Our fellow COBRAS at Her Majesty’s Secret Servant have just released the latest issue of their quality web magazine! Here’s the description from a post describing the release:

We have some old friends returning and some new ones joining us for the first time. Our good pal Deborah Lipp checks in with two fascinating articles; one about Live and Let Die‘s monkeying around with tarot cards, the other about recurring themes of voyeurism and concealment in You Only Live Twice. Ron Feyereisen returns with a contrarian view of the ongoing Daniel Craig “reboot” tenure; suffice it to say that he’s not a satisfied customer. Speaking of reboots, regular contributor Derek Austin Johnson casts his gimlet eye on the latest 007 literary adventure, Jeffery Deaver’s Carte Blanche (the James Bond watches man, Dell Deaton, offers a rebuttal). On the subject of the latest Bond novel, we’re rerunning Mark Henderson’s excellent interview (first published last April here on the blog,) with the author. We’re excited to welcome Stuart Basinger (that’s “Dr. Shatterhand” to you civilians) to the fold with his imaginary interview with former CIA director (and friend of Ian Fleming) Allan Dulles. James Bond is discussed. Ian Fleming Foundation member Colin Clark regales us with the story of the discovery and acquisition of Franz Sanchez’ escape plane — the Cessna we saw Timothy Dalton’s 007 lasso in Licence to Kill. And our stalwart senior editor Bill Koenig unearths the amazing story of what 1979′s Moonraker could have been like, if only Eon’s budget had matched the screenplay’s requirements. Bill’s story also covers script-to-screen changes in Diamonds Are Forever and Tomorrow Never Dies.

Read the latest issue of HMSS here!

British author Len Deighton.

In a major coup for his blog and website The Deighton Dossier, Rob Mallows recently had lunch with the author himself! Deighton agreed to do some follow-up interview questions following a technical snafu, and Rob has shared his answers at the site.

This is a fantastic interview as well! Here’s a brief taste of what Rob has in store for you:

DD: Michael Caine’s role as Harry Palmer has become visually synonymous with the ‘unnamed spy’, such that it’s now very difficult to read the books without imagining his visage and especially the horn-rimmed glasses. What do you think Michael brought to the role that added to our understanding of your character from the first four books (his cockney accent for one thing, I imagine)? Did you know Michael before the role, and did he subsequently become a friend?

LD: I knew Michael before he made Ipcress File. Peter Evans, a mutual friend, introduced us and I found Michael an unassuming and entertaining friend. He was of course a tremendous asset; he developed the characterization and was largely responsible for the success of the film.

When Ipcress went into pre-production we conspired to persuade Harry Saltzman, its producer, to let Michael wear spectacles on the screen. Michael and I both wore glasses and so did Harry Palmer in my book. Harry Saltzman was opposed to this. One evening, when Harry and his delightful wife Jaquie entertained me and Michael to dinner in their Mayfair home, we brought it up again. Harry sighed. ‘No, no, no. What film star have you ever seen wearing glasses?’ he asked rhetorically. But wives are apt to answer rhetorical questions and Harry’s wife said: ‘Cary, darling. Cary Grant looks lovely in glasses.’ This was one of the very few times that I saw Harry at loss for words. ‘Very well,’ he said eventually. I looked at Michael. Michael looked down at his plate. We had won.

Art by Alex Toth

Hi everyone! This site has gone a bit dormant, huh? In the meantime, check out the other COBRAS sites for a full range of espionage goodness.

…Including our pal, Wes Britton, who writes to tell us of a Bat-stravaganza on the radio show Dave White Presents. There are few things I enjoy more than reading a good Batman comic (see my all-time favorite comic cover at left), and I’m happy to support the endeavor, especially when it involves some quality interviewees.

Unfortunately, I missed telling you about it in advance. But luckily for you, dear reader, Dave and friends keep an archive of their past shows (look around for some other true pop culture gems while you’re there).

The Jan. 19, 2011 edition of “Dave White Presents” is a Batman Special with Batman writer Chuck Dixon, Jim Beard, editor of GOTHAM CITY 14 MILES, and other Bat-treats you can download anytime you like. The broadcast is available in the “Past Programs” archives at www.audioentertainment.org

I have, as is my habit, unfortunately, dropped off the face of blogging in the face of a mountain of school work, side work, and work work work work.

While I may be dropping the ball, David Foster is looking to 360-reverse-dunk it with his latest event, The Guns of August, wherein he’s brought together espionage authors JJ Cooper, Jeremy Duns, and Adrian Magson for, well, as David writes:

It is my honour to bring these three authors together for what I will call a ‘virtual symposium’ on spy novels. From my hollowed out volcano, I have grilled them on what makes a good spy novel and have had them analyse the changes, not just to spy stories, but publishing in general. Covering everything from the Cold War to post September 11 terrorism – and from audiobook to eBooks and digital downloads. Adrian, Jeremy and JJ provide unique insights into writing past and present, and share their thoughts on the state of the ‘spy novel’.

Head over to Permission to Kill for more!

Wes Britton @ Spywise has spent the past few months assembling a series of best-of lists for the past decade of espionage fiction. It was actually a decade rich with quality movies, television, books, comics and video games, and this is reflected in the lengthy lists of high-caliber media that Wes has put together.

A number of the articles went live today, and Wes sent out the following announcement. Note that I have an installment coming soon (as soon as I finish putting it together!) on the best comics of the decade. I’ll let you know when that one goes live as well:

Spywise.net is delighted to announce the publication of four new articles, the first of our “Decade In Review” features discussing the best espionage-oriented projects released since 2000.

Without question, the Crown Jewels of this series can be found in our “Spies on Film” files:

A Decade in Review: The Best Spy Films, Part I (2000-2004)

A Decade in Review: The Best Spy Films, Part II (2004-2009)

The over 50 pages of insights, opinions, and analysis were written by an international cast of experts from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, and Japan. Craig Arthur, Wesley Britton, David Foster, Anders Frejdh, Amanda Ohlke, and Paul Rowlands each discuss movies you’d expect—the Bourne trilogy, Casino Royale — movies you likely never heard of, and likely some controversial choices.

Then, in the “Spies in History and Literature” files, you’ll find:

A Decade in Review: The Best Spy Literature, 2001-2009

A slightly different team, Craig Arthur, Wesley Britton, Mark T. Hooker, Amanda Ohlke, and Bill Raetz suggest the best spy books of this decade, both novels and non-fiction histories and biographies. Compare your choices with theirs and see if you have some catch-up to do! (Or perhaps some ideas about what we missed . . .)

Finally—for now—the last new article is in the “Spies on Television and Radio” files:

A Decade in Review: What We Brits Saw And What We Didn’t (2000-2009)

by Ian Dickerson

This very lively and personable essay is very different from the other overviews. Here, the longtime Honorary Secretary of “The Saint Club” shares his observations on what U.K. “telly” watchers got to see and why they missed some of the better shows we got in the states.

Coming soon: Wes Britton, Craig Arthur, and David Foster will present the “Top 10” TV programs we’ve seen since 2000. In addition, Armstrong Sabian is preparing his overview of the best spy comics and graphic novels of the decade. In the meantime, the film overviews alone should keep you busy—and hopefully find you matching your own perspectives with fellow fans and experts from around the globe. Let us know what you think—the articles are ready for you as PDF files at—

www.Spywise.net

P.S. The man who handled all the visuals for this series, Peter Lorenz, runs the “Illustrated 007 – The Art of James Bond” blog at–

http://illustrated007.blogspot.com/

Peter didn’t choose to plug himself in the articles, feeling his contributions didn’t match those of the writers. I disagree—he created a great banner, plugged in all the photos, and cleaned up the format. So here’s his bio as thanks for all his hard work:

Peter Lorenz is a veteran Bond collector specializing in 007 artwork from around the world. He lives in London with his wife Mia and constantly runs out of space for his collection.

My goal with Mister 8 is the following:

Publish a weekly comic detailing the adventures of agent Martin Queen, aka the titular Mister 8. Still in the planning stages, Mister 8 will combine the feel (though, sorry to say, not the artistic majesty) of traditional adventure comics by Caniff, Raymond and Sickles with a touch of contemporary humor. That’s the plan, leastwise.

Well, this one went by the wayside fairly quickly. I realized two things shortly after posting the first few strips. The first was that the story I wanted to tell with the Mister 8 comic was vastly more intricate than my art skills or the webcomic medium would allow. The second was that putting out a comic strip, even one only seen once a week, was hard work.

Still, I’m working on a series of scripts and pitch for a comic series from my original ideas, that I’ll hopefully start submitting to editors next summer.

Discuss spy-fi music — the themes of John Barry, Lalo Schiffrin, Jerry Goldstein, Henry Mancini, Ron Grainer, Laurie Johnson, etc. — and provide tablature for the songs that I’m capable of picking out.

I’ve certainly posted a good bit of tablature. And one of my favorite posts from the last year discussed Spy-Fi music with a capital S (and F)…an interview with Tom Pervanje of the spy-surf band Spy-Fi. One of the things that I didn’t get to do this year, but wanted to, was to record versions of the songs for which I was figuring out the tablature. Though I had a few posts, during surf-spy month, and in the post for the IPCRESS File theme, where I shared some music, in the next year, I hope to provide much better quality songs — maybe even an album?

Talk about the genre on film and television — from the camp of Derek Flint to the cutting edge of the Prisoner and the Avengers to the serious takes of John Le Carre. Also, yes, inevitably, James Bond.

In the past year, we’ve scarcely talked about Flint, The Avengers or John Le Carre! But we’ve talked plenty about Bond.

We’ve also discussed my all-time favorite television show, The Prisoner, sadly quite a bit after the passing of Patrick McGoohan. We also cast a spotlight on I-Spy after running into Robert Culp in New York. And of course, the Harry Palmer Files took up much of the summer!

Spotlight the genre as represented in comics — Nick Fury, Sarge Steel, Tara Chase, King Faraday, Super Spy…the list of secret agents working in a world normally reserved for superheroes is extensive.

Thanks to our readers, we’ve been able to share bunches of out-of-print comics, and we also spotlighted a number of costumed adventurers who cross the boundary between spy and superhero.

Analyze random aspects of spy-fiction — Gadgets, tropes, cars, and whatever else comes to mind. In fact, I think I’ll start things off soon with a posting about fonts used in spy fiction.

And I did! I also covered typography in The IPCRESS File, discussed machines and technology in spy films and television, and talked about setting the scene in spy novels.

One of the best things to come from my publishing a blog about spy fiction this year was meeting so many other fantastic bloggers, with whom I formed a loose sort of union with a lousy name — The Coalition Of Bloggers wRiting About Spies — or COBRAS, for short. I hope to do more collaborative work with these guys in the future, and look forward to seeing what they come up with in the next year.

So…goals for the next year — I guess we’ll check back in on these next November:

1. Complete scripts for and sell a publisher on the idea of Mister 8 the comic!
2. Expand the web presence of Mister 8.com  and the COBRAS!
3. Share more spy-related music!
4. More interviews!
5. Finish the Harry Palmer Files!
6. Talk about the Avengers, Man From UNCLE, Mission Impossible, and other classic 60s espionage shows!
7. Become more acquainted with the Eurospy genre!
8. Answer the question: Who is Eidolon?
9. Offer more contests and fun giveaways!
10. Bring in more regular readers and commenters! Please comment!

Thanks to everyone who has visited the site in the past year! I hope you’ll keep coming back!

Yours truly,

Armstrong Sabian

Danish Dr. No comic

…I feel obligated to mention that there are a handful of other Dr. No comic-related things in existence, but I know next to nothing about them.

The best I can do is point you to the archives of Peter’s Illustrated 007, where you’ll find a Danish 007 comic (seen at left), and The Dr. No Talking Storybook, amongst hundreds of other James Bond related artwork.

If you have other additions to the list, let me know through email, or through commenting!

James Bond Argentine Comic from Illustrated 007

I’m pleased to announce that Peter of the blog Illustrated 007 has accepted membership into the COBRAS (would Coalition of Bloggers Ruminating About Spies make you happier?). Peter is a sort of curator of Bond imagery, amassing a collection both varied and expansive. A look at the categories on his site will give you an idea about the amazing sorts of things that he’s gathered.

So head on over to Illustrated 007…but maybe set aside a few hours first!

HMSS logo

We’re happy to announce that Paul Baack and the crew at the HMSS Weblog have responded positively to an invitation to join what critics call “the best group of bloggers talking about spies who have formed a coalition and have a snake-themed logo on the internet.” Baack and co. have already put together an excellent magazine-style website at HMSS.com, and for that, the web would have been thankful, but they followed up with regular astute observations and commentary on the blog and quickly became a regular read of many COBRAS agents.

Make sure you check out the site, where the conversation ranges from “Bond” to “beyond”!

More good news came through official COBRAS line of communication yesterday — we’ve established new agents in France and Argentina!

From France, we welcome Phillipe Lombard — Bienvenue en COBRAS, Phillipe! — who runs the 007-themed blog Quantum of Bond, chock full of Bond observations and ephemera. This one’s sure to tax my Google translator on a daily basis. And so will….

Una Plaga de Espias, published by Johny Malone from Argentina — Bienvenido a los COBRAS, Johny! — who brings us the best in well-crafted antique thriller covers and info from the back covers. There are some real gems in there, Johny!

These guys join our other newest member Rob Mallows in one of the finest coalition of bloggers writing about espionage ever. And something tells me we’re not done adding to our ranks yet!