmed plans to publish a James Bond origin story set before the events of the earliest Bond books and movies, though the license allows Dynamite to publish adaptations of Fleming's work and all other literary works in the franchise, and to create new stories within the James Bond canon, with the approval of the Fleming estate. One might speculate that the publisher could also turn their hand to non-canon crossovers with their other properties, if the estate allows.

Bond comics have been published in the past by Topps, Marvel, and Dark Horse, among others, and the character starred in a popular newspaper strip in the UK's Daily Express from the late 1950s until the mid-1980s. However, Dynamite's new license appears so expansive that it positions the publisher to exploit the character and his world to the full, in ways that previous publishers could not.

Marvel recently announced a starry line-up of creators for its new Star Wars books; Dynamite might be able to attract similar talent to Bond, given the character's enduring appeal, albeit most likely on a lower budget.

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