My Weekly Book

Often the introductions to these Titan reprints of complete stories from the long-running Modesty Blaise cartoon strip are among the most interesting bits of the book. That is because the author, Peter O’Donnell generally writes a bit about how he came to dream up the story, about his relationship with artists or publishers or a little about the craft of creating a comic strip.

This is all great stuff - and so it comes to pass that we also learn fascinating trivia, including the fact that the title story in this volume was written as an excuse to get the eponymous heroine into mediaeval garb. We also get a glimpse of a typed panel by panel script and (reluctantly, on the author’s part) the rough sketch that accompanies it to give Romero a starting point.

It’s fair to say that the theme of this volume is escapism. In The Green-Eyed Monster, the first story to appear, Modesty has the pleasure of hurling a spoiled, drunk and very rude young woman into a South American swimming pool, something I’m sure that all of us have longed to do at some point in our lives. Then the silly girl, daughter of the British envoy, gets herself snatched - and it’s action stations to retrieve her and avert a political crisis for an old friend of Modesty’s. Who else but Willie Garvin would accept the mission of teaching her manners?

Death of a Jester sees Modesty and Willie in a chance encounter with two witnesses to an unusual death - a man in a mediaeval jester’s costume fatally mauled by two lions in the grounds of a stately home. Determined to investigate, they find an unexpected link to Sir Gerald Tarrant which has them infiltrating the castle only to find themselves caught up in the dangerous time-travelling fantasies of its owner, and something even more sinister besides.

The final story, The Stone Age Caper, sees our heroes transported to the depths of the Australian outback after cutting across a business transaction being carried out by their old friend Mr Wu Smith - alongside a particularly ruthless bunch of associates. It’s notable for containing a very brief glimpse of Modesty with no top on, while disguised as an Aborigine - something that sent the Evening Standard subs’ bench into a tizzy at the time, but which seems somehow less exploitative now than all these endless pictures so beloved of Romero of her falling out of negligeés and failing ever to do up more than two or three blouse buttons.

Another great collection and a good read - especially for those moments when all you really want is to get away from it all…

This is an important volume in Titan’s Modesty Blaise series, and for a sad reason. Almost exactly half-way through artist Jim Holdaway, who had been responsible for originally creating the visuals for Modesty and Willie as we know them, died suddenly. The introduction to this volume contains a tribute to him from Peter O’Donnell and an explanation of how his replacement, the Catalan artist Enrique Badia Romero, came to take over.

You can spot the handover quite clearly, even without the help of the reprints of Holdaway’s very last in-progress panels in the introduction to guide you. Romero’s Modesty is quite a different creature in the details, far softer in appearance (and with a marked tendency to do up fewer buttons too, although it must be said that nudity is something that has never concerned her overmuch).

So what happens in the strips? In Takeover, the first story, Modesty is subjected over lunch to the doubtful charms of Inspector Brook of the Yard, in search of a favour. She turns him down - but the situation he’s concerned about is soon forced on her attention when she watches a heroic bank security guard mown down during a robbery at the behest of the mafia. She and Willie attempt to take the new crime bosses on - but have they finally bitten off more than they can chew?

From his writing it might be possible to surmise that Peter O’Donnell has a keen interest in the realm of the psychic. And The Warlords of Phoenix is another one of those stories, like Sabre Tooth, that makes you wonder for a moment whether he doesn’t have a few abilities in that direction himself. This time, instead of predicting the invasion of Kuwait, he’s foretold a Japanese millennialist cult convinced they need to prepare for the end of the world. To be fair, they’re not actually trying to cause Armageddon, in the manner of Aum Shinrikyo in 1995, but they’re after the skills of Willie and Modesty to help them train warriors for post-apocalyptic domination. And, until the balloon goes up, they’ve got a hostage to make our heroes play ball.

And here’s a little bit from the book’s introduction:

While this story was running I went off to a little place I had on the Mediterranean at that time, where I often used to go to get started on a book. While there, I had a phone call from The Standard and was told a new group of Japanese terrorists had carried out an airport massacre of the kind one might have expected from my War-Lords of Phoenix. How had I known that such a group existed? I was asked. Of course I hadn’t known. It was just another of those weird coincidences. But I told The Standard I couldn’t reveal my source (if somebody thinks you’re smart, why disillusion them?)

Willie the Djinn is considerably more lighthearted and must have been conceived to let new artist Romero find his métier after the sudden death of Jim Holdaway. And, as Romero’s métier is undoubtedly drawing girls in short skirts, it won’t take a genius to work out what this story’s about. It features a friendly sheik who has sent his harem to secretarial school - how convenient that another should just wander along. Willie should be in his element in this tale - what a pity he’s having to spend his nights playing babysitter instead of enjoying the company…

As well as being an important volume for fans, it’s also an enjoyable one. The first story sees Modesty and Willie being comprehensively out-thought which, as O’Donnell also points out in the introduction, is good for them from time to time. The second story’s dark tone is nicely set off by the more light-hearted third. Another enjoyable and, frankly, rather relaxing read.