James Bond's Greatest Ally Got His First Solo Mission In Comic Books

As long as there has been James Bond, there has been Felix Leiter. The character was introduced in the very first Bond novel, "Casino Royale," all the way back in 1953, and was initially written as a CIA agent and former U.S. Marine who allies with Bond while working with NATO's Joint Intelligence Staff. Leiter was a way for the author to dramatize the so-called "special relationship" between the UK and US, though 007 himself was always the dominant agent.

When Bond transitioned to the big screen with 1962's "Dr. No," Leiter came with him. Jack Lord played the character in Bond's first big screen outing, but would be replaced by Cec Linder when the character returned in 1964's "Goldfinger." Still, Leiter remained a part of the 007 movie franchise throughout its six-decade run, with seven actors portraying the character across that time. Most recently, Jeffrey Wright took on the role in the Daniel Craig films, beginning with 2006's "Casino Royale" and ending with "No Time to Die."

Now that Amazon has subsumed the Bond franchise we're sure to see much more 007 media in the near future and a Felix Leiter series seems like a likely part of it. But if that does happen it wouldn't be the first time the character had his own solo outing, which actually occurred in the pages of a short-lived comic book mini series.

Now that Jeffrey Bezos has his hands on the James Bond IP, fans of the series await what will surely be multiple Bond spinoffs to come in the wake of the Amazon deal. We'll have to wait to see whether Felix Leiter forms part of whatever "cinematic universe" the company churns out, but those looking for a solo Leiter adventure can find it in a comic book from 2017. 

"Felix Leiter" was a comic book mini-series from Dynamite comics, publisher of James Bond comics since 2014. The series, by writer James Robinson and illustrator Aaron Campbell, was a spin-off from the main Bond comics, and saw Leiter embark on his own missions entirely separate from his MI6 counterpart. This was the very first time the character had ever been given his own series, whether on-screen or otherwise, and followed Leiter as he left the CIA and embarked on a career as a private detective.

The "Felix Leiter" run was published from January to June 2017 but it seems Robinson initially had plans for a miniseries trilogy. In a 2016 interview with Bleeding Cool, the writer said:

"Do I think Felix has room to grow and be a popular character in his own right? Absolutely. In fact I have a trilogy of ideas for him, that I'd love to do if sales of this first series permit it. As for a movie? Sure, why not. He'd be great in a solo story."

Alas, that trilogy never materialized, suggesting the "Felix Leiter" miniseries wasn't quite the hit Robinson and Dynamite were hoping for.

The "Felix Leiter" miniseries played out over six issues and saw the title character depicted as a somewhat beleaguered former spy, who left the CIA to work as a private detective after losing his arm and leg in a shark attack. This aspect of the character is taken directly from Ian Fleming, who in his second Bond novel, "Live and Let Die," had Leiter maimed after being fed to a great white shark by villain Mr. Big. This story beat was used for the 1989 film "Licence to Kill," in which David Hedison's Leiter is lowered into a tank containing a great white by drug lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) — a grizzly moment that had Bond producers locked in a battle with British censors. In the film, Timothy Dalton's Bond rescues a maimed Leiter who is later shown recuperating in hospital.

James Robinson's comic book miniseries features a post-shark attack Leiter who has had his arm and leg replaced by cybernetic alternatives. The story sees him travel to Tokyo where he searches for Russian Special Forces soldier and former ally Alena Davoff. While there, however, he uncovers a global threat which he must thwart with the help of Japanese spymaster Tiger Tanaka, who first appeared in Ian Fleming's 1964 novel "You Only Live Twice" and was played in the 1967 film adaptation by Tetsurō Tamba.

Other elements from Bond history made their way into the comic, too. Aaron Campbell seemed to base his depiction of Leiter on Fleming's "Casino Royale" in which the author describes him as sporting "a mop of straw-coloured hair" which "lent his face a boyish look which closer examination contradicted." It's a nice touch but ultimately the miniseries failed to make a big enough impact to allow Robinson to continue his planned trilogy. On Comic Book Roundup, "Felix Leiter" has a 6.5 critic rating, with reviewers generally praising the series as a solid enough outing but criticizing the lack of character development and the fact that James Bond himself has to show up to make things interesting and help the series along. Whether Jeffrey Bezos will have better luck remains to be seen.