37 replies to this topic

[Grubozaboyschikov]

I'm talking about the transfer. When I bought TMWTGG by Titan books, i was disappointed with it, because the previous edition (released somewhere in the 90's, if i'm not mistaken) was better.

[DAN LIGHTER]

I thought it was the transfer quality. Now I cant really comment on that because I might give miss information.

[Attempting Re-entry]

Just had this delivered from Amazon UK - who are doing it it half price, incidentally - and it looks like great fun.

I ostensibly bought it for my nine year old son but I'll be having a good read of this too, I'm sure.

[Jeff007]

I just read Thunderball the last story in Volume 1 and I noticed a huge cut. It was showing Petacchi murdering the crew aboard the bomber with cyanide. He was thinking of his easy life to come of freedom and riches and then the next panel is Bond and Leiter in a seaplane spotting the bombs underwater. It goes on to just have Bond wind up in the hospital with no mention of Domino at all.

Is this how it originally appeared in the Daily Express?

[Guy Haines]

I just read Thunderball the last story in Volume 1 and I noticed a huge cut. It was showing Petacchi murdering the crew aboard the bomber with cyanide. He was thinking of his easy life to come of freedom and riches and then the next panel is Bond and Leiter in a seaplane spotting the bombs underwater. It goes on to just have Bond wind up in the hospital with no mention of Domino at all.

Is this how it originally appeared in the Daily Express?

As I understand it the story abruptly terminated in the Daily Express because of a dispute between Ian Fleming and the newspaper's proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook concerning the serialisation rights of "The Living Daylights". It was later "completed", in a fashion, in the way you have described here, with a huge chunk of the story missing, so that it could be serialised in other publications ( from what I've read elsewhere, the story in the Express ended, quite literally, with a panel explaining that Bond went to the Bahamas, joined up with Leiter and found the missing H-bombs - "The End" - which must have completely flummoxed readers at the time.)

Other CBN members may be able to add to this mystery, but that is what I understand to have happened to the Thunderball strip.

[Jeff007]

Interesting. Thank you Guy Haines. Yes that would definitely of confused readers back than as it confused me now.

[Major Tallon]

The story was set out in detail in a couple of sadly now-defunct Bond comic web sites, but Guy Haines is correct. Here's Alan J. Porter, writing in The History of the Illustrated 007:

"Just as 'Thunderball' started to appear in the Daily Express, rival newspaper the Sunday Times approached Ian Fleming asking for his assistance with the launch of a new color magazine. As Fleming often cited the Times as Bond's favorite reading material in the novels, he agreed and gave them permission to print 'The Living Daylights.' Lord Beaverbrook, the publisher of the Express group of papers, who believed he had a first refusal agreement with Fleming on any new Bond stories was furious and ordered that the Bond comic strip be withdrawn, immediately. The result on the 'Thunderball' strip was that the last two thirds of the plot are basically reduced to just a few panels. The central character of Domino never appears and the climactic undersea battle between SPECTRE and the US Marines is shown in a single panel."

I seem to recall reading that, as might well be imagined, Lord Beaverbrook's decision caused McLusky all manner of difficulty, as he tried to come up with something that would bring 'Thunderball' to a conclusion.

As a little sidelight, it was perhaps as a peace offering to Beaverbrook that Fleming had Bond, when flying off to meet Blofeld in Switzerland in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, rather contemptuously discard a copy of the Times and pick up a copy of the Daily Express.

Edited by Major Tallon, 09 November 2010 - 01:42 AM.

[Jeff007]

Ah, thank you Major. Re-reading my copy now.