The 100 Graphic Novels You Should Read While Stuck Inside: Day Twenty-five: Silverfin Graphic Novel

Birth Of Bond

Tripwire continues its 100 Graphic Novels You Should Read While Stuck Inside with its twenty-fifth choice, Silverfin Graphic Novel by Charlie Higson and Kev Walker, reviewed by Tripwire editor-in-chief Joel Meadows…

Silverfin The Graphic Novel
Writers: Charlie Higson with Kev Walker
Artist: Kev Walker
Puffin Books

Today’s choice is Silverfin: The Graphic Novel. Based on the Young James Bond novel of the same name published in 2005, Silverfin adapts Charlie Higson’s tale of a teenage Bond in Eton in the 1930s. British artist Kev Walker, best known for his work on 2000AD strips like Tor Cyan and Rogue Trooper and a few Marvel and DC series like Exiles and Legion, really manages to bring the world of young Bond to life with skill and ease.

James Bond heads to Eton but he is a fish out of water, coming up against the son of an American arms dealer, the wonderfully named George Hellebore. They come to blows in Eton and their paths cross once again once James heads up to Scotland to visit his aunt Charmian. George’s father Andrew is hatching a bizarre plot at his massive country pile in the Highlands and of course James Bond is the only one, with the help of Irish tearaway Red Kelly, who can stop him.

Just like Barry Levinson’s Young Sherlock Holmes, Silverfin offers clues as to what made Bond the man he became and just like that film, it manages to combine adventure with outlandish action. Walker is a fantastic artist, channeling a little bit of Mike Mignola but with a far more British slant. He works well with author Higson to adapt his prose tale to capitalise on the strengths of a comic tale. It is a real shame that this was the only Young James Bond graphic novel as Walker captures the tone perfectly.

The other thing that Silverfin has is an ability to appeal to both a younger and an older audience as it features so many of the aspects of 007’s personality familiar to fans of the films.

For fans of James Bond and very British adventure tales like Buchan’s The 39 Steps, Silverfin is a brilliant romp.

Joel Meadows
www.penguin.co.uk/puffin

Here’s links to the other graphic novels reviewed so far

http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/the-100-graphic-novels-you-should-read-while-stuck-inside-day-twenty-four-batman-arkham-asylum/

http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/the-100-graphic-novels-you-should-read-while-stuck-inside-day-nineteen-patience/

http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/the-100-graphic-novels-you-should-read-while-stuck-inside-day-eighteen-blackhawk-blood-and-iron/

http://www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/the-100-graphic-novels-you-should-read-while-stuck-inside-day-fifteen-daredevil-love-and-war/