EXTRACTS: The Modesty Blaise Companion Expanded Edition © 2018 The Book Palace (425 PAGES in Full edition)

T H E M O D E S T Y B L A I S E C O M P A N I O N I I 392 VAUBOIS, Léon/René Head of Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire, the French Deuxième Bureau. Friend, colleague and more or less the French equivalent of Sir Gerald Tarrant. Files were kept on both men in the days of The Network and he was assessed by Modesty to be in a class of his own in his profession. This was at the same level as Tarrant, the only real difference between them being that Vaubois worked logically, Tarrant instinctively. Each has powers the other cannot match but overall the results come out about the same.Tarrant believes the difference between them is that he, Tarrant, is a realist, while Vaubois is a romantic and whileTarrant will, however reluctantly, nevertheless put Modesty into danger, Vaubois never would nor could. Happily married with a grown up daughter now in her mid- twenties. Likes to feed the pigeons on his windowsill. An important crossover character. “MODESTY BLAISE” P 74 Agrees with Sir Gerald Tarrant on the assignment of their joint agent, Paul Hagan, to Modesty for the Sheik Abu-Tahir diamond watching operation. Also provides Tarrant with direct liaison to Inspector Durand of the police in Cannes, which is useful for them both when Modesty, Willie and Paul start providing them with various prisoners and dead bodies. His department is unable to obtain any useful information from the code book they took from Pacco’s which they assumed was used for messages to Gabriel. “SABRE TOOTH” P 56 Is having a bad time with spies in his own department. Has recently discovered that two of his men have been passing information to the O. A. S. Keeping tabs on Es-Sabah Solon and advises Sir Gerald Tarrant of Solon’s visit to the Chinese Embassy in Beirut. Some thirty six hours after the event he is advised by Tarrant how to recover the Watteau painting Modesty and Willie have stolen from a provincial French museum. Realises something big is going on and assists by ensuring the recovery of the painting receives maximum publicity. Is sent a packet of Swoop by Tarrant to feed to his pigeons as a token of thanks. He has never met Modesty in person and expresses the wish that he would like to do so, if Tarrant does not get her killed first. Drawn by Neville Colvin VAN RUTTE “COBRA TRAP” P 40 “BELLMAN” Mercenary soldier and one of the three man team hired by Bellman to hunt down and kill Modesty and Willie in revenge for them having put him out of business. Paid five thousand pounds and expenses for the job with a bonus of a further five thousand pounds for each kill. Has his attention drawn to a small parachute and is hit in the solar plexus by a stone the size of a tomato from Willie’s sling. Ends up handcuffed between his associates Crighton and Brightstar. In the strip story “The Killing Ground” written in 1968 the character is called Dempster. VARGEL “MODESTY BLAISE” P 204 One of Gabriel’s men on Kalithos. Ordered to lead a search party when Modesty and Willie break out with the diamonds. It is not specifically stated but it is very likely he is one of the casualties when Modesty and Willie are trapped between his group and Rudson’s group. VARILLA “LAST DAY IN LIMBO” P 183 Rich South American property owning family. When a group of Indians managed to hack a small communal farm out of the jungle and establish it for themselves, the family claimed the land was theirs and used the army to burn their homes and plough up their crops. Ten Indians were killed. VARRON “MODESTY BLAISE” P 129 Contact Willie visits in search of Gabriel. Warned by Modesty not to turn his back on him. VAUBOIS, Léon This is the name used in “Modesty Blaise” (1965) and up to page 80 of “Sabre Tooth” (1966). VAUBOIS, René‚ The name changed on page 125 of “Sabre Tooth” (1965) and was maintained thereafter. This character did not appear in the strip stories until 1967 and has always been named René. Drawn by Jim Holdaway