To help keep the novels and the adventure strip collections separate, here's some info about the Modesty Blaise works.
In 1963, O'Donnell began his 38-year run as writer of the Modesty Blaise adventure story strip, which appeared six days a week in English and Scottish newspapers. He retired the strip in 2001.
Each strip story took 18-20 weeks to complete. Several publishers over the years have attempted to collect these stories in large softcovers. Titan Publishing is currently in the process of bringing them all out in large-format softcover, with 2-3 stories in each books. These are called "graphic novels" in the Goodreads title.
Meanwhile, during those 38 years, O'Donnell also wrote 13 books about Modesty Blaise: 11 novels and 2 short story/novella collections. These stories are not related to the strip stories; they are not novelizations of strip stories. They are entirely new, though the characters and "lives" are the same. These have been labeled "series #0".
There is a large article on Peter O'Donnell on Wikipedia, with a complete bibliography.
Čitajući dalje nastavke Modesti Blejz ne mogu da se oduprem utisku da Piter O'Donel naginje romantizmu. Utoliko je prigodniji i članak o Modestinim sestrama u kome se otkriva kako je O'Donel pisao i gotske romane koji su bili čak i čitaniji od Modesti.
Nezaboravne priče Crni biser, Zla Suki, Poligon za ubijanje i ultimativna srž odnosa Modesti i Vilija (kako kaže i sam O'Donel) u priči Pakao na zemlji. A pojavljuje se i stari poznanik Gabrijel...
Puko uživanje!!!
*Na žalost, opet ima par sitnica sa prevodom - sokoćalo (gadget) prilično odskače od stila ostalog izražavanja, magnified je postao izduženi a ne uveličani a pojavljuje se i posada kostura kao bukvalan prevod izraza skeleton crew (osnovna posada).
** Izbor boja na naslovnoj strani je skroz hipi, daleko bolje izgleda na veštačkoj svetlosti :))
Neverovatno je koliko je sistematično O'Donel pristupao pisanju ovog stripa. Danas ovakav palp ne postoji. Čitao sam sve ovo već u raznim rasparčanim izdanjima, ali je posebna draž držati ovako veliku i dobro opremljenu knjigu u rukama.