princess

December 15, 2008 6:33 PM

Modesty Blaise has been my childhood heroine, ever since I was old enough to read the daily strip in the comics section of the newspaper. As she and Willie Garvin swashbuckled their way through adventures, she was a role model unlike any other woman I'd known. Books and movies about her were popular in my youth. Now, decades later, the entire series is being offered in print, as a series of graphic novels each containing three full stories using the original artworks accompanied by the author Peter O'Donnell's commentary and thoughts, including 'censored' strips like one in issue #12 . He was also the creator of my other favourite comic, Garth.
posted by infini (14 comments total)

ooohh...as a young man on leave from my army assignment in germany, circa 1967, i visited london....then at the height of beatle/mod/carnaby street craze. i happened to see the movie "modesty blaise" during that trip. loved every minute of it, of course. perhps it's time to rent it and see if it holds up....
posted by billybobtoo at 6:53 PM on December 15, 2008

Modesty Blasé

[Just kidding, this is awesome]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:23 PM on December 15, 2008

whoo hoo! My introduction to Modesty was by way of "The Impossible Virgin" (with a truly horrible cover), and I've been hooked ever since. I managed to track down all the comic books (a helluva task for a kid in upstate NY) but this new series looks fantastic!.

Thanks so much for passing this along.
posted by dolface at 8:29 PM on December 15, 2008

Modesty Blaise, the movie, is a high camp, ultra 60s treasure. It beats Danger! Diabolik, hands down. Dirk Bograde has his most deliciously evil and the charming Ms. Vitti, playing every line like a Mae West stinger. It's such fabulous nonsense.

The books, which the boyfriend gave me, are far more serious and more James-Bond-In-A-Miniskirt-And-Less-Morals, but still very entertaining.
posted by The Whelk at 8:39 PM on December 15, 2008

From the description of Garth (who was of course magnificent in Wayne's World):

He later became a captain in the Navy and when his boat was torpedoed he was shipwrecked in Tibet (which has no natural coastline as far as I know!)

I realize these writers pulled these storylines out of some orifice or other, but really, how hard would it have been to just look at a globe?
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:54 PM on December 15, 2008

dolface: the Impossible Virgin was my first book too!
posted by infini at 11:23 PM on December 15, 2008

Mr.Encyclopedia
this is a derail but do you know you are exactly the user number before mine and we joined metafilter on the same day?
posted by infini at 4:56 AM on December 16, 2008

Modesty Blaise is a fascinating, stereotype-busting character. It's always astonishing to me to comtemplate the creation of a tough, morally ambiguous Arabic woman main character in the time when Amos and Andy was still on TV. It's further proof to me that while shittiness is of its time, greatness stays constant.

Also she is hot, which I can say because she is a cartoon.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:23 AM on December 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

The Modesty Blaise theme song has always been my favorite. Modesty.....Modesty.....
posted by doctorschlock at 9:00 AM on December 16, 2008

“Also she is hot, which I can say because she is a cartoon.”

So...can we posit having sex with her or is she going to show up in the thread?
posted by Smedleyman at 9:54 AM on December 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

I immediately thought of this. I was living in LA at the time this Sparks tune was released after originally being composed for a Modesty Blaise TV series that never materialized.

Thanks for the post.
posted by spacely_sprocket at 10:58 AM on December 16, 2008

*sniffs*

She would never be seen dead in an outfit like that
posted by infini at 11:27 AM on December 16, 2008

Hey - so if I wanted to get into Modesty Blaise, where's better to start? The comics or the novels?
posted by laumry at 5:59 AM on December 17, 2008

comics, everything else is a derivative
posted by infini at 6:42 AM on December 17, 2008