Ian Fleming loved his acronyms almost as much as he liked giving characters names comprised of one letter. Oh and casual racism. The first criminal organisation to give James Bond a headache in the books was SMERSH, which stood for Spetsyalnye MEtody Razoblacheniya SHpyonov (or Special Methods of Spy Detection for the non-Russian speakers). As the Cold War looked to be fizzling out Fleming switched gears and swapped SMERSH out instead for SPECTRE, whose title is even more grand, and just as befitting: SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. That's a pretty heady mix of dodgy enterprises they've got going on there. SPECTRE was always supposed to be very separate from SMERSH, and the Soviet group never appeared in the on-screen incarnation of 007's adventures. No, SPECTRE were a different beast altogether. Where SMERSH were immersed in the rigours of the Cold War, making for a viable enemy as Bond was sent on espionage missions to maintain order in the West, SPECTRE were designed to be thoroughly apolitical. Thus their targets and methods are very different. They indulge in a little counter-intelligence, to be sure, but they're driven more by personal vendettas and, of course, making lots of money. What a very modern bunch of supervillains.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
