James Bond to star in new comic book line from local publisher, Dynamite

AFTER NEARLY 20 years, James Bond is returning to comics.

Dynamite Entertainment, of Mount Laurel, N.J., has announced perhaps the biggest deal in its history, landing the worldwide rights to publish comic books, digital comics and graphic novels starring Ian Fleming's Secret Agent 007.

As part of the deal, Dynamite plans to create a series of brand-new adventures about the little-known early years of Bond's career, in addition to bringing back famous villains and a bevy of Bond babes.

"James Bond is one of the greatest cultural icons in the world," Dynamite CEO and publisher Nick Barrucci said in a statement. "The original prose storytelling serves as the basis for one of the most successful film franchises ever, a franchise that reinvents itself to be in tune with each generation. By doing so, it allows the character to be an ever-progressive pop-culture phenomenon, one that energizes existing fans and engages new fans, thus helping to ensure that Bond's relevance and importance will live on forever. The high-octane action, the charm, the unquestionable allure of this man of action - it all stems from Ian Fleming. We are excited to build upon Fleming's source material with new canonical stories, and are honored at Dynamite to be a small part of his legacy, to be able to bring new stories to fans around the world."

Dynamite plans to launch its first James Bond comics in 2015.

CNNMoney reports that its parent company, Turner Broadcasting, whose own parent company is Time Warner, will cut nearly 1,500 full-time jobs from its 14,000-person workforce.

About 300 of those job cuts will come from CNN Worldwide, which will now be covering a bit less of the world's width.

A little less than half of the CNN cuts will come through voluntary buyouts, a source said. The remainder of axed staff will be laid off.

* These jobs don't count as part of the layoffs, but the folks at Southfork Ranch will no longer be cashing paychecks from TNT, which is part of Turner.

The reboot of "Dallas" has been canceled after three seasons.

* In unrelated entertainment business news, the Los Angeles Times reports that since Disney has extended CEO Robert Iger's contract by two years, he could leave in 2018 with a bonus as large as $60 million, if the company meets certain targets.

So, if Disney generates cumulative operating income of more than $78.314 billion over a five-year period ending Sept. 29, 2018 (nearly double the operating income for the five years ending in 2013), Iger will max out his $60 million bonus.

Without that bonus, we're not sure how Iger will be able to put food on the table.

According to salary.com, in the fiscal year ending in 2013, his total compensation was only a tad more than $34 million.

* Creators David Lynch and Mark Frost are returning to "Twin Peaks" and a new continuation of the cult series will air nine episodes on Showtime starting in 2016. Kyle MacLachlan is first to tweet he expects to return.

* TMZ.com reports that "Modern Family" star Sarah Hyland has gotten a restraining order against former boyfriend Matthew Prokop.

Aside from allegedly abusing Sarah (physically and verbally) over four years of dating, Matthew also allegedly threatened to make Sarah's dog disappear.

And not in a magic kind of way.

According to the judge's three-year order, Matthew must:

- Stay 100 yards away from Sarah and her house.

- Not go near her job or workplace.

- Not own or possess a gun or ammunition (dammit, this is America!).

- Stay 100 yards away from Sarah's way-too-cutely-named dog, Barkley Bixby.

- Not attack, threaten or harm the dog in any way.

* Now we know why it's called the cockpit. Pilots watch porn there.

And you thought the door was locked to prevent hijackings.

Since the CBC reported that Air Canada sent out a memo forbidding pilots from bringing adult films with them to work, TMZ.com has learned that the concerned adults at XXX company Brazzers have offered all Air Canada pilots a free membership for as long as they're pilots, as long as they reach out via Twitter, thus giving Brazzers a plug. (No, not that kind of plug!)

Good thing jets have hands-free flying.

* TMZ.com also reported that Nick Hogan just became the first male celebrity to have his naked photos hacked in the iCloud scandal.

The surprising news has led Tattle to ask: Nick Hogan is a celebrity?

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

Phone: 215-854-5678

On Twitter: @DNTattle