Day: December 3, 2006

This Week’s Haul

Comic books purchased the week of 29 November 2006.

  • Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #46
  • 52 #30 of 52 (DC)
  • Castle Waiting #3 (Fantagraphics)
  • George Perez: Storyteller HC (Dynamic Forces)

One nifty thing about comics today is the wealth of books studying the careers of the great artists, and even better, they often present rare or previously-unpublished work by those artists. A few years back, TwoMorrows printed Modern Masters: George Perez, and now Dynamic Forces has printed George Perez: Storyteller. (I don’t know whether this is the same as this book The Art of George Perez listed on Amazon. The author is the same, but the cover is different.)

I haven’t done more than thumb through this book, but it looks like a pretty nice package: A lot of information about Perez’ early career at Marvel, and his work for publishers like Malibu and Crossgen (both now defunct). Perez is maybe the best artist working in comics today, and certainly on the shortlist for the best ever, so I’m happy for almost any chance to see some more of his work.

Pretty light week otherwise.

Rating the Bond Films

Here’s how I’d rank the James Bond films, from best to worst:

Here’s how I’d rank the James Bond films, from best to worst:

  1. Goldfinger (1964)
  2. From Russia With Love (1963)
  3. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
  4. Dr. No (1962)
  5. GoldenEye (1995)
  6. Live And Let Die (1973)
  7. Casino Royale (2006)
  8. Octopussy (1983)
  9. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
  10. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
  11. You Only Live Twice (1967)
  12. Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983), which are basically the same movie
  13. The World is Not Enough (1999)
  14. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
  15. Die Another Day (2002)
  16. The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)
  17. The Living Daylights (1987)
  18. Moonraker (1979)
  19. A View to a Kill (1985)

I haven’t seen enough of License to Kill (1989) or Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) to have an opinion of them. (Honestly, I barely remember The Living Daylights, either.)

Specific rankings might change depending on my mood. I would say that Dr. No and above are the great Bond films, The World is Not Enough and above are the good Bond films, and the rest are the bad Bond films.

The high ranking of the Connery films and low ranking of the Brosnan films are more a reflection of the scripts than the actors.

I admit it: I like The Spy Who Loved Me. It’s an incredibly cheesy, campy film, but that’s actually part of its appeal. Somehow it’s so ludicrous that it’s actually entertaining because of, rather than in spite of, its failings.

A lot of people really seem to hate Octopussy. I think it’s a decent run-of-the-mill Bond film. It’s really not much worse than – or much different from – Live and Let Die. But for my money, the best Moore film is For Your Eyes Only, which not only has the best opening sequence of the whole series, but is the one Moore film which is basically played as a straight adventure, rather than a silly piece of camp or with a completely ridiculous plot.