Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set-Up by Peter O'Donnell and Jim Holdaway
01/10/2004 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Titan Books, UK. 110 page softcover. Price: £10.99 (UK), $16.95 (US). ISBN: 1-84023-658-2. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.titanbooks.com and www.modestyblaise.greboguru.org
This seems to be the month to cover all things Modesty, so one shouldn't forget the recently released reprints of the Modesty Blaise newspaper strips by Titan Books.
Although the front covers don't have quite the colourful covers that Titan ran in the 1980s editions, those books are out of print and if you want to discover the archetypal heroine and trusty aide, Willie Garvin, then this is a good place to start.
'The Gabriel Set-Up' is the cover title but this first book covers 3 Modesty stories together with an origin strip. What is also significant is that this volume also contains the first part of an interview with creator Peter O'Donnell, with a lot of early sketches by the late Jim Holdaway, going into some depth on the influences that played a part in her development.
So who is Modesty Blaise? An orphaned refugee who grows mostly alone before joining a crime gang in Tangier and becoming its boss when its leader is killed. For several years, Modesty runs the Network, a slightly moral criminal group avoiding protection, drugs and prostitution before she and her second-in-command, Willie Garvin, retire to England. Retirement quickly bores them but when Sir Gerald Tarrant of MI6 asks them to help on a problem, they find new meaning for their lives and many adventures which are spread not only over the newspaper strips but several novels and anthologies.
Modesty Blaise is probably the only keen rival to the James Bond from that period of the 60s with an immense cult following.
As I'm likely to b reviewing more of these books as they come available, I'll spread more info as I go.
However, at the price this book costs, it's within the price range of everyone here to at least sample one and get hooked enough to ensure the series continues beyond its 1980s forebear's original 5 book run.
So it's time to say 'ello to the Princess.
GF Willmetts |
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