Velvet Volume 1: Before the Living End
It’s fine. Just nothing special.
A vintage spy story, set in 1973 but in James Bond’s Europe, so definitely not the disco era. There’s a spy organization known as ARC-7 that only a graphic in the corner of one of the cover pages tells us stands for the Allied Reconnaissance Commission. So sort of like the Five Eyes? I don’t know. Their headquarters is in London. James Bond again.
One of the ARC-7 superspies is gunned down in the streets of Paris, which sets off alarms back at HQ. It seems they have a mole. The chief suspect is one Victoria Templeton, a mid-40s beauty with a shock of white hair who works as the personal secretary of the Director. Ms. Templeton is, however, a lot more than a secretary, being a super-spy herself. And now she’s on the run.
Exotic settings. Luxury acccomodations. Gunfights. Martial arts. Car chases. Victoria in lingerie and swimsuits. Like I say, it’s fine. But really generic and just not that interesting. Maybe the next volume will throw in some change-ups, because that’s what I think it really needs.
Alex Good 
Does sound Bond/Bourne – ish. But if you like that kind of stuff thats not a bad thing if it’s well done.
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Yeah, and it’s OK. Guess I was just looking for a bit more.
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For your sake, I hope the next volume is more interesting. Or do you think the story writers here are just going cliched on purpose because its easier?
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I think there are three volumes total. I just read volume 2 and I enjoyed it more. Even though I can’t say it was much different. Maybe I was just getting into it.
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