What do you think?
Rate this book
Modesty Blaise Story Strips #3
Modesty Blaise 3: Top Traitor
With a mind as sharp as her fashion sense and fighting skills worthy of any samurai, Modesty Blaise — cult creation of author Peter O’Donnell — returns to print! In three thrilling, nerve-shredding stories — Top Traitor, The Vikings and The Head Girls — Modesty must rip deeply through her own organisation to uncover a spy, do battle with homicidal Norsemen, and cross claws with a pride of kittens-turned-feral cats — all this action jammed into one volcanic volume! Collecting the classic rare newspaper strips from London’s Evening Standard, this volume continues the previously unpublished interview with Peter O’Donnell and features an in-depth look at the cult Modesty Blaise movie from the 60s.
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
71 people want to read
About the author
Peter O'Donnell
373 books116 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Peter O'Donnell also wrote as Madeleine Brent.
http://www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html
is an excellent resource on this author.
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.
Peter O'Donnell also wrote as Madeleine Brent.
http://www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html
is an excellent resource on this author.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 6, 2017
Another trip to the past for me.
Modesty Blaise was one of my favorite comics as a kid. It features smart, beautiful and ass-kicking heroine Modesty Blaise and her friend, the totally cool Willie Garvin. Both were retired criminals, gang leaders who are now helping British intelligence and FBI. But they have their own sense of justice which doesn't always jive with the police.
Compared to all the comics I read when 12-14, this one was perhaps the best. Well, my re-reading 35 or so years later confirms it, which I can't say for most novels and comics of my tween and teen years.
This graphic novel contains three comics:
Top Traitor
The Vikings
The Head Girls
All three are good. Realistically, it should be rated 4 (since novels are better), but as a graphic novel and for sentimental value, I give it 5 stars.
Enjoy!
Modesty Blaise was one of my favorite comics as a kid. It features smart, beautiful and ass-kicking heroine Modesty Blaise and her friend, the totally cool Willie Garvin. Both were retired criminals, gang leaders who are now helping British intelligence and FBI. But they have their own sense of justice which doesn't always jive with the police.
Compared to all the comics I read when 12-14, this one was perhaps the best. Well, my re-reading 35 or so years later confirms it, which I can't say for most novels and comics of my tween and teen years.
This graphic novel contains three comics:
Top Traitor
The Vikings
The Head Girls
All three are good. Realistically, it should be rated 4 (since novels are better), but as a graphic novel and for sentimental value, I give it 5 stars.
Enjoy!
April 11, 2020
This is another very good collection of early Modesty adventures. The first one, Top Traitor, is one of my favorites.
In “Top Traitor” Willie is accidentally spending the night in Modesty’s guest room when someone breaks into Modesty’s penthouse. The burglar turns out to be James Fraser, Sir Gerard Tarrant’s right hand man and a former British Intelligence field agent. Tarrant has disappeared and a very sensitive file is missing. Tarrant’s bosses think that he has defected. Fraser doesn’t believe that but he’s watched, so he must secretly contact Modesty and Willie. Only two people, in addition to Fraser and Tarrant, have access to the file. So, one of them must be the traitor. Both are, of course, very high ranked in British intelligence. But that doesn’t stop Modesty and Willie from kidnapping them and interrogating them in their own unique way. Then, Modesty and Willie must get Tarrant back from a very secure place abroad.
This was lots of fun with elements I enjoy a lot: Modesty and Willie undercover, this time in a back country village near Germany (however, I’m sure anyone from around there would cringe to see these stereotypes), and their wit peeking through in the way the two top agents are interrogated. Also, Modesty and Willie’s absolute faith in Tarrant’s loyalty. Lovely!
“The Vikings” is a bit wilder tale. A group of modern pirates are robbing people all around the coasts from Denmark to Spain, dressed as vikings. One of the victims recognizes one of the pirates – as his own son Olaf. The Vikings are a group of young men partying just as hard as they “work”. Their leader is the hardest and wildest of the group, looking for a better challenge in soft, modern times.
Modesty and Willie are on a holiday in Sweden, ice boating. The Vikings’ victim approaches Modesty and accuses that his son, Olaf, has become a criminal because of her. It turns out that Olaf was, indeed, part of Modesty’s criminal organization, the Network, but Olaf came to her and was, in fact, a liability so Modesty isn’t eager to help him. However, Olaf is married, Modesty goes to meet with his wife. She asks Modesty’s help and Modesty agrees. But the Viking boss is delighted to get a better challenge in Modesty.
This story shows Modesty’s (and Willie’s) ethical code. Modesty wants to help Olaf’s wife and they first try to talk the Vikings’ leader to release Olaf. It’s the first real glimpse we have of the Network in action, except for the mention in “Mr. Sun” that Modesty had broken up drug smuggling rings. Later we hear that she also broke up human trafficking rings. When Modesty was doing crime, she wasn’t just robbing things randomly; she researched her targets meticulously and used as little violence as possible. The same thing is true of the next story.
“The Head Girls” starts about a month after the ending of “the Vikings”. Modesty has healed from her wounds and is vacationing in the Hebrides. Willie comes to meet her. When they head back from the beach, two men stop them. The men claim that they’re guards of the nearby government research station but Modesty knows they’re lying. Modesty and Willie knock them out and realize that they’re actually industrial spies, spying on the station. They give the men over to the station’s security. Meanwhile, in the station we find out that the station’s lead researcher’s “perfect” secretary is also a spy. When the two spies are caught, the secretary is ordered to kill them.
Meanwhile, the lead researcher has gone to meet Modesty and Willie. During their Network days, they actually stole the researcher’s previous work but sold it back to him at a reasonable price. He holds no grudge, and Modesty even asks him to spend some time with them when he’s in London. He accepts because his newest invention is ready and he’s selling it to the government. But when he gets back to London, there’s an explosion and he’s killed. Modesty and Willie investigate.
This story also refers to Modesty Network days. By all accounts, she was just the same person then: loyal to her people and with her own code of honor. In this story, too, the stakes turn out to be very personal to our heroes.
The plots in the MB strips are pretty complex. Sometimes they’re far fetched but they’re often well-thought out and enjoyable when reread, too. I very much enjoyed these ones.
In “Top Traitor” Willie is accidentally spending the night in Modesty’s guest room when someone breaks into Modesty’s penthouse. The burglar turns out to be James Fraser, Sir Gerard Tarrant’s right hand man and a former British Intelligence field agent. Tarrant has disappeared and a very sensitive file is missing. Tarrant’s bosses think that he has defected. Fraser doesn’t believe that but he’s watched, so he must secretly contact Modesty and Willie. Only two people, in addition to Fraser and Tarrant, have access to the file. So, one of them must be the traitor. Both are, of course, very high ranked in British intelligence. But that doesn’t stop Modesty and Willie from kidnapping them and interrogating them in their own unique way. Then, Modesty and Willie must get Tarrant back from a very secure place abroad.
This was lots of fun with elements I enjoy a lot: Modesty and Willie undercover, this time in a back country village near Germany (however, I’m sure anyone from around there would cringe to see these stereotypes), and their wit peeking through in the way the two top agents are interrogated. Also, Modesty and Willie’s absolute faith in Tarrant’s loyalty. Lovely!
“The Vikings” is a bit wilder tale. A group of modern pirates are robbing people all around the coasts from Denmark to Spain, dressed as vikings. One of the victims recognizes one of the pirates – as his own son Olaf. The Vikings are a group of young men partying just as hard as they “work”. Their leader is the hardest and wildest of the group, looking for a better challenge in soft, modern times.
Modesty and Willie are on a holiday in Sweden, ice boating. The Vikings’ victim approaches Modesty and accuses that his son, Olaf, has become a criminal because of her. It turns out that Olaf was, indeed, part of Modesty’s criminal organization, the Network, but Olaf came to her and was, in fact, a liability so Modesty isn’t eager to help him. However, Olaf is married, Modesty goes to meet with his wife. She asks Modesty’s help and Modesty agrees. But the Viking boss is delighted to get a better challenge in Modesty.
This story shows Modesty’s (and Willie’s) ethical code. Modesty wants to help Olaf’s wife and they first try to talk the Vikings’ leader to release Olaf. It’s the first real glimpse we have of the Network in action, except for the mention in “Mr. Sun” that Modesty had broken up drug smuggling rings. Later we hear that she also broke up human trafficking rings. When Modesty was doing crime, she wasn’t just robbing things randomly; she researched her targets meticulously and used as little violence as possible. The same thing is true of the next story.
“The Head Girls” starts about a month after the ending of “the Vikings”. Modesty has healed from her wounds and is vacationing in the Hebrides. Willie comes to meet her. When they head back from the beach, two men stop them. The men claim that they’re guards of the nearby government research station but Modesty knows they’re lying. Modesty and Willie knock them out and realize that they’re actually industrial spies, spying on the station. They give the men over to the station’s security. Meanwhile, in the station we find out that the station’s lead researcher’s “perfect” secretary is also a spy. When the two spies are caught, the secretary is ordered to kill them.
Meanwhile, the lead researcher has gone to meet Modesty and Willie. During their Network days, they actually stole the researcher’s previous work but sold it back to him at a reasonable price. He holds no grudge, and Modesty even asks him to spend some time with them when he’s in London. He accepts because his newest invention is ready and he’s selling it to the government. But when he gets back to London, there’s an explosion and he’s killed. Modesty and Willie investigate.
This story also refers to Modesty Network days. By all accounts, she was just the same person then: loyal to her people and with her own code of honor. In this story, too, the stakes turn out to be very personal to our heroes.
The plots in the MB strips are pretty complex. Sometimes they’re far fetched but they’re often well-thought out and enjoyable when reread, too. I very much enjoyed these ones.
May 25, 2012
Modesty Blaise continues to be an awesome, kick-ass superhero. Despite the fact that these comic strips were first written and appeared in papers in the 1960s, Modesty feels almost as current as a modern-day spy film, minus the hi-tech gadgets. The villains are just as nefarious, Modesty's moves are just as mind-blowing, and the plots are as good as anything you would see or read today. I have many, many years' worth of reading to catch up on, and the prospect alone thrills me, though not as much as the actual read.
December 27, 2015
Perhaps a hint (I've only read maybe 1/4 thus far, out of sync) that backs up my feelings that the better Blaise stories/strips were towards the chronological end of the run (or at least in the middle). This one still rates superbly for me, but Holdaway's art just isn't quite as fine as Romero's and perhaps the stories a bit less polished and plotted. Nevertheless, this volume is just as indispensable as the others.
The "Top Traitor" story nods to the Kim Philby affair with some verisimilitude. "The Vikings" is kinda nutty but gives some nice background on Modesty's Network days - and sense of loyalty/kindness. "The Head Girls" is probably one of the most disposable MB strips I've read, but the action is typically great. All the stories are carried off in exotic settings with typically interesting (and often rounded, by comic strip standard) characters.
9/10
The "Top Traitor" story nods to the Kim Philby affair with some verisimilitude. "The Vikings" is kinda nutty but gives some nice background on Modesty's Network days - and sense of loyalty/kindness. "The Head Girls" is probably one of the most disposable MB strips I've read, but the action is typically great. All the stories are carried off in exotic settings with typically interesting (and often rounded, by comic strip standard) characters.
9/10
March 8, 2009
More MODESTY--the 3rd volume in the new Titan reprint series. It just keeps getting better. (See my review of THE GABRIEL SET-UP, Vol. 1.)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews