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Modesty Blaise Story Strips #21
Live Bait
Modesty Blaise, the cult bad girl and spy created by best-selling author Peter O'Donnell, is back!
Stories from the classic newspaper strip Modesty Blaise are collected here in the latest in Titan's deluxe library series, including Samantha and the Cherub , Milord and Live Bait ! The inimitable tag-team of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin do battle with the darkest elements of the underworld once again, beautifully illustrated by Enric Badia Romero!
With story introductions that take the reader behind the scenes of Modesty's world, this outstanding collection is not to be missed.
Stories from the classic newspaper strip Modesty Blaise are collected here in the latest in Titan's deluxe library series, including Samantha and the Cherub , Milord and Live Bait ! The inimitable tag-team of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin do battle with the darkest elements of the underworld once again, beautifully illustrated by Enric Badia Romero!
With story introductions that take the reader behind the scenes of Modesty's world, this outstanding collection is not to be missed.
104 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2002
About the author
Peter O'Donnell
328 books108 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Peter O'Donnell also wrote as Madeleine Brent.
http://www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html
is an excellent resource on this author.
To help keep the novels and the adventure strip collections separate, here's some info about the Modesty Blaise works.
In 1963, O'Donnell began his 38-year run as writer of the Modesty Blaise adventure story strip, which appeared six days a week in English and Scottish newspapers. He retired the strip in 2001.
Each strip story took 18-20 weeks to complete. Several publishers over the years have attempted to collect these stories in large softcovers. Titan Publishing is currently in the process of bringing them all out in large-format softcover, with 2-3 stories in each books. These are called "graphic novels" in the Goodreads title.
Meanwhile, during those 38 years, O'Donnell also wrote 13 books about Modesty Blaise: 11 novels and 2 short story/novella collections. These stories are not related to the strip stories; they are not novelizations of strip stories. They are entirely new, though the characters and "lives" are the same. These have been labeled "series #0".
There is a large article on Peter O'Donnell on Wikipedia, with a complete bibliography.
Peter O'Donnell also wrote as Madeleine Brent.
http://www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html
is an excellent resource on this author.
To help keep the novels and the adventure strip collections separate, here's some info about the Modesty Blaise works.
In 1963, O'Donnell began his 38-year run as writer of the Modesty Blaise adventure story strip, which appeared six days a week in English and Scottish newspapers. He retired the strip in 2001.
Each strip story took 18-20 weeks to complete. Several publishers over the years have attempted to collect these stories in large softcovers. Titan Publishing is currently in the process of bringing them all out in large-format softcover, with 2-3 stories in each books. These are called "graphic novels" in the Goodreads title.
Meanwhile, during those 38 years, O'Donnell also wrote 13 books about Modesty Blaise: 11 novels and 2 short story/novella collections. These stories are not related to the strip stories; they are not novelizations of strip stories. They are entirely new, though the characters and "lives" are the same. These have been labeled "series #0".
There is a large article on Peter O'Donnell on Wikipedia, with a complete bibliography.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 22, 2020
Having come to the end of my collection of volumes of Titan’s first series of Modesty Blaise reprints, I now turn to the few I have from Manuscript Press. MP published Comics Revue, a magazine that I bought habitually for a number of years. It featured sequential reprints of various comic strips, including Modesty Blaise. Sadly, the production on these books is not as high as on the Titan volumes. They're readable, certainly, but, well, just look at the two strips at the top of page 42. Romero’s art deserves better reproduction than that.
The first story, “Samantha and the Cherub,” starts us during the late 80's run, just into Romero’s second run on the strip. Looking at the list of storylines in the back of the book, it looks as though he left in ‘78, not returning until ‘86. Not sure why. Possibly he just needed a break. Anyway, although it's a completely different decade from the strips I’d been reading previously, Modesty and Willie are in as fine a form as ever. The pair stumble across a kidnapping plot aimed at returning a prominent defector to behind the Iron Curtain, which was still a thing in 1987. The story is notable for me mainly due to the character of Samantha--who is amazing!
“Milord” is set in South America. Modesty and Willie get drawn into another kidnapping plot--clearly they’re in a rut. This one is part of a complicated scheme to restore a reputation, and is played for laughs at first. But then things go wrong involving a remarkable series of coincidences, which I’ll forgive O’Donnell for because the ending is so memorable.
So, guess what crime is the plot driver in the final tale, “Live Bait”? Apparently the late 80's were the Kidnapper Years for Peter O’Donnell. In this story, the kidnappers plan is to use their victim as bait to get their hands on Modesty for some payback. Yeah. It goes about as well for them as you’d expect. We also get some lovely extended flashbacks to the Network days.
I’d almost forgotten how much fun these books are. I should reread them more often. Highly recommended!
The first story, “Samantha and the Cherub,” starts us during the late 80's run, just into Romero’s second run on the strip. Looking at the list of storylines in the back of the book, it looks as though he left in ‘78, not returning until ‘86. Not sure why. Possibly he just needed a break. Anyway, although it's a completely different decade from the strips I’d been reading previously, Modesty and Willie are in as fine a form as ever. The pair stumble across a kidnapping plot aimed at returning a prominent defector to behind the Iron Curtain, which was still a thing in 1987. The story is notable for me mainly due to the character of Samantha--who is amazing!
“Milord” is set in South America. Modesty and Willie get drawn into another kidnapping plot--clearly they’re in a rut. This one is part of a complicated scheme to restore a reputation, and is played for laughs at first. But then things go wrong involving a remarkable series of coincidences, which I’ll forgive O’Donnell for because the ending is so memorable.
So, guess what crime is the plot driver in the final tale, “Live Bait”? Apparently the late 80's were the Kidnapper Years for Peter O’Donnell. In this story, the kidnappers plan is to use their victim as bait to get their hands on Modesty for some payback. Yeah. It goes about as well for them as you’d expect. We also get some lovely extended flashbacks to the Network days.
I’d almost forgotten how much fun these books are. I should reread them more often. Highly recommended!
October 11, 2018
'Samantha and the Cherub' is the classic story of a thick Hell's Angel and his terrifying-but-hilarious little sister. It's unmissable. But 'Milord' sees the whole Modesty and Willie myth reach a new level when they take on the South American snuff movie trade. By the end, Willie thinks it's all over between him and the Princess. This one is absolutely riveting and it shows just how serious 'mere' entertainment can get, while never straying into pretentiousness. Possibly O'Donnell's finest hour.
May 27, 2017
The Modesty Blaise strips are a master class in both the comic form and suspense writing. Three stories are collected in this volume and the stories have a common thread. Modesty and her sidekick Willie Garvin work to rescue kidnapped people lost in London, the jungles of South America and on a tiny Italian island.
Great stuff.
Great stuff.
October 2, 2016
The three stories in this collection demonstrate Modesty and Willie at their best, challenging their opponents and besting them any way they can. To emerge victorious, they must take great risks, using all their cunning expertise when battling great odds.
The title of the collection is from the third story, where a very bad adversary from their past has kidnapped the daughter of one of Modesty’s former female associates. The name of the man is Malik and he demands a ransom to be delivered by Modesty. It is clear that Malik has no real interest in the money, his goal is revenge. This story demonstrates the respect and loyalty that Willie has for Modesty. When she orders him to leave with the girl after Modesty is shot, Willie does not hesitate to navigate the boat to shore. All the while swearing vicious revenge if Modesty is killed.
The second story is one that has the return of the obnoxious Guido Biganzoli, he knocks on the door when Modesty is in the act of enjoying a hot bath. At first she is ready to boot him out of her room, but when he explains that it is a case of trafficking naive young women for the making of sex tapes and an occasional genuine snuff film, Modesty is all in. Outnumbered and outgunned against ruthless killers, Modesty, Willie and Guido best the bad men and free the women sex slaves.
The first story is one that has a light-hearted bent. Samantha is a feisty girl that invites Willie to her martial arts class. When the woman that Willie is driving back to a dinner rendezvous with her husband and Modesty is kidnapped, Willie and Modesty take it very personally. With the aid of Samantha and her gang of kids on bikes, they are able to track the kidnappers down. Samantha is portrayed as a young version of Modesty, a fact that both Modesty and Willie recognize. One of the lightest moments is when Samantha is bossing her biker older brother and he follows her emphatically delivered instructions.
The Modesty Blaise character first appeared in 1963 at a time when women characters were generally expected to scream and faint at the first sign of danger. She was strong, intelligent, powerful and determined, a character that blazed trails for other women characters in fiction. Modesty is also beautiful and sexy, something that she exploits on occasion when she needs the advantage. This is a great book.
The title of the collection is from the third story, where a very bad adversary from their past has kidnapped the daughter of one of Modesty’s former female associates. The name of the man is Malik and he demands a ransom to be delivered by Modesty. It is clear that Malik has no real interest in the money, his goal is revenge. This story demonstrates the respect and loyalty that Willie has for Modesty. When she orders him to leave with the girl after Modesty is shot, Willie does not hesitate to navigate the boat to shore. All the while swearing vicious revenge if Modesty is killed.
The second story is one that has the return of the obnoxious Guido Biganzoli, he knocks on the door when Modesty is in the act of enjoying a hot bath. At first she is ready to boot him out of her room, but when he explains that it is a case of trafficking naive young women for the making of sex tapes and an occasional genuine snuff film, Modesty is all in. Outnumbered and outgunned against ruthless killers, Modesty, Willie and Guido best the bad men and free the women sex slaves.
The first story is one that has a light-hearted bent. Samantha is a feisty girl that invites Willie to her martial arts class. When the woman that Willie is driving back to a dinner rendezvous with her husband and Modesty is kidnapped, Willie and Modesty take it very personally. With the aid of Samantha and her gang of kids on bikes, they are able to track the kidnappers down. Samantha is portrayed as a young version of Modesty, a fact that both Modesty and Willie recognize. One of the lightest moments is when Samantha is bossing her biker older brother and he follows her emphatically delivered instructions.
The Modesty Blaise character first appeared in 1963 at a time when women characters were generally expected to scream and faint at the first sign of danger. She was strong, intelligent, powerful and determined, a character that blazed trails for other women characters in fiction. Modesty is also beautiful and sexy, something that she exploits on occasion when she needs the advantage. This is a great book.
February 23, 2012
Enjoyed it, as usual. PO'D can do no wrong (heh) and I love his sense of humor.
My 1st edition copy has a different cover: shades of green, MB half-face on right edge, author/illus. on bottom left. Hmmm.
My 1st edition copy has a different cover: shades of green, MB half-face on right edge, author/illus. on bottom left. Hmmm.
January 11, 2013
Three stories from 1987-88. Blaise is a former crook now involved in vaguely-defined activities involving crimes of various sorts, but on the side of the angels now. Not bad, and less cheesecake than the Blaise reputation would suggest, but still an odd sort of hypocrisy about it. Mediocre.
September 25, 2015
Kidnapping in London and a cool judo kid. The complex ethics of paying ransom in Venice. And (possibly the most disturbing MB tale yet) snuff films in South America. Still, as superlative as ever.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews