Last year, Dynamite Entertainment brought 007 out of comic book retirement for a new James Bond series written by Warren Ellis. Now, Dynamite is looking back at Bond’s history by adapting the very first novel by Ian Fleming.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the story that writer Van Jensen and artist Matthew Southworth will adapt Casino Royale as a comic book for Dynamite. This will be only the first in a line of adaptations of Fleming’s books about everyone’s favorite super spy. However, an important distinction has to be made. This project will not be an adaptation of the Casino Royale movie that introduced audiences to Daniel Craig‘s modernized Bond ten years ago.
We probably won’t be seeing a parkour sequence in this comic, and the original story was surprisingly tame by Bond’s later standards. He didn’t even kill anyone his first time out! (This is not to say that the Casino Royale book didn’t have its share of bloodshed.) The novel also featured a more introspective version of Bond who dealt with the psychological issues of his torture as opposed to the more physical wounds that Bond received in the film.
Potentially, the adaptation could keep the early ’50s setting of Fleming’s story, but the core elements will likely remain. Bond will still go undercover to face the man known as Le Chiffre in a high stakes card game alongside Vesper Lynd, the original Bond girl who broke his heart in more ways than one. Vesper’s fate was the same in both the film and the novel, but it played out with more action in the movie.
Dynamite has not yet announced a released date for the Casino Royale adaptation or how many issues it will run. Presumably more information will be revealed during San Diego Comic-Con next week.
Are you eager to see a new adaptation of Casino Royale as a comic? Tell us what you know in the comment section below!
Image: Dynamite Entertainment/Rian Hughes
