SUITS YOU, SIR
Rob Williams and Simon Fraser get suited up for comic Kingsman: The Red Diamond
The Kingsmen get all dressed up for a new comic run.
“It’s like doing Bond with social satire, swearing and dirty jokes.” Neatly summing up the sardonic espionage series’ appeal, Rob Williams admits that following on from creators Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons on Kingsman: The Red Diamond was no easy task.
“I really enjoyed the first Secret Service series and the Kingsman movie was a load of fun, so carrying on Eggsy’s adventures carried a certain weight,” says Williams, who has been paired with his Eleventh Doctor artist Simon Fraser. “Coming from the 2000 AD stable, as we all do, Simon knows his way around a subversive, blackly humorous script, and there’s a lot of that in Kingsman.”
But while the six-parter’s publication (which sees the title move from Marvel to Image) coincides with the release of big-screen sequel The Golden Circle, Williams is strictly adhering to Kingsman’s comic book continuity. “We’ve really steered clear of the new movie,” he insists, confirming that the teenage tearaway-turned-espionage agent is still not entirely in his element.
“The Red Diamond is Eggsy established as a Kingsman agent in his own right, but he’s still very much the boy from Peckham, someone from two worlds who can end up feeling like he belongs to neither. So while we’re enjoying the high action and gadgets, it’s also a strong character piece. It’s very much a class tale – like Trading Places or My Fair Lady. We’re clashing worlds, sometimes emotionally with Eggsy and his mum, sometimes literally, as you’ll see as the story continues.”
The Red Diamond takes its name from the series’ Big Bad, who has a hunchbacked henchman called Ingot along with some nefarious plans concerning the world’s food supply. “The people are starving, and he wants to help them feast," teases Williams. “So eat the rich and all that!”
Kingsman: The Red Diamond is published on 6 September.