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 YURI STORY 55: “THE RETURN OF THE MAMMOTH”: STRIP 5964A One of the two guards for Chloe, the elephant confiscated from Gogol’s Circus by Russian scientists They want to use her for a unique experiment in artificial insemination using mammoth sperm found frozen in Siberia. The other guard is outside admiring the moonlight. He is making his next move which is to take his opponents pawn with his knight. Not a very good guard. YUSSEF STORY 58: “THE WILD BOAR”: STRIP 6224A A Tangier goldsmith who has psychic powers. When street robbers tried to steal it, they broke Modesty’s broach and he is called in by her to see if it can be repaired. It had been made for her by her old friend René Vaubois, the head of the French Intelligence. When he holds it his powers reveal that Vaubois has been attacked “by those who serve the wild boar”. His impressions tell of “a city of the iron tower and a man of secrets taken over land and sea to a place which was alive but now is dead where the wild boar was born”. His revelations exhaust him but they provide Modesty with vital clues to what has happened to Vaubois and where he might be found. ZACK STORY 91: “CHILDREN OF LUCIFER” TEXT ONLY STRIP 9664 One of the Children. He was knocked out by Joanna Martin with a paperweight when he caught her taking a disc out of the computer. She then made her escape on skis but he reckons he was only out for a few minutes so she could not have got far. ZAHKI STORY 46: “THE LADY KILLERS”: STRIP 5073 Confidence trickster who has taken over “The Daughters of Freedom”, a North African female revolutionary group. He organises the kidnapping of Haniyah Serck, the daughter of rich man Javan Serck. He plans to steal the million pound ransom from them and then kill them all. Willie reveals him to be the very worst type of old fashioned male chauvanist pig and the Daughters hang him. ZAMORA, Colonel STORY 35: “THE INCA TRAIL”: STRIP 3940 Leader of the military coup in the previously peaceful South American Republic of Maluque, staged while the President, Calvesco, is on a diplomatic visit to a neighbouring state. He tries to grab Calvesco’s three children Lucia, Maria and Pedro, who were left at home, to hold as them as hostages. The children, with the help of their tutor Hector Bean, are trying to flee the country and his men catch them near the border. They are rescued by Modesty and a pacifist donkey called Lancelot. When Willie arrives in the capital for a previously arranged rendezvous with Modesty, he arrests him as a spy. By monitoring her radio conversation with Willie he finds out that she has the children and uses threats to Willie to try to force her to hand them over to him. When she refuses and gets Willie out of prison he sends a team of paratroopers to the remote border area where they are hiding. All attempts to catch them fail. His regime is unpopular and after just six weeks of struggle he is defeated and the President is reinstated. ZEBART (a.k.a. The High Contractor) STORY 75: “OUR FRIEND MAUDE”: STRIP 7960 Provider of professional criminal services at very high prices which is why he is called The High Contractor. He has been engaged by the arms dealer Kaut to murder René Vaubois, head of French Intelligence, using the brainwashed Maude Tiller as his assassin. He demands and gets a higher fee than usual for this job because all the parties concerned happen to be friends of Modesty and he has to take this into consideration. He kidnaps Maude and at Kaut’s chateau he uses actors to play the parts of Sir Gerald Tarrant and Jack Fraser and feed her the story that Vaubois is a traitor and must be killed. He very nearly succeeds in brainwashing her, but when it comes to the final rehearsal Maude instinctively freezes, knowing what she doing is wrong. Her reluctance to complete the final act provides him with problems with his employer, Kaut, and the pressure increases when Modesty and Willie break into the chateau and rescue Maude. He and Kaut with their men pursue them to a nearby deserted village and start a running battle. The men are overpowered and he and Kaut are captured. Maude recovers. 195 T H E M O D E S T Y B L A I S E C O M P A N I Drawn by Neville Colvin Strip 5964A Not published in the Evening Standard Drawn by Neville Colvin Strip 6226 18th July, 1985 Drawn by Neville Colvin Strip 5077 16th December, 1980 Drawn by Romero Strip 4022 7th October, 1976 Drawn by Romero Strip 8034A Not published in the Evening Standard