Mister 8

Classics Illustrated - Dr. No

As has been noted by a number of my other COBRAS comrades (including new COBRAS member[s] The HMSS Weblog — more on this shortly), actor Joseph Wiseman, who played the titular character in 1962’s Doctor No, and thus became the first James Bond film villain, passed away this week. In his honor, we here at Mister 8 want to look at some of the adaptations of Ian Fleming’s Doctor No, starting today with a comic that was published in multiple places, including the British Classics Illustrated, Detective Series (supposedly — I’ve not seen any online evidence of this, and will check my copy of James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 when I get home tonight), and DC Comics’ Showcase series.

Comics creator / historian / anecdotalist Mark Evanier discusses this issue in an entry at his site on the history of DC dropping the ball on the one franchise in the world bigger than Superman or Batman (or, I suppose, Mickey Mouse, who currently owns their rival, Marvel Comics):

The first Bond film, Doctor No, debuted in England in October of 1962. To coincide with that release, the British publisher of the Classics Illustrated comic book series issued an adaptation that was drawn by Norman J. Nodel. It was not, by the way, a terribly precise adaptation, at least of the movie, which Nodel does not appear to have seen when he drew the book. It has been suggested that the publisher had the right to adapt the screenplay but not necessarily the film based on it. The likeness of the lead character makes it seem like Nodel was told to draw a Bond that looked a lot like Sean Connery…but not exactly.

In any case, the company that arranged the adaptation wanted to have it published in America when the movie was released here the following May. The American publisher of Classics Illustrated was in no position to do so. They had a marketing program that avoided most of the main newsstand outlets — the obvious place to sell such a book — and concentrated on classrooms and other educational venues. The Bond people, not wanting to miss an opportunity, tried to arrange to publish the Doctor No comic book themselves. They approached the largest comic book distributor, Independent News, which was owned by the same folks who owned DC Comics.

Independent said no, they would not handle a one-time publication from a new publisher…but they would buy the rights to publish an American edition and issue it as a DC Comic. The Bond licensing people liked this deal or at least accepted this deal. They did like the idea, which was briefly discussed, of DC publishing an ongoing James Bond comic book if this first one did well. The contract when it was concluded included an option clause that would allow DC to do a regular series for a modest fee.

Bob Brown drew the new cover for the DC Showcase issue, which was the March-April 1963 issue of the series. Thanks again to user Woollsey, who sent the following images along with a bevy of spy comics scans from the golden / early silver age of comics that have not been republished. I’m not sure where rights issues currently stand with this, but I imagine they’re fairly murky and this issue is unlikely to be reprinted. Copyright holders, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, and I’ll take these images down:

James Bond Jr. Episode 6

Today’s piece is subtitled, “Is it just me, or is this kind of racist?”

In 1967, a still unidentified author going by the name R.D. Mascott wrote a successful book called 003½: The Adventures of James Bond Junior. A quarter century later, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson resurrected the concept of James Bond Junior…though for some reason, in this incarnation, he’s 007’s nephew…for an animated show that I rushed home to see every day after school.

A few of the Bond villains crossed over into the cartoon, including Jaws, Odd Job (who dressed like a member of Run DMC), and Dr. No, who looked not like the Joseph Wiseman portrayal, but yellow-skinned with a long Fun Manchu mustache that apparently grew from his nostrils.

This version of No also appeared in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the series, serving as the star villain of issue #9. Story is by Dan Abnett, art by Mario Capaldi.

…Speaking of illustrations, here are a few Dr. No-related images from a pair of accomplished comic artists. First up is Adam Hughes, who has become renowned for his depictions of women both on comic covers and highly sought after convention commission art. He did this Dr. No piece for a lucky friend:

Dr. No by Adam Hughes

Hughes writes of the piece on his DeviantArt page:

Here’s a rare excursion into REAL PAINT. Hands inside the vehicle, children – we’re in the wild country.

This was done as a Christmas gift for a friend, who loves this era and the James Bond of that period specifically.

Done on illustration board with acrylic paints. All kinds. Liquitex, Holbein, anything I had laying around that wasn’t drier than a pharaoh’s tomb.

I think I went with the blue & orange complimentary color theory on this one simply because they were the paints that were still wet enough to use. Seriously.

Next up is a pair of images from Francesco Francavilla, a rising star in the comic industry, and one of my personal favorites. He’s worked on The Black Coat, Zorro, and the outstanding spy comic Left on Mission. He did these pieces at his sketch blog.

Dr. No poster by Francesco Francavilla

Dr. No by Francesco Francavilla

I believe that a print of the poster is available for purchase from Francavilla….

Today’s concluding post on Dr. No in comics was assisted by my two all-time favorite sites on art and illustration in James Bond media. The images were kindly provided (after I searched high and low, but could not find my copy of the collected strip) by newest COBRAS member Peter @ The Illustrated 007, which is a treasure trove of all sorts of Bond-related art, from book covers to comics to posters to international representations.

The text uses as its source an archive of the sadly now-defunct site called The Art of James Bond, whose author, “Red Grant,” provided a history of the Bond book covers, posters, comic strips and production art.

The first strip of the Dr. No series appeared in the Daily Express on Monday, May 23, 1960, having followed, as the novel, five 007 stories before it. This was the first and only Bond comic story to be written by Peter O’Donnell, who of course later went on to create his own secret agent comic strip in Modesty Blaise. Unlike previous stories, O’Donnell, with artist John McLusky, kicks right into the story, with Bond giving up his trusty Beretta to his boss, M, and shortly thereafter launches into the Jamaican / Crab Key adventure.

John McLusky Dr. No

The story is fairly faithful to the Fleming novel, with all of the familiar faces — Quarrel (who first appeared in Live and Let Die), Honey Rider, and the villainous Dr. Julius No himself. Bond would not debut on film for another two years, and No is presented here with a more rudimentary set of pinchers than those seen in the movie version. There are other differences too — McLusky presents his Honey with the broken nose that Fleming writes her with in the novel, for instance — but it is surprising how much of the visual imagery of the comic strip eventually made its way into the film, including the scene where Honey rises from the ocean. And as always, it’s interesting to note the visual similarity of McLusky’s Bond to the eventual casting of Sean Connery.

Probably not the strip you'd hoped to see, eh?

Dr. No was originally conceived as a television project by Fleming, and therefore ventures more into the realm of fantasy than the previous stories, including a climactic battle with a giant squid and the eventual death of the villain as he’s crushed under tons of guano. The series concluded on October 1, 1960, having run 114 strips total, and has been collected three times so far — in The Illustrated James Bond, put out in 1981 by the James Bond 007 Fan Club, in Titan’s 2005 reprinting of the series, and in Titan’s more recent James Bond: Omnibus Volume 001 which collected the first ten comic stories, from Casino Royale to Thunderball.

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!

Rani Comics #19 - Dr. No

While looking through the statistics of Mister8.com recently, I came across a page written in Tamil that linked to one of our Dr. No in comics posts. I can’t read Tamil, sadly, but it appears as though there are a few items they discuss there that we hadn’t even heard of here at Mister8, including the amazing looking version of Dr. No for Rani Comics seen at left.

Check out the long post on Dr. No at akotheeka, and if anyone knows Tamil, please translate for me!