I've heard some rumor--I can't quite remember it all now--that had something to do with someone at DC in the late 1960s going through old files and discovering that, connected to publishing this book, DC in fact had the rights to make James Bond comics all through the 1960s, during what was arguably Bond's most popular time. And they never noticed! Arrrgghhhh!!
3 comments:
How can they have not noticed they had the rights to Publish James Bond?
Hi Rob -
I cover the story in some detail in my upcoming book on the history of Bond in comics.
[plug] JAMES BOND: The history of the illustrated 007 - Hermes Press - out September 29th [/plug]
It's a complex story - but basically the Showcase issue was a reprint of a European adaptation of the movie screenplay that DC had forced on them. They didn't want to publish it, and they didn't market it. It came out before the movie opened and no-one knew what it was - therefore it bombed.
They did have the option to pick up the Bond license, but passed after this issue did so badly.
But let's not just point fingers at DC. Not a single US publisher went after the Bond license throughout the era of 1960s Bond-mania, even though Bond comics were appearing, and selling, all around the world from Japan to Chile.
alan-
welcome, thanks for commenting!
yeah, i only knew the story vaguely, and it never really made sense, did it?
that seems crazy, that no one thought to make Bond comics in the US! Dell and Gold Key made comics out of every conceivable TV and movie (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? Circus Boy?), but not the super-cool secret agent 007???
i couldn't use that link, but just from the title, that book sounds way cool.
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