It was only after finishing this book by Michael moorcock I realised with absolute certainty that the film Carry On Spying is a prequel to the film No Time To Die. And I use the word absolute with precision here in that I am not sure at all.In this book we follow Jerry Cornell, yes I know, who is an agent of British Intelligence, a living legend who is total undeserving of his reputation. A coward and a bounder, and a rat of the highest order, stumbling from one retreat from danger to another, all the while looking like the great hero he is not. That said he does resemble James Bond more than Ross Abott's Basildon Bond. Bond's motivations being as murky as Jerry Cornell's. To the wider world he might appear, sauve, selfless, heroic and honorable, but he is anything but, to great comic effect as in avoiding danger he generally races towards it.
This is a story that delves into the lost world of British comics, where enemy agents are possibly sending confidential and highly dangerous secrets to their paymasters. It is a plot that felt oddly familiar to me, heavens who why. I think it reminded me of a Johny Quick story I read in an old DC 100 page special. An American comic, to be sure, but the bonkers plot did seem like one I had seen used before. As if that matters, as nothing in spy world could ever resemble the events in The Russian Intelligence. Or possibly never. Never say never, another Spy once said.
I recalled a fantastic book by Pat Mills, a serial killer series "Read 'Em And Weep", set around the world of British comics and the huge cultural net they threw across the UK. I imagine they had a similar effect in America but no matter where you go there you are. So to speak. "The 1970s- A dangerous time time for kids. An even more dangerous for adults." the blurb advised. And it was a real hoot of a book. What else could it be from the brilliant brain of Pat Mills.
I will seek out the first book in the series and hope to discover it is at least as funny as this one.
