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James Bond (comic strip)


Starting in 1958 and continuing to 1983, James Bond, the fictional character created by author Ian Fleming, appeared in a comic strip that consisted of 52 story arcs that were syndicated in British newspapers, seven of which were initially published abroad.

In 1957, the Daily Express, a newspaper owned by Lord Beaverbrook, approached Ian Fleming about adapting his James Bond stories as comic strips. Fleming was then reluctant, because he felt the comic strips would lack the quality of his writing, potentially hurting his spy novel series while he was still writing. To wit, Fleming wrote:

The Express are desperately anxious to turn James Bond into a strip cartoon. I have grave doubts about the desirability of this ... Unless the standard of these books is maintained they will lose their point, and, I think, there I am in grave danger that inflation will spoil not only the readership, but also become something of a death-watch beetle inside the author. A tendency to write still further down might result. The author would see this happening, and disgust with the operation might creep in.

Regardless, Fleming later agreed, and the first strip Casino Royale was published in 1958. The story was adapted by Anthony Hern, who previously had serialised Diamonds Are Forever and From Russia with Love for the Daily Express. The illustrations were by John McLusky, who later would illustrate twelve more James Bond comic strips with his partner Henry Gammidge until 1966.

To aid the Daily Express in illustrating James Bond, Ian Fleming commissioned an artist to sketch whom he believed James Bond to look like. John McLusky, however, felt that Fleming's 007 appeared too "outdated" and "pre-war", and thus changed James Bond to a more rugged and masculine appearance.


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