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

E X P A N D E D E D I T I O N 159 T H E M O D E S T Y B L A I S E C O M P A N I TANSI STORY 65: “MILORD”: STRIP 6997 One of the girls used in the Sultan and Slaves video being made by Milord. She passes out and has to be carried back to her cell by Perez after the filming. TARQUIN One of a trio of young thugs, ambitious, up-market and very violent with an inordinately high opinion of their own abilities and importance. Believing themselves to be a new breed of hard men their over confidence is a major factor in their downfall. They feature in two consecutive stories and by the end of the second, they are all considering that a nice quiet alternative career might be worth considering. The other two are Damion and Jeremy (q.v.) STORY 72: “THE GIRL IN THE IRON MASK”: STRIP 7664A One of the three man team hired by the fixer Joe Mellor on behalf of the Bone Twins. The job is to discourage Willie from setting out to look for Modesty, who has been abducted and put down Kipple Hole. He did point out to his associates that Bernie Chan had once told him not ever to mess with Willie but this warning is brushed aside. He discovers for himself that men who wear brass knuckles must be very careful not to let Willie hold their hand. He and his friends are advised by Sir Gerald Tarrant, who just happens to be holding a shotgun, that they had chosen a bad time and never to let Willie see them again. STORY 73: “THE YOUNG MISTRESS”: STRIP 7804 One of the same three man team as in Story 72, this time hired by Bruce Lacey to kidnap Marian Hall. This would seem to be an easier assignment until they encounter the elderly gardener (really Willie in disguise) just outside the cottage in which Marian is hiding. He is first hit with the butt of a hoe, thrown like a spear and then, when trying to use his chain, is persuaded to perform a somersault. His friends are receiving similar treatment. All three having been beaten up, apparently by an old man, they are then threatened by him with the wrath of his “grandson, Young Willie”. At this point they begin having second thoughts about their choice of career and consider they may not, after all, be cut out for this type of work. TARRANT, Sir Gerald The Deus ex machina of the post criminal career of Modesty Blaise and the ever present Willie Garvin. It is he who devines that action and danger are their drug and who exploits and channels it to launch their first adventure. His importance is such that he is drawn in Strip 1 while Modesty is not drawn until Strip 2. His role in the novels is exactly the same and he is featured on the first page of the first novel. An essential part of the world which Modesty and Willie inhabit he is without doubt the third most important character in the canon. Head of a government department that is actively concerned with political, military, commercial and industrial espionage on a world wide basis. It has its own team of agents and its own training facilities. Normally subject to a government Minister but he has, as a last resort, direct access to the Prime Minister. His assistant, Fraser, is one of his former agents. He has contacts and colleagues at senior levels in similar organisations around the world, one of whom is René Vaubois, head of the French Deuxième Bureau. Tends to have more trouble and interference and less co-operation from his rival U.K. agencies than from foreign counterparts. Has a country cottage in Beckleton, a village in Sussex. STORY 1: “LA MACHINE”: STRIP 1 Has a difficult problem with a group of professional killers based in France known only as “La Machine”. Using guile rather than direct blackmail he induces Modesty to investigate on his behalf. She, in turn, brings in Willie and after faking a split between them they locate the Paris agent for the group. This draws La Machine into kidnapping her and enables Willie to locate the headquarters of the group in a monastery outside a small village in the south of France. His short term aim is fulfilled when Modesty and Willie manage to destroy the group and his much longer term satisfaction is complete when Modesty admits that retirement for her was just a pipe dream and she hopes he will call on her again. STORY 2: “THE LONG LEVER”: STRIP 118 Asked to help out his C.I.A. colleagues, he enlists the aid of Modesty and Willie to attempt to locate Dr. Alexius Kossuth who appears to have been kidnapped by an Eastern Bloc country. They find Kossuth but when she learns the real reason for his return to the East she sets him free. Fraser is greatly annoyed and wants to write her off but he is much more pragmatic and somewhat resignedly accepts it. Drawn by Romero Strip 6998 5th August, 1988 Drawn by Romero Strip 7680 25th April, 1991 Drawn by Romero Strip 7804 22nd October, 1991 Drawn by Jim Holdaway Strip 34 20th June, 1963 Drawn by Jim Holdaway Strip 206 Not published in the Evening Standard