Modesty Blaise
| Modesty Blaise | |
|---|---|
Cover of the first US printing of the Modesty Blaise novel
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| Author(s) |
Artists: Jim Holdaway Enrique Badia Romero John M. Burns Patrick Wright Neville Colvin Dan Spiegle Dick Giordano |
| Current status / schedule | Finished |
| Launch date | 13 May 1963 |
| End date | 7 July 2002 |
Modesty Blaise is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talents and a criminal past, and her trusty sidekick Willie Garvin. It was adapted into films in 1966, 1982, and 2003, and from 1965 onwards eleven novels and two short story collections were written.
In 1945, a nameless girl escapes from a displaced person (DP) camp in Kalyros, Greece. She remembers nothing from her short past and wanders through post-World War II Mediterranean, the Middle East, and regions of North Africa, where she learns to survive the hard way. She befriends Lob, another wandering refugee who is a Jewish Hungarian scholar from Budapest. He gives her an education and a first name: Modesty. Sometime later Modesty creates her last name, Blaise, after Merlin's tutor from the Arthurian legends. When Lob dies is unclear, other than it being prior to her going to Tangier. In 'The Xanadu Tailisman' it is mentioned that Modesty has left Lob at a village to recover from a wound; she goes alone to sell a car tyre. In 1953 she takes control of a criminal gang in Tangier from Henri Louche and expands it into an international organization called the Network.
During the years that she runs the Network she meets Willie Garvin. Despite his desperate lifestyle, she sees his potential and offers him a job. Inspired by her belief in him, he pulls through as her right-hand man in the Network and becomes Modesty's most trusted friend. Theirs is a strictly platonic relationship, based on mutual respect and shared interests. He always calls her "Princess", a form of address only he is allowed to use. Other members of the Network call Modesty "Mam'selle" (as in the French term "Mademoiselle" or "Miss"). Though their relationship has no sexual element, it is Modesty's various lovers who feel jealous of Garvin, rather than the other way around – as he is the only man who remains part of her life, while lovers come and go. By the same token, some of Willie's girlfriends are initially jealous of Modesty, before in some cases – such as Lady Janet – coming to understand how the dynamic between them works.
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