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 VAUBOIS, René (continued) STORY 34: “THOSE ABOUT TO DIE”: STRIP 3855 He was expecting to dine with Modesty and Willie shortly before Willie disappeared, seemingly without reason. When Modesty visits him at his office he gives her information received from Interpol with details of a number of what appear to be motiveless kidnappings that have taken place recently. All of them have been male and combat experts. Much to Modesty’s relief it is he who makes the connection between them and Willie. All are combat experts, and this means that Willie is still alive. STORY 58: “THE WILD BOAR”: STRIP 6215 Abducted by Paul Martine, Le Sanglier, who intends to extract information from him that can then be used for blackmail. Taken to the now abandoned village of Breno in Corsica and kept suspended in a small iron cage in the village church without food or water. Rescued when Modesty is made aware of his kidnap after Yussef, an elderly Tangier goldsmith who has powers of extra sensory perception, handles a broach he gave her and has a series of disturbing and powerful psychic impressions about his plight. STORY 75: “OUR FRIEND MAUDE”: STRIP 7962 Because she has just delivered some information to him from Sir Gerald Tarrant, he happens to be the last person to have seen Maude Tiller before she is kidnapped. He is closing in on the illegal activities in arms sales of Kaut who has now hired Zebart to assassinate him. Maude is to be brainwashed into carrying out the killing. Kaut believes if a British agent kills the head of French Intelligence it will totally disrupt Anglo French relations and allow him to continue and expand his operations. When Modesty and Willie go in search of Maude they are helped by Henri, one of his best agents. They find Maude, discover the plot and rescue her. They also capture Zebart’s gang and Willie manages to steal a brief case full of arms contracts from Kaut, enough to wipe him out. VAUBOIS, René (continued) STORY 80: “THE KILLING DISTANCE”: STRIP 8545 When Modesty and Willie decide to go after Charles B Delaney (who was once the K.G.B. chief Ivan Brodsky, code name The Red Admiral), they start in Paris with Brodsky’s lawyer, Linique, who hires two South American terrorists to kill them. He is called by Modesty from a motorboat on the Seine where she and Willie are holding the two hit men. She asks if he would please take the hit men off her hands. He is angry with her for not staying out of trouble but is reminded that if she had, he would be dead. STORY 86: “THE MURDER FRAME” TEXT ONLY STRIP 9187 The reason Maude Tiller has to leave Willie and go to Paris to undertake a liaison job for her boss, Sir Gerald Tarrant. STORY 87: “FRASER’S STORY”: STRIP 9272 He is more than a little surprised to be contacted by Paul Casanova the boss of Union Corse to advise him that the Union has accepted a contract to have Modesty and Willie killed. He has no intention of carrying it out and it has been taken to stop it going elsewhere. He is asked to pass this information on to Modesty. He is somewhat surprised to discover that she is on such friendly terms with a major criminal. He accepts her explanation that Casanova simply owes her a big favour, his life, one of the few things he and the Union Corse boss have in common. VAUBOIS, Madame STORY 58: “THE WILD BOAR” TEXT ONLY STRIP 6232 Contacted by Sir Gerald Tarrant when Modesty fears her husband may have been kidnapped. She confirms that he is missing and some of his colleagues think he has defected. VAUDEN STORY 10: “THE BLACK PEARL”: STRIP 1138 A Network renegade. Ran the Calcutta section and was buying and stealing girls to sell into vice, a capital crime within The Network. When Modesty found out he went on the run and she hunted him down and killed him. His final shot badly wounded her. Flashback. She met Lal. 178 Drawn by Romero Strip 3385 9th February, 1976 Drawn by Neville Colvin Strip 6288 15th October, 1985 Drawn by Romero Strip 8019A Not published in the Evening Standard Drawn by Romero Strip 8545 29th September, 1994 Drawn by Romero Strip 9272 20th August, 1997 Drawn by Jim Holdaway Strip 1138 29th December, 1966