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Jimmy’s Bastards #1 Review

Jimmy’s Bastards #1 Review

Written and co-created by Garth Ennis

Art and co-created by Russ Braun

Colours by John Kalisz

Reviewed by Lorna Maltman (maltmanlorna@gmail.com)

James Bond is a sleaze – a charming sleaze – but a sleaze, nonetheless. In the movies, he always gets the girl in the end. This and the spy tropes that surround Bond are what Ennis and Braun use to form this comic, with rather lacklustre results.

The issue starts with Jimmy stopping a Jihadi terrorist attack in a Zeppelin over London, as well as intercepting a supervillain team, whose dialogue is almost nonsensical. Jimmy then uses that license to kill and gets picked up by the busty Bond girl in a helicopter. Funnily enough, we then find out this Bond girl has been reassigned, due to her and Jimmy’s dalliances, resulting in a new helper called Nancy. The issue ends with a gathering of cloaked people in St Pauls Cathedral, who we find to be the namesake of this issue, and they proclaim their mission for the rest of this series, which is a great and interesting plot point that would make a hilarious Bond film.

Once the plot properly gets started in the second half, the concept and dialogue improves and begins to flow, but the first part of this issue has Ennis using the spy tropes to obnoxious levels with jokes often being dragged out, especially the sexual innuendos between Jimmy and the Bond girl in the helicopter, which leaves a sour taste for the remainder of the issue. Braun’s art is average and works for the comic, but at no point blew me away and, since there is a monkey dressed as a clown with a human brain attached to its head, that is quite a feat.

Verdict:

Pass. If you want bad jokes, to push the limits on many fronts and a British spy, maybe check this comic, but probably for most this doesn’t quite hit the mark. Look, there are some satirical aspects that work in this issue, but this is far overshadowed by Ennis’s complete lack of subtlety in pulling off what is, and maybe still could be a great premise.

 

 

Currently studying for her History BA, but finds herself more often than not, reading comics or watching an ever expanding list TV shows.

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