On the occasion of the release of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, back on the original comics, Kingsman: Secret Service. Released in 2012, this comic is written by Mark Millar (Old Man Logan, Civil War), co-written by director Matthew Vaughn and drawn by Dave Gibbons (Watchmen).
The particular creation of this project
In 2012, Daniel Craig parachuted with the Queen of England for the opening of the Olympics. Thisastonishing staging inspires Matthew Vaughn. In his mind emerges an idea: to take over the class of James Bond, but to create a universe totally what the fuck. During the filming of Kick-Ass, director Matthew Vaughn talked to consultant Mark Millar about the idea. By imagining the youth of James Bond, thanks to the excellent Casino Royal, the two artists want to stage a bad boy character, a little scum, who will leave his universe to become a spy. Matthew Vaughn seeks to oppose two worlds: the street and the aristocrats. Mark Millar wants to combine James Bond and My Fair Lady. Dave Gibbons joins the adventure for drawing. Matthew Vaughn worked simultaneously on the script of the first film, making Kingsman: Secret Service a unique work, worked on two supports at the same time.
Some differences between the two stories
The script of the film makes some changes compared to the comics. The opening scene, where Mark Hamill played a prominent doctor, is different in the comics. On paper, Mark Hamill plays himself, and dies in a funny situation. The tone is set. Kingsman is going to be a kind of clever parody of James Bond. The characters are puppets, possibly cannon fodder. The situations are absurd, easy, funny and ironic. Other celebrities appear, like Elton John in the second opus.
The story remains much the same. Eggsy becomes Gary, but his condition is the same. He lives in low-rent housing in a London district. However, the character of Colin Firth is the direct uncle of the young man in the comics. The villain is not black, but he is an intelligent young teenager, whose second in command is a black man wearing prosthetics instead of legs. Matthew Vaughn preferred to give the role of villain to Samuel L Jackson, and his second will be a woman played by Sofia Boutella. The huge fake sequence shot of the church does not appear in the comics, replaced by a wedding scene where people go to kill each other in the same way. The secondary characters do not appear in the comics or are very little highlighted.
A comic book on the big screen
Finally, Kingsman the movie, is definitely a comic book on the big screen. But why two different stories? Perhaps so that this story is more sanitized for the big screen. For autan,t the film remains very faithful to the tone of the comics. The humour and violence remain the same. Surprisingly, the feature film seems more accomplished than the comics. The characters have more thickness, the situations are better set up, the action scenes are just as gory as on paper. Finally, the story is more complete in the film, unlike many comic book adaptations. Kingsman: Secret Service turned out to be a slightly corrosive, cheeky blockbuster in the vein of Kick-Ass.
Oddly, Kingsman: Secret Service is more exciting on the big screen than on paper. But the making of this Mark Millar comic is special, and its concept is absolutely great.
