Dynamite

I'm not the type of person who's going to go out and buy the wristwatches or anything, but I'd like to think I'm a pretty big fan of the James Bond movies, and the one scene I like more than anything else in the entire 24-film franchise is the cold open to Casino Royale. The brutality of that black-and-white fight scene and the way that Bond becomes 007 gets me every time. Which, I imagine, is why I was so thrilled by the cold open to Warren Ellis and Jason Masters' James Bond #1, which has a similar bit of savagery that, in their case, is all business. And in case you missed it? James Bond just broke a cinderblock on a dude's back by throwing it at him.

The question most often asked of the ComicsAlliance staff is a variation of, "Which comic books should I be reading?" or, "I'm new to comics, what's a good place to start?" The Wednesday deluge of new comic books, graphic novels and collected editions can be daunting even for the longtime reader, much less for those totally unfamiliar with creators, characters and publishers, and the dark mysteries of comic book shopping like variants, pre-ordering, and formats.

We haven’t yet seen frame one of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s AMC take on Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s infamous Preacher, and already the pair might have an eye on another notable comic adaptation. The Superbad duo might next shop an adaptation of Ennis’ superhero-policing The Boys, potentially for cable.

David F. Walker and Bilquis Evely's Shaft: A Complicated Man was one of the best comics of the past couple of years. Focused on the first case for the legendary private eye, it was the origin story that I never knew I wanted, an engaging and very, very personal revenge case that set the stage for the character in a brutal and highly entertaining way and left me wanting to read a whole lot more. Fortunately, that's exactly what we're going to get. Today, Dynamite announced that Walker would not only return to Shaft with Imitation of Life, a new comic with artist Dietrich Smith, he'll also be writing Shaft's Revenge, the first new prose novel about the character in over forty years.

The last few years have seen some really great costume redesigns for supeheroines, and it looks like Dynamite is planning to add to that with a trio of heroines set to launch new titles next year. In advance of New York Comic-Con, Dynamite released new designs from artist Nicola Scott for Vampirella, Dejah Thoris and Red Sonja, to be featured in a new line spinning out of this year's Swords of Sorrow crossover.

This week at Comixology, Dynamite has a big sale on their "Greatest Hits," and as you might expect from the title, there's a lot of really good stuff in there. So good, in fact, that you probably don't need me to tell you about it --- being able to grab twelve issues of American Flagg for nine bucks, for example, is probably something that you already know is a good idea. But if you're on the hunt for a buried treasure and you've got a spare picture of Abraham Lincoln burning a hole in your pocket, then you need to do yourself a favor and pick up Jeff Parker and Marc Laming's Kings Watch, one of the best (and most underrated) crossovers of the past few years.

On this day in 1958, the world’s most famous MI6 Agent took to the world of comics for the first time, as Ian Fleming’s James Bond brought his hard-drinking, womanizing, spy-killing adventures to the pages of UK newspaper The Daily Express just five years after the launch of the novels with Casino Royale.

Ahead of San Diego Comic-Con 2015, Dynamite has announced that writer Warren Ellis and artist Jason Masters will be the creative team on a new James Bond ongoing series this November. Having acquired the James Bond licence last year --- it was one of Dynamite's SDCC announcements for 2014 --- the publisher will launch the series, titled James Bond 007, starting this November.

The question most often asked of the ComicsAlliance staff is a variation of, "Which comic books should I be reading?" or, "I'm new to comics, what's a good place to start?" The Wednesday deluge of new comic books, graphic novels and collected editions can be daunting even for the longtime reader, much less for those totally unfamiliar with creators, characters and publishers, and the dark mysteries of comic book shopping like variants, pre-ordering, and formats.

One of the really nice things about the rise of digital comics is that there's always a sale going on, and this week, Dynamite has one that's definitely worth checking out. It's listed on the site as a "Recent Hits" sale, and there are a lot of great comics from the past year that are up for 99 cents each: the amazingly weird Bob's Burgers tie-in that features a new installment of Tina's Erotic Friend Fiction in each issue; the beautiful Conan/Red Sonja crossover; the surprisingly great Django/Zorro series from Matt Wagner, Quentin Tarantino and Esteve Polls; the Kirby-inspired Captain Victory; and even the first issues of their new King Features line. It's one of those sales where it's easy to spend a whole lot of money --- which, I believe, is the entire idea --- but if you've only got the budget to check one thing out, then there's one book that I can recommend over everything else: David F. Walker and Bilquis Evely's Shaft, one of the year's best miniseries.