Campion Bond

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caption=Campion Bond addresses the League
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Campion Bond
publisher=Wildstorm/DC Comics
debut="The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I", #1
creators=Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill
alliance_color=background:#cccccc
status=Active
alliances=MI5, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
previous_alliances=
aliases=
relatives=
powers=None|

Campion Bond is a character from the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" comics series by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, appearing in both Volume I and Volume II. A rotund, effeminate MI5 agent, Bond acts as a usually-shadowy intermediary between the League and M.

Unlike almost all of the other (even minor) characters that appear in the comic, Campion is not from period literature. Moore and O'Neill could not find a character that matched the type that they needed (shadowy intelligence intermediary), and so invented one. However, in keeping with the comic theme (and done with several other later "League" characters) they intended him to be the ancestor of a later similar character: James Bond. For copyright reasons the relationship cannot directly be stated, but is implied through Bond's status as an agent of British Intelligence beneath an M, as well as carrying a cigarette case that is inscribed with "007" in Morse code, [Jess Nevins; "Heroes & Monsters: The Unofficial Companion to the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" (paperback, 239 pages, MonkeyBrain, 2003, ISBN 193226504X, Titan Books, 2006, ISBN 1845763165)] along with "Jimmy" carrying the same case in "" and, in the same comment, Mina Murray comparing "Jimmy" to his grandfather, Campion.

Fictional biography

The "Faerie's Fortunes Founded" segment of the "Black Dossier" hints that Campion was a descendant of Sir Basildon Bond, an underling of Sir Jack Wilton, the original M, who in 1558 established Prospero's Men (the original League) for Queen Gloriana I. Prospero, the head of the organization, was the original 007. The illustrations accompanying the text show Sir Basildon to resemble Campion.

Chronologically, Bond's first appearance is in the cover for Vol. 1, Issue 2, where he is shown in a picture from 1888 wearing a Skull and Bones cap. The flashback at the start of Vol. 1, Issue 5, established that he was hired by MI5 out of university, and that he was working for Professor Moriarty as early as his 1891 duel with Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls. The back of the Vol. 2 collection includes a "moral maze" that indicates Bond leaked state secrets to enemies of MI5 including Fu Manchu. According to Broad Arrow Jack, Bond's family has a bad reputation.

At the start of the series, Bond is the one who dispatches Mina Murray and Captain Nemo to collect the other members of the League, and assigns them their mission to retrieve the stolen Cavorite from Fu Manchu. He later returns it to Moriarty and attempts to convince the League that their mission is over. However, he is absent from the battle between Moriarty and the League and readily accepts Mycroft Holmes's appointment as M at the end of Vol. 1 — Holmes deciding that a treacherous man like him would be more useful alive than hanged.

In Vol. 2, Bond sends the team to investigate the Martian landing at Horsell Common, and at the end, during the battle of London, is the one who authorizes and supervises the deployment of Dr. Moreau's "H-142" hybrid that he sent Murray and Allan Quatermain to gather. He is the one who explains that the hybrid was actually a hybrid biological weapon and that the British government will officially claim that all Martians died of the common cold while all remaining Londoners were killed by Martians.

The frontispiece to Vol. 1 states that Campion published his "Memoirs of an English Intelligencer" in 1908. "The New Traveller's Almanac" that was included in the issues and collections of Vol. 2 was described as being a collection of Bond's notes on various League activities that were declassified and published in the 1930s. "" included a segment from Campion's memoirs; although the postcard section stated that he was still in charge of League activities as of their Toyland expedition in 1907. By the time his memoirs were published in 1908, he had been demoted and assigned to a desk job in MI5's files department.

According to Ian Fleming's novels James Bond was born in 1917 ("Moonraker") or 1924 ("You Only Live Twice"), and his father was Andrew Bond of Glencoe, Scotland. Presumably, in the world of the "League", Campion was Andrew's father, and sired him sometime prior to the publishing of his memoirs in order for him to have been old enough to father James. The character "Jimmy" who appeared in "Black Dossier", working for MI5 and carrying Campion's 007 case is James Bond. [ [http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/League/loeg0025.html The League of Leagues] ] Along with the 1930s publication of his memoirs, this would imply that Campion died or retired by 1958 (the year the frame story of "Black Dossier" takes place).

Media appearances

Bond was originally intended to play a major role in the "League" film; however, a later rewrite giving more time to Moriarty reduced his appearance to a cameo at the end, before another rewrite eliminated it altogether with the intention of him playing a major role in the (never produced) sequel. Early unsubstantiated rumors placed Jason Isaacs or Robbie Coltrane in the role; later (apparently firmer) rumors, when the part was still reduced to an ending cameo, had it planned to be given to former Bond actor Roger Moore (Moore's predecessor as Bond, Sean Connery, starred in the film as Quatermain). [ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0311429/trivia IMDb Trivia for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen] ] As late as April 2003, three months before the release of the film, the movie producers still were promising that Bond would be in the film. [ [http://movies.ign.com/articles/387/387046p1.html "LXG" Tidbits] ] He still appears at the end of the film's novelization.

References