Modesty Blaise: The Black Pearl - Softcover

O'Donnell, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1840238429 ISBN 13: 9781840238426

Publisher: Titan Books, 2005

Synopsis

She's beautiful with a bullet! Modesty Blaise the cult creation of best-selling author Peter O'Donnell returns for another searing slice of '60s chic thrills set in a shadowy underworld of espionage and mystery. ancient mystic who once saved her life by retrieving the mysterious Black Pearl. Before her stand marauding bandits, the might of the Himalayas and the power of Red China! the fourth volume in this spectacular Titan series is packed with rare interviews, exclusive story introductions and masses of rare and previously unseen artwork!

About this title

About the Author

Peter O'Donnell has written in many media, but since he created Modesty Blaise, which was first published in 1963, it has achieved international success. There has even been a film and a TV version of the character. Jim Holdaway has held a wide variety of jobs from rubber engraving to shoe advertising but eventually found success working in the comic industry. Among the long list of comics he contributed to were Comic Cuts and Mickey Mouse Weekly.

From Publishers Weekly

In the 1960s, Modesty Blaise was a mod adventuress in the vein of James Bond and the Avengers who fought evil in the comics pages of British newspapers. This oversized volume collects strips from 1966 to 1968, consisting of four separate adventures. The first, "The Black Pearl," sends Modesty and her cockney sidekick, Willie, undercover into Tibet. "The Magnified Man" has them join with French intelligence to find a gold thief, and "The Jericho Caper" pits Blaise against an entire nation of outlaws in Central America. The volume closes with a retelling of "The Most Dangerous Game" entitled "The Killing Ground." The combination of exotic locales, sexy adventurers, Eastern mysticism and high-tech weaponry are hallmarks of the '60s. Holdaway's excellent art also reflects the decade, combining bold black silhouettes with linework that's both elegant and dynamic. His style anticipates '60s comics icon Jim Steranko's art. O'Donnell's fast-moving stories are highly entertaining bits of fluff. The strangest thing about this time capsule is how perfectly it embodies the "mod spy" genre of that era while barely reflecting the real turmoil in the world then (though this isn't a defect—just a bit of irony). This volume also features an interview with O'Donnell and an essay on his parallel career as a romance novelist.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Titan Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1840238429
• ISBN 13: 9781840238426
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 112
• Illustrator: Holdaway Jim