James Bond is Back — in His Own Comic Book Series!

The latest James Bond movie starring Daniel Craig, SPECTRE, opens in the USA on Friday, and today 007 returns to comics for the first time in decades with the release of Dynamite Entertainment‘s  James Bond 007 #1 by Warren Ellis and Jason Masters (Wolverines and Batwoman).

Ellis has penned an original story based on the character as depicted in Ian Fleming’s original books, not the very different character who evolved on the movie screen. The first story arc sees Bond investigating a mysterious organization behind a new drug hitting the streets — an investigation that has already seen the death of agent 008.

Ellis had a few interesting things to say to website i09 about the new series:

“This is the Ian Fleming Bond—the Bond of the books, a direct commission from Dynamite Comics and the Ian Fleming literary estate. The single real difference is that I’ve set it in the present day, having expressed that preference to the estate because I didn’t want to do period pastiche. Beyond that, you should consider it as taking place somewhere in the last half of the Fleming canon.”

New Adventures for the War Doctor in the Pipeline!

If you thought you’d never hear from the War Doctor ever again, your fears can now be allayed: Big Finish Productions has just announced a four-title series of brand-new audio adventures starring John Hurt as that most mysterious incarnation of the Doctor!

The War Doctor’s further adventures will debut in December and take us inside his Time War battles against the Daleks!

The first title “The War Doctor 1: Only the Monstrous,” and stars the voices of Hurt and Jacqueline Pearce — BLAKES 7’s Servalan and Chessene in the Colin Baker Sixth Doctor story, “The Two Doctors.”

Next will be “The War Doctor 2: Infernal Devices,” with cast and release date TBA. The other two installments are just listed as “Coming Soon.”

Online FEAR THE WALKING DEAD Story To Debut Oct. 4

Remember that online serial about the airliner that was planned to meld with the second season of AMC’s FEAR THE WALKING DEAD? Well, it now has a name and a premiere date.

“Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462” will premiere on AMC.com on Oct. 4 with the first of 16 one-minute episodes. The short chapters will air on the cable channel during commercial breaks in THE WALKING DEAD beginning with the Oct. 11 sixth-season premiere. Each new “Flight 462” installment ill debut every Sunday before that night’s TWD.

“Flight 462” will feature several new characters aboard an airliner facing an outbreak of walkers. It is assumed the plane is headed for Los Angeles, because one of the web series’ stars will join the cast of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD for its second season.

I hope this new character turns out to be interesting and not weighed down with fake family drama; FTWD already has way too much B.S. getting in the way of telling an interesting story.

THE WALKING DEAD’s Oct. 11 premiere will be a 90-minute episode.

 

 

New WALKING DEAD Show To Debut Online, Cross Over to TV

A special, stand-alone THE WALKING DEAD story will be broadcast online during the upcoming sixth season of the hit AMC horror series.

In the special, airline passengers will face a walker attack at 35,000 feet aboard a passenger jet. The story is set during the FEAR THE WALKING DEAD timeline, and one of the survivors of the in-flight attack will go on to star in FEAR THE WALKING DEAD’s second season, according to Entertainment Weekly.

While it will debut online, the special will be broadcast on AMC in chapters alongside the main show.

The sixth season of THE WALKING DEAD debuts with a 90-minute episode on Oct. 11.

Watch the Opening Minutes of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD

The spin-off/prequel to THE WALKING DEAD, called FEAR THE WALKING DEAD premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on AMC. The network released a video of the opening three minutes of the pilot, and here it is:

 

 

It’s probably just me, but I am still not sold on this series. This opening doesn’t strike me as mysterious and interesting — even if it does parallel Rick’s awakening in the premiere of the mothership — it just feels forced and dragged out.

You can bet I’ll be watching tonight and I’ll be hoping for the best, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

I’m Afraid of AMC’s New ‘Fear the Walking Dead’

I am really leery of the Walking Dead spin-off called Fear the Walking Dead, because I’m afraid the producers have misread TWD audience. Or maybe not misread it so much as they are abandoning it. Thanks to stories like this one, the spin-off appears to be going after a completely new audience — one that is put off by the gore and ultraviolence of the mothership.

Basically, it sounds to me like the new series is intending to be mostly stuff Deadheads don’t like — dull, extended family stories — and very little of what fans do like — zombies. Remember Season 2, when EVERYONE complained about the survivors holing up on Hershel’s farm and angsting while zombies wandered by off in the far, far distance? Does anyone want an entire series about that? AMC seems to think someone does.