Modesty Blaise: "The Girl in the Iron Mask"

[stolisomancer]

The "Modesty Blaise" comic strip ran for almost forty years in British newspapers, but had very little circulation in North America. Even so, it's had a large influence on comics in general; most notably, Chris Claremont has admitted that Storm is in large part inspired by Modesty, which puts her fingerprints all over most of the superheroines in the comic book industry.

After the shout-out to the strip in Secret Avengers #20, I've been rereading some of it, as the strips are currently collected in very sharp-looking volumes from Titan Books. The following strips are from 1991's "The Girl in the Iron Mask," drawn by Romero.


Modesty had, relatively recently, run afoul of a pair of reclusive billionaires. The Bone brothers have a nasty hobby, where they attempt to destroy business rivals and random strangers in an entertaining fashion. They attempted to do this to Modesty's friend John Dall, and she prevented it.

The Bones arrange for Modesty to be abducted by a group of thugs, tranquilized, and put down a hole in the middle of the Swiss Alps. Inspired by The Man in the Iron Mask, they also have their men bolt an iron helmet onto her. The theory, then, is that she'll go slowly mad from isolation and thirst.

There are two problems with their plan. One is that their housekeeper secretly telephones Modesty's closest friend, Willie Garvin, and tells him where Modesty is. The other is that, well, she's Modesty Blaise.

Comments

[greenmask]

Saw a Modesty Blaise paperback in Oxfam Books a while back. Didn't buy it.

Kicking myself.

[freezer]

Freud would have a field day with the Bone Twins, I think.

[btravage]

There is sensory deprivation and then there is sensory deprivation.

[midnightvoyager]

Uh, is Willie actually psychic or...?

[starwolf_oakley]

Phillip Jose Farmer's World Newton Universe theory suggests that Modesty Blaise is the daughter of Tarzan and Queen La of Opar. That could explain a lot, maybe.

[darkknightjrk]

This looks like a lot of fun! I hope we get to see more of her stuff here. :)

[ladyvyola]

Which Titan volume is this? (Other than, dammit, one I don't have -- Oh, disposable income, I miss you!)

There needs to be more Modesty (and Willie) love. They are utterly awesome. And I'm rooting for celeste, who's one of the more interesting bit players I've seen.