For once the cover copy is correct: Modesty Blaise really is a female James Bond (Ian Fleming's Bond, not the movie version), albeit with a bit more wit and less of a lone wolf. ( )

For once the cover copy is correct: Modesty Blaise really is a female James Bond (Ian Fleming's Bond, not the movie version), albeit with a bit more wit and less of a lone wolf. ( )

Neat! It wasn't intended to set up a series - just one story. And very interesting, having just read the strips, seeing the different presentations - different choices about what to detail and what to skim over. Loved the description of Modesty's penthouse, for instance - more detailed than any comic strip could have gotten. Huh, it just occurred to me - of course, this was supposed to be a script. He was setting the scene as well as presenting the characters. ( )

These two excellent adventures, "Top Traitor" and "The Vikings", show Modesty and Willie's willingness to put themselves in danger for others, whether an old and dear friend (Gerald Tarrant is kidnaped and framed by the opposition) or somebody they've taken a liking to after five minutes (Margrete Nilsen in "The Vikings"). The artwork is by the splendid Jim Holdaway. The only quibbles are that the artwork is reproduced rather too small for the fineness of Holdaway's lines, although the reproduction is crisp - and in these early stories, O'Donnell's light touch is not quite developed yet, and Modesty especially is sometimes a bit of a sobersides. ( )

Modesty Blaise is the perfect woman. That is if the perfect woman is a different sort of beautiful, witty, funny, sophisticated, terrifyingly focused and a lethal killer without commitments.

If you like your superheroes or thrillers to be up close and personal, you need to read O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise. There are gadgets, guns, and impossible missions, not to mention hand to hand combat poetry.

In this book, Tarrant, of the British Secret Service, has a problem. He wants Modesty's help, but really has no leverage, except to play on how much she cares about Willie Garvin. The reasons why are revealed.

He does so, and they go into action. A very dangerous situation, and they must be captured by a ruthless man named Gabriel, to stop a diamond operation.

http://superprose.blogspot.com/2006/1... ( )