Friday 24 July 2009

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Modesty Blaise: Lady Killers - Peter O'Donnell


BOOK BLURB:

The dark underworld of espionage and crime is lit up by the fatal charms of the gorgeous Modesty Blaise - high priestess of pulp crime and goddess of cult thrillers! Adventurer, spy, smuggler, racketeer and all-round bad girl, Modesty is as stylish as she is smart, as lethal and beautiful as a Japanese fighting sword! This latest volume features three classic hard-to-find stories: "Dossier on Pluto", "The Lady Killers" & "Garvin's Travels"...all wrapped up in a spectacular collector's library edition! Featuring new story introductions by creator Peter O'Donnell, plus an exclusive feature on the never-before-seen Scottish Modesty strips - this latest addition to the Modesty Blaise library is not to be missed!


REVIEW:

When Bond exploded upon the big screen way back in 1962, the world fell in love with the secret service and a plethora of copycat characters hit the screen from Our man Flint through to The Men from Uncle. Yet they also appeared in books as well as graphic novels. One of the most popular was Modesty Blaise who ran in the newspapers from 1962 through to 2001 with this offering coming from the middle period of the Eighties.

Accompanied in her adventures by her Willie Garvin a former soldier, this series of adventures really will keep the most action packed fans glued as they fight, bite and claw their way through in order to reach their objective. Modern readers may find it reminiscent of Ennis’ Bloody Mary yet there’s something not only charming but also pretty gripping that makes this something that really should be read and enjoyed by the modern audience. Add to the mix the classic black and white artwork along with plenty of plot twists and you can see how this character survived so long. Cracking good fun although adult themes do appear in this volume including nudity.

3 comments:

ediFanoB said...

What a surprise! Modesty Blaise graphic novel. I devoured the adventures of Modesty Blaise and Will Garvin more than 30 years ago. I was young and she was a tough, good-looking woman....

Suzanne McLeod said...

I also devoured the adventures of Modesty Blaise [some years ago *g*] I loved her, and think she's one of the original kick-ass heroines. I keep meaning to buy and read all the books again [time *sigh*] Thanks for the review Gareth, I'll look out for this :-)
Suzanne xx

Michelle Muto said...

Sounds like fun!