James Bond as drawn by John McLusky
James Bond, Ian Fleming's famous spy character, appeared in daily comic strip form in the Daily Express from 1958 to 1977. The strip adapted many of Fleming's novels and short stories before telling original stories.
The first novel adapted was Casino Royale, scripted by Anthony Hearn and drawn by John McLusky. Henry Gammidge replaced Hearn as writer for Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever and From Russia With Love. Peter O'Donnell scripted Doctor No, before Gammidge returned for Goldfinger, Risico, From a View to a Kill, For Your Eyes Only and Thunderball. The strip was discontinued in 1962 because of a legal dispute between the Express and Fleming. The dispute was resolved and the strip resumed in 1964, with Gammidge and McLusky adapting On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, which ended in January 1966. The creative team then changed, with Jim Lawrence taking over as writer and Yaroslav Horak as artist. They adapted The Man With the Golden Gun, The Living Daylights, The Hildebrand Rarity and The Spy Who Loved Me between then and 1968, after which Lawrence started writing original stories. Neville Colvin drew part of the last story. The daily strip ended in 1977, followed by a last story serialised weekly in the Sunday Express. Lawrence and Horak created several more stories for non-UK newspapers.
A new series ran in the Daily Star from 1981 to 1983, again written by Lawrence. The first storyline was drawn by Harry North. Four more storylines were drawn by McLusky.
The character inspired "Jane Bond: Secret Agent" in Tina and Princess Tina (1967-70), and a character called "Jimmy", clearly a parody of Bond, appeared in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume "The Black Dossier" in 2007.
