From the publisher: In the snowbound French Alps, James Bond finds himself in the cross-hairs of an assassin who targets other assassins. This is the first puzzle piece in a larger adrenaline-fueled mystery that will send Bond across the globe to infiltrate the underworld, risk everything in high-stakes casino gambling, evade deadly pursuers, and root out a digital breach threatening global security.
The James Bond comics from Dynamite Entertainment have been fun. They are very much in the spirit of the latest movies and Ian Fleming's books (at least more so than many of the earlier movies were). It was in that spirit that I decided to read Benjamin Percy's James Bond: Black Box. And you know what? It was fun, too.
Black Box finds James Bond on the trail of a tech mastermind named Saga Genji. It seems Genji has hacked the information of MI-6, along with the spy agencies of nations around the world. It's Bond's mission to reclaim the missing data, stop Genji, and maybe bring home information that would give England a leg up on other countries. Along the way, he has to deal with a mysterious woman and an assassin who makes and wears a death mask of his victims.
Percy checks off all the Bond boxes with this story. Exciting pre-credits opening? Check. Beautiful, mysterious woman? Check. Outrageous villain? Check. Felix Leiter? Check. Foreign locales? Check. Gadgets? Check. Let me be clear, I don't think any of these are bad, just formulaic. And a major part of what Bond fans like is the formula, me included. Just don't expect any lasting characterization or permanent changes. Only Fleming did that, in the original books.
Overall, I enjoyed James Bond: Black Box by Benjamin Percy. It was a fun, exciting, and entertaining Bond story. As long as Dynamite keeps putting these out, I'll keep reading them. I recommend Black Box to any and all James Bond fans.
I received a preview copy of this book from Dynamite Entertainment and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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