Trigger Warning

Jimmy's Bastards #1-5

by Garth Ennis, Russ Braun

Jimmy Regent, Britain's number one super-spy, has got it all: intrigue, adventure, a license to shoot whoever he likes and beautiful women falling at his feet. He also has a new partner who isn't quite as impressed by Jimmy as all other women appear to be. Now, there’s a price to pay for Jimmy's multiple romantic conquests — the results of which are about to come calling in the worst possible way...

From the creator and writer of Preacher and The Boys!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Espionage, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comedy

138 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2018

About the author

Ennis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.

Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.

Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.

Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.

While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.

Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.

After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.

In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.

Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.

In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.

In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to the 21st century Garth Ennis; with this great over the top satire of womanising egomaniac superspy Jimmy Regent (James Bond-ish) who gets the job done and is careful how he behaves and moves in the modern world. He is given a new partner, a Black woman, who unlike all his other partners doesn't want to sleep with him, and who is also very good at her job.

The pair begin to realise that there's something fishy going on relating to them, as their first case together comes to ahead it all kicks off big time. With a Gender Fluid issue, an Idi Amin look-a-like snitch, super villains with outrageous names, explicit sex and more 'C' words than in Cocky Coccoon this is a wonderful dark comedy that also makes a point that the future is now, and that diversity and equality are here for good! Great work by one of the greats :). 8 out of 12, gender fluid Four Stars.

2019 read

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine if there were repercussions from all the Bond girls James has slept with over the years. Now those repercussions have all grown up and are going after the father who spread his seed everywhere without a second thought. Seems like something Ennis would definitely come up with. Some of it is funny, while other parts feel like Ennis going out of his way to offend. The children as villains seemed somewhat underdeveloped. We'll see where this heads in volume 2.

[James DeSantis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy shit this is a pile of something all right.

So what happens when mix James Bond and his adventures with a ton of over the top sex, drugs, racial slurs, and more? Well you get Jimmy's bastards. So Jimmy fucks a lot. He's a unstoppable killing super agent. So then he got a bunch of girls prego and few years later out comes a bunch of his bastards ready to kill him. Perfect little story only Garth Ennis can make up.

Good: So yes, it's fucking insane. So it's entertaining to say the least...For that alone I give it credit and the art is fun.

Bad: It's fucking dumb. Like really really dumb. Satire is supposed to be funny or insightful (Flintstones) this is...neither. This is just using words like Trigger, Safe Space, and more to try and make a point. A lot of the jokes fall flat and some gross scenes do not save this.

Overall this is pretty terrible. I can't give it higher than a 1.5. So I'ma settle on that.

[L. McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, the last book I reviewed was a volume of Berserk and this manages to be more offensive... Good job, Ennis!

What’s it about?
You know how super spies like James Bond have very low standards and how he’ll bang pretty much any female? This super spy (Jimmy) made that mistake but might regret it after his kids that he doesn’t even know hunt him down!

Pros:
The story is a interesting and humorous concept. I really like it, it’s very entertaining.
The art is great! This whole book is very well drawn!
The characters are surprisingly interesting.
There’s a pile of great action! Lots of excitement, they are very well drawn and of course it wouldn’t be an Ennis book without a s***ton of gore!
I laughed a lot while reading this book. The humor is sick, offensive and I was kinda surprised it even got published! That being said, it was also very well thought out.
Speaking of “sick, offensive and I was kinda surprised it even got published” I actually like that about this book. Ennis, we need more authors like you! In a time where people are doing s*** like taking the confederate flag out of books about the American Civil War, complaining if a book doesn’t have a (insert minority here) character or acting like a book promotes violence towards women if anything bad happens to one in a story, it’s awesome seeing some authors, artists and apparently even publishers don’t give a f***! I applaud Ennis, Braun and Aftershock for not caring what captain crybaby thinks, just doing whatever the f*** they want to do!
The ending was a really good way to end the volume.

Cons:
This book is unfortunately predictable. I predicted most of it before I even started reading.
One subplot shows a case of TMI. Don’t get me wrong I still like how politically incorrect and offensive this book is but the “gender fluid” subplot provides some scenes that were a bit disturbing even for me... look at my shelves, that’s saying something.

Overall:
This book is pretty great, I gotta admit! I wasn’t sure if I would love or hate this book, I think I mostly love it. Great action, great art, great humor and zero f***s given! I will definitely read volume 2 just... more suspense, less man boobs please!

4/5

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Russ Braun really tries hard to be the next Steve Dillon, yeah?



And Ennis tries *really* hard to play Garth Ennis til the end...
- A bunch of non-threatening, exaggeratedly-eunicized villains: check.
- A racist, sexist, say-what-I-want-because-no-one-can-beat-me protagonist: check.
- Lots of offhandedly racist, sexist, curmudgeonly-fuck-progressives-and-SJWs asides: check.

Exactly what does Ennis have left to explore, to prove with this schtick anyway? And if he’s done with any new arguments, I’d he just riding out the end of his days ejaculating out the most juvenile versions of whatever passes for “stories” from his imagination?

This kind of sequence surely has lost any freshness or originality:



Might as well go direct to the source and have our characters practicing their martial arts on actual straw men.

All in all a second-rate crap-out of Ennis' worst formula - "satirize" a beloved trope with excess racism, sexism and homophobia and see just how far the readers will let you take them.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

If a James Bond like spy were to stick his dick into every woman in his path, unpotected of course, what would be the results? The title of the books sort of gives that away. An army of children, of children without a father, in other words, bastards.

That is the plot of this very, over the top telling of a swerve, sophisticated, James Bond-like spy called Jimmy Regent. There is a lot of sex, there is a lot of violence, and there is a lot of people shooting, and talking as though they are taking a walk in the park, which is sort of how James Bond works.

If you like Preacher, you might like this. Preacher was very violent, but didn't have this odd humor that Jimmy's Bastards does. And, of course, this is just the first volume, so we don't really know where this is going.

The humor is not to my liking, although they do try to off-set it with a flippant new assistant, Nancy McEwan. Also, the Nazis everywhere seems very odd, since this is supposed to be contemporary.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big Garth Ennis fan, but his humor books can be a bit hit or miss. And this one-joke wonder is a miss. Ha, ha, James Bond is an asshole who has littered the world with a bunch of pissed off illegitimate children who are now out for revenge on dear old dad.

If it weren't for the shocking violence and sexual humor, this could be just another juvenile eight-page Mad magazine parody, and at least it would be over quickly. Unfortunately, this book expects us to come back for a second volume to get a complete story. What a waste of time and resources.

[Marco · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ennis at his absolute worst. What a waste of time.
The only good thing in this series is Braun's art, but he deserves a much better project to work on.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has its moments but it's a little too one track to really get excited about.
Outrageous violence...lots of double entendre's..maybe I've just become spoiled by THE BOYS.
Idk?

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ennis's characters are always entertaining, but sadly this comic isn't his best work. This time around he has created a perfectly British main character whose skill is only matched by his arrogance and confidence. This story explores the clearly exaggerated scenario in which the womanizer has to face an army of his own children who hate his guts. Really, if you're looking for realism, look elsewhere. This comic is for readers who enjoy a lot of violence, but want to do away with the logic of how that violence came to exist.

Jimmy Regent is a skilled MI6 agent who makes 007 look like a pussy. And he gets more pussy too. So much so that he has an army of bastards that want to take him down. Jimmy, helped by his new partner Nancy who is immune to his charm, fights through dozens of enemies while successfully ignoring he fact that they look surprisingly like him. He and Nancy have plenty of time to discuss political correctness, gender equality and 'democracy, parliament, progress' while changing magazines and dishing out head shots.

London degenerates into chaos when the people find themselves of the opposite gender. Men suddenly find themselves without genitalia, with one or two breasts, and women are also flat-chested and sporting penises. What to do, but try them out? Nancy gets captured by Jimmy's bastards, but handles herself surprisingly well. Jimmy faces the remaining sons and daughters who, after being almost completely wiped out, use the thing that triggers a breakdown in him. He retreats to a safe space before Nancy finds him.

[Paul Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jimmy Regent is Britain’s top agent, a suave superspy with a lot of gadgets, a penchant for fine drink, and a gift for seducing the ladies, especially a long line of female partners. Sound familiar? It should. This is Garth Ennis doing for James Bond what he did with superheroes in The Boys. Regent is fairly shallow but not a complete jerk. His latest partner, Nancy McEwan, has no interest in him romantically or otherwise and Regent actually respects that enough not to hit on her.

That said, as the volume opens, Regent is taking on Islamic terrorists bringing down a blimp restaurant and his first action is to shoot one in the genitals.

It’s Garth Ennis. It��s not supposed to be subtle.

As it is, Regent has a new adversary group, and saying who they are would be telling but it does fit in with the general theme of the series. Essentially, this is Ennis doing for Bond what he previously has done many times over for superheroes. Heck, artist Russ Braun has a similar style to the work seen in Ennis’ The Boys.

Overall, the book is pretty funny and Braun's art is fantastic.

[Ivo · Rating 5 out of 5]

„James Bond ist nach dieser Lektüre nicht mehr so wie früher, dafür denkt dieser Comic die Filmvorlage zu passend weiter.“ schreibt die GEEK! in Ihrer aktuellen Ausgabe, und trifft damit den Nagel auf den Kopf. Eine Persiflage auf die Persiflage auf Agentenfilme, derb, versaut und gewalttätig. Was im Original-Bond nur angedeutet wird (und in den politisch korrekten Craig-Filmen immer schwerer zu finden ist) wird in diesem Comic bis an die Grenze des Erträglichen überzeichnet.

Die Menge anzüglicher Kalauer hat meine Englisch-Kenntnisse schwer an seine Grenzen gebracht... aber um wieviel größer ist doch dann die Freude, wenn man einen versauten, doppeldeutigen Witz nach intensivem Nachdenken und Leo-befragen dann doch noch versteht.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems like a fairly minor work from Ennis. Written in the same vein of sarcastic humor as The Boys (and with the same artist), it's essentially a satirical look at a James Bond-like superspy who casually goes about shooting all the bad guys and having women drop at his feet. The latest threat to London is something called "gender fluid," coupled with an army of the children that Jimmy Regent has fathered and left behind in his wake over the years. It seems like a fairly one-off sort of premise, one that doesn't have much future potential past the initial joke. I liked the Russ Braun art, which is clean and detailed, but the story just doesn't seem to have legs.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Jimmy's Bastards, Volume 1" is a Garth Ennis creation with a delightfully insane premise:
James Bond (Jimmy, but come on, it's James Bond) has had countless sexual flings over the years. Unbeknownst to him, there are so many bastard children that they have formed a shadowy army with the explicit purpose of taking Jimmy down.

It's insane, over the top, shocking, and most of all fun. I'm definitely on board for Volume 2.

[Zedsdead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Debonair MI6 superspy James Bond Jimmy Regent is faced with an unprecedented challenge--a criminal organization comprised of the hundreds of vengeful bastards he unknowingly (...really?) fathered.

A mixed bag. James Bond's womanizing gets the business, and that's kind of fun. A villainous genital-swapping scheme makes for a rather amusing sequence. Braun's illustration channels some of the better instincts of The Boys cocreator Darick Robertson.

Aside from that, Ennis phones it in. The jokes are lazy, the Bond villains are uninspired. (What even is Theophilus Trigger's schtick about?? He just yammers random words.)

Ennis-as-Bond does spend an inordinate amount of time assailing progressive language ("Privilege-checking...when you devise an inherently risible term, you render the sentiment behind it easier to dismiss") or using it for punchlines (sees a traumatized man in fetal position "He's been triggered. It looks like he's in his safe space.") Maybe that's the series' raison d'être.

[Alex Sarll]

A scabrous comedy in which James Bond*'s randy past comes back to haunt him when his many, many illegitimate offspring band together for revenge on the father who never knew they existed. While many of his peers go off the boil or exit comics, Garth Ennis seems to have happily settled in to writing books which exist somewhere along an axis between scrupulously researched war stories, and outrageous farce - and you can guess which end this is at. But at the same time, it's fully aware of the problems with the Bond archetype, and does its best to steer clear of them. So Bond's got a new partner here, who's attractive, female, and not interested - something he entirely respects. And throughout, for all the jokes about Q working on microaggressors, or a red mercury-style Macguffin called the gender fluid, or the foe who keeps making doomed attempts to trigger an unflappable Bond by referring to the traumas of his past, there's a keen awareness that most of what's pooh-poohed as political correctness is simple politeness, and anyone who considers themselves a gentleman ought to consider that a bare minimum in their interactions. In other words, it's another Ennis interrogation of masculinity, snuck inside a comedy wrapper. And yet, it never quite squares the circle that if Bond were as decent and respectful as all that, he wouldn't have been having quite so much thoughtlessly unprotected sex, and this whole plot falls apart. Still, it's hardly the first story to have a logical flaw right at its core (ah, Melmoth the Wanderer), and it is bloody funny, not least because Russ Braun draws some of the best reaction faces in the business.

*Yes, obviously he's not called that in the comic, because intellectual property law can be a bore. But I'm damned if I'm keeping up the pretence here.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garth Ennis seems to be on a mission to prove that the current (cancel / woke / whatever you prefer to call it) culture has not softened his edges or made him cower in the face of Twitter mobs. I wish I could say the same for a few other writers I've been a fan of. There's some truly cancelable offenses in this book, but the trick to not being cancelable is to not care and not apologize (and to have unwavering support from your employer/company, as Ennis clearly does here.)

However I'm a bit torn, because while in the past, Ennis's unique and seemingly effortless ability to do outrageous, gross and offensive things in his comics seemed like a natural quirk, it does come off as a bit more of a defensive mission statement (read as "forced"), which almost sort of hurts it.

Still, this (and volume 2, consolidating my reviews to this) did have that classic Ennis feel, and I'm grateful in a way that some writers can still be true to their old selves in this way. And I don't just mean because it was rude and gross and immature. Ennis is a naturally gifted storyteller. He effortlessly takes you along in a story (always helped by great artists to collaborate with, such as the great Russ Braun here) and creates a page-turning, exciting experience in a way where you almost take it for granted. Yet I'm reminded of so many comics I've read even this year that I found confusing, hard to follow, frustrating.

This wasn't close to my favorite Ennis, and perhaps that's due to its length (9 issues.) Ennis can really get cooking on a 60+ issue sort of series, where he can make you really care about the characters and story on top of all the weird, funny, messed up stuff (Preacher, Hit Man and The Boys comes to mind.) This seemed more like a funny idea he had that he wanted to bang out quick, which is OK too. It even managed to be sweet at parts too. And the premise is brilliant. This is more of a 3.5 for me, I didn't love it, but 4 stars just cause it was one of the more fun reads I've had lately.

[Michael J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garth Ennis does for super-spies and James Bond the same service he did for super-heroes in The Boys. Make us laugh! Just as violent and ribald as you would expect. A secret weapon gives the whole population (except for agents Jimmy Regent and Nancy McEwan) a sex change free of charge. Fabulous art by Russ Braun.
With all the women that ended up in bed with James Bond for unprotected sex, wouldn't there be one or two happy accidents? Ennis takes that idea and extrapolates it a hundred-fold for the excessive impulses of agent Jimmy Regent. Which explains the title. Neglected and abandoned, these adult children now seek revenge with hilarious results.
The five issues reprinted here end on a real cliffhanger. I need to read Volume 2.
I couldn't help myself from laughing. Silly fun ahead. (Note of warning: adult situations that may be offensive to some. Plenty of explosive violence as well. The politically incorrect side of me loved it.)

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jimmy Regent is a member of MI^ in the James Bond mold, only more over the top. He is a sure shot, a quick shot, and a shagger of the top water. And that last is what may bring about his downfall when an unknown group targets him for a very strange revenge. Plus there is the distraction of "gender fluid" spread across England that is very distracting. Plenty of action, plenty of suspense, not to mention a bit of nudity that fits the story line. The plot is over the top in a fun way and the cliffhanger ending leaves the reader impatient for more.

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love the tv series Archer, chances are you will love this. An off-colour spoof of the Bond-genre, but the humour is not cheap, even though it makes lots of puns. It is violent at times, but it didnt really bother me. And like any good comic book, it reflects on some of the issues of the day (mansplaining, feminism, equality, gender fluidity...). A fun and entertaining read.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Ennis fun. Humor that is very grim, very black but also silly and stupid. Violence that is plenty and bloody. Plot twists that are very obviously coming but still twisted and a bit surprising. So much to like.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A self-aware comic that doesn't fall for the follies of the genre. Jimmy knows what and who he is, and can brush off all ill-considered criticisms with ease.

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

One day Ennis might write a good parody about SJWs, but this isn't it.

[Václav · Rating 4 out of 5]

(up to 9th issue)
Jimmy's Bastards is a pretty good parody to the James Bond (rather the old ones) movies. It looks that Ennis had this idea about mocking Bond genre and politic correctness altogether and really enjoyed putting it to life. Sadly, it looks like he had all that details and missed the main plot. So when the main plot fully kicks in (5 issue and further), it gets bit dull. And that is the shame because first four issues brought sh*tload of fun.
This is lightweight but clever fun, it is relaxing comics. The only problem is that Ennis is genius of built-ups and weak in a strong main story (especially in finishing it). And because the art is rather mediocre, I can't take this up to my favourite list. But the first four issues are really kick-ass, so try and see, if they can pull you though the rest.

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick flip through of this comic, and I realized it was going to fall on the Ugh side of the Garth Ennis divide, but I decided to read through, anyway, to see if I could find anything appealing apart from Mike Marts art.

In short, no.

The premise: A parody where a playboy James Bond is being targeted by all of his illegitimate children is, at least, original, but the way Ennis writes these characters manages to both seem like he's trying Way Too Hard to be edgy while simultaneously farting out a lazy hack job of a comic. I hope he derives great pleasure from this style of writing (also seen in A Train Called Love and Dicks, Volume 1 because it's an absolute chore to read. It makes me think a lot less of the guy who also wrote The Complete Battlefields, Volume One and The Boys, Volume 1: The Name of the Game, which had their fair shair of crass language and shock humor, but also had likable characters and were entertaining. Apart from giving 1.5" stiffies to any alt-right morons who pick this up, I'm not sure who else will get any enjoyment out of this.

I recommend it to people who really love the trite innuendo and cheap "plots" of low budget 80s flicks, people who rant about Political Correctness run amock, and that's really about it. This book sucks.

[Ashkin Ayub · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'll be straightforward, this felt more like a joke than a real read. on the off chance that you like uber viciousness for savagery, people making consistent references to male or female genitalia or sex, and unlimited jokes about Jimmy being combined with a black person so he can offer 'token' comments, this is your nirvana. for every other person with a large portion of a brain and less interest in the alt far right, maybe track down a superior written piece. ennis has practically composed a piece defending the alt-right transforming the world into the fate of the film Idiocracy.

[Brian Poole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garth Ennis and Russ Braun reunite for the scabrous Bond satire Jimmy’s Bastards. The first arc is available in the Trigger Warning collection.

Jimmy Regency is M-I6’s top agent, debonair and traditional, he defends Queen and country from an array of outlandish threats, with a quip and a smirk. He also has a shockingly long list of women he’s shagged indiscriminately. One woman definitively not interested in him is his young new partner, Nancy McEwan, a sharp, tough agent who may be Jimmy’s ideal field partner. They trade philosophical barbs while tracking down a mysterious threat called The Gender Fluid. And dogging them from the shadows is a secret society with a very crucial connection to Jimmy (no spoilers, but the name of the book is not a coincidence).

Ennis remains one of the more intriguing writers working in the comics field these days. His “no sacred cows” approach to genre deconstruction is on full, riotous display in Jimmy’s Bastards. Ennis gleefully plays with the old Bond/super spy tropes, while taking swipes at any number of modern social institutions. But he also makes Jimmy undeniably compelling, likeable in spite of his many d-bag qualities. The Jimmy/Nancy bond works rather well, especially with the subtext that Nancy’s lack of interest in him makes Jimmy respect her more hovering just below the surface. Ennis uses Jimmy and Nancy’s conversations to tease out some particularly nuanced takes on the place of espionage in the modern world.

The title points you toward the high concept at the heart of the book and it’s a pitch black riff on the classic Bond tropes. Leave it to Ennis to zero in on such provocative upshot of the Bond mythos and build it up into a premise that’s as unsettling as it is hysterically entertaining. On the one hand, a reader might not have much sympathy for Jimmy having to confront the sins of his past. On the other, Jimmy is such an oddly compelling lead, you can’t help but root for him. Especially with the kickass Nancy around being the fiercest warrior on the block.

Russ Braun, working with veteran colorist John Kalisz, has a lot of fun with this material. His pages are sharp and detailed, with lots of imagination on display in character designs, as well as the panoply of high tech gadgetry, plus scenes of mayhem and transgression. Braun gleefully essays some of the darker aspects of this story, with a few images you may just wish you could forget.

And that is the caveat. Ennis and Braun are working in a very “not for kids” vein here (hard to call it “mature,” all things considered). The creative team throws themselves full tilt into the raunch suggested by the concept and pulls no punches, content-wise. It’s not for the easily offended, but if you know this creative team, you know what you should expect going in.

As a creative riff on a well-worn genre, Jimmy’s Bastards is an entertaining romp that sneaks in some trenchant insights around the edges. If you’re okay with the trappings, it’s worth the read.

[Paul Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right from the first glimpse of the hero you see he’s totally meant to be Bond, though on the closeup he reminds me more of Bruce Campbell.
His rescue/assistant is named Olga Trolltunnel, and is even more eye candy—to put it nicely—that any actual Bond girl. His Q is over-the-top Cockney. And his M is definitely nothing like Bond’s boss. Of course he gets a hot new assistant, though she’s not impressed by him or his methods at all. Thankfully she’s got a sly wit and plenty of sarcasm.
Some of my fave moments include the hatchet to the head, which is so old-fashioned and unwieldy it wouldn’t have fit in Dr. No, but whatever works.
Wow, that’s a huge crowd of offspring; looks like they fill a stadium.
This Rupert acts remarkably similar to Ruprecht in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
The Cockblocker is a fantastic name for a supervillain, and if it also describes his power. . .
“That’s the young bugger who rogered my wife!” Surprised this sentence only occurs once.
There’s one of the bad guys who looks so much like him I was not surprised to hear him called Junior. The temper tantrum was something else.
“Radical solution.” Nice.
“Come and get it! See how you like. . . BAM!”
“Cunt-seeking missile.” Wow. Sheer poetry.
She’s the one who does the parachute trick, not him.
Always have a puppy on standby.
This started off slow and weak, but built up steam as it went along. Thankfully it got funny, and a bit philosophical. The story didn’t finish, though.
A few pages of covers gallery.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5

[Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jimmy's Bastards by Garth Ennis is the kind of tongue in cheek, warped vision of cultural icons that Ennis is a master at perverting. Its funny, violent and with just a touch of social consciousness that will make you smirk at every James Bond movie you ever watched.

Jimmy Regent is Britain's super-spy. Even though modern times may have cast a sardonic eye upon Jimmy's misogynistic ways, Jimmy was immune to the critique. He had a license to kill and charm that no woman seemed able to resist. But with a new partner, who seemed bent on resisting Jimmy, there seemed to be a change in the air.

With London under attack, Jimmy must save the day. But what he finds at the root of the intrigue is his own irresponsibility, come home to roost.

There are two words that make up all the reason you need to read this comic. Garth. Ennis. If the popularity of the comic and then TV show; Preacher, have not hooked you yet then obviously you cannot recognize genius when it stares back at you. Garth Ennis is the Abyss, stare into it and let him stare back.

Jimmy's Bastards is for every guy out there whose girl was dumb enough to love Bond. See! See! See what a pathetic ass he really is! Not that this ever helped. But here Jimmy Regent is, getting his comeuppance! Because really, British Super spies do not use condoms!

Jimmy's Bastards is fun, ridiculous and just more than a little bit of pure genius. Don't miss it!

[Rodolfo Santullo · Rating 3 out of 5]

El mismo día que terminé Paper Girls leí un par de cosas por completo al azar, ya sea porque el nombre me llamaba la atención o porque involucraba a algún autor de mi gusto. Tal es el caso de Garth Ennis, escritor escocés que no siempre deslumbra pero nunca aburre. Sus obras se dividen en dos grandes grupos: cuando la rompe y cuando se pone pavo. Esta de hoy cae por completo en la segunda categoría. Una suerte de émulo de James Bond -Jimmy Regent, el mayor super espía al servicio de la Corona- descubre un día que es el centro de una conspiración internacional que en un principio parece involucrar a todos su mayores archienemigos, pero luego se torna íntima y personal. Y cómo cada vez que Ennis navega en el mar pavo la cosa está repleta de chistes sexuales, disparos de armas de fuego a genitales, juegos de palabras, explosiones, algo de regodeo en lo asqueroso y una trama bastante sencilla, que no por eso menos eficaz. Mucho gana con el límpido dibujo de Braun, especialista en narrar prístinamente pero ideal para las expresiones humorísticas que aportan mucho por su parte (me recuerda a un Darrick Robertson especialmente inspirado). Nueve capítulos -que son un poco mucho, sin duda- para esta pasarrato entretenido y completamente olvidable.