Modesty Blaise - The Killing Distance by Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia Romero
| Modesty Blaise - The Killing Distance by Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia Romero | |
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| Category: Graphic Novels | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: Possibly the best of the recent retro compilations of Modesty's adventures, for the three stories here show the merits of the whole exercise to a gung-ho T. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 104 | Date: May 2015 |
| Publisher: Titan Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781781167120 | |
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Oh, such things just HAPPEN to that pair, Sir. The pair referred to, of course, are Modesty Blaise, sexy femme fatale with a head full of morals and a pair of legs full of kicking power, and Willy Garvin, the only man to call her Princess and get away with it – intelligent, practical and yet equally resilient in a fight with a baddy. The things that happen to them are legion, over many novels and 95 daily newspaper comic strips, and this is one of the better examples of the current collections of the latter. Where else can you get movie stunts going wrong, pregnant women in danger on the high seas, and people escaping from bomb-laden planes, all in a Jolly Hockey Sticks mood that smacks of pastiche and vintage ribaldry, were it not from the heady days of the mid-'90s?
The first story has a returning character, an Italian wide-boy journalist and his floozie girlfriend, and a meeting between them and Modesty and her Willie that smacks of contrivance, especially as the latter are trekking the Silk Road near Samarkand at the time. You can imagine the story didn't go down well originally – too many of the daily strips in the early part of the tale are superfluous, filler, the calm before the storm – but the storm does hit, and even changes tack completely at the 60% mark, to turn into an espionage action thriller. Unfortunately the standard warning in these books that the originals needed for their reproduction may not be in the best condition is warranted, for a few looked out of focus, and three right at the crux of the matter are missing.
Still, for me the appeal of these books is not to reread the tales but to see them for the first time, and come to them new. 'New' is an awkward word to be put against the title piece, for its then-contemporary Spycatcher reference was already dated, but it does have a great story with Modesty blatantly taking her clothes off not once but twice, and matter-of-factly accepting the job of, er, female companion, to the baddy before getting the guns out – as the introduction rightfully says, Modesty and her Willie always try and refrain from killing their foes, and especially all the nameless henchmen involved (although a lot of that was down to it being in a national daily newspaper, and nothing else).
Equally rich – if not downright ripe – is the third story, with a play-off situation between our heroes and a gang of modern Pacific Ocean pirates, with a fine line in slave labour for the sex trade. It's remarkable how regularly the pieces that Modesty's father, Peter O'Donnell, came up with managed to have someone new on whom to heavily load our sympathies, as if we really needed someone to be a cause for the dramatic action the leads always end up giving us. Indeed, there's a bit of arch self-reference here, now and again, with the characters admitting they just draw trouble on themselves.
The real drawing, of course, is once again done by Sr. Romero, and his work is once again engaging and carefully designed. Just three small panels a day, and often quite wordy ones at that, but boy was it a task to never miss a beat and get things continually right. The output of both creators is rightfully being deemed worthy of a sort of retro second life, and the tales in this collection prove it can be a mighty fine vintage indeed.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy. We also have a review of Modesty Blaise - Ripper Jax by Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia Romero.
For a much more modern spin on slightly similar ideas, you might like Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For by Frank Miller.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Modesty Blaise - The Killing Distance by Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia Romero at Amazon.com.
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