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 SAINT-MAUR, Colonel John Vandeleur, Ninth Earl STORY 21: “DEATH OF A JESTER”: STRIP 2392 Former leader of a Commando battalion, insubordinate, reckless and brave. Thrown out of the Army, he spent three years as a mercenary before inheriting the title. Holds feudal costume parties in his home, Saint-Maur Castle, with jousting, bear baiting and minstrels. Suspected, rightly, by Sir Gerald Tarrant, of having led a commando style raid on a government research establishment near his home and stolen a top secret torpedo. When Roger Clay, one of Tarrant’s agents sent to investigate him and acting as his jester, is caught, he is the prey in a pseudo hunt and is killed. When Willie and Modesty turn up as guests at one of his house parties he seems not to know who they are but when they search for and find the stolen torpedo he is there with his men to capture them. He forces Willie to joust with him and when Willie uses his lance to get himself and Modesty free, the joust turns into a hunt in his lion park. Unfortunately for him he meets one of his own lions. SALAMANDER FOUR An international criminal group based in Amsterdam, highly sophisticated, efficient and ruthless. It mainly concerns itself with industrial and political espionage and demands and gets huge fees. Studiously politically and nationally neutral, once it has accepted a contract it cannot be bought off and seldom fails. Modesty tends to be its exception. STORY 27: “THE WICKED GNOMES”: STRIP 3109 Engaged to obtain the release from an English prison of the convicted spy Pauline Brown. In an operation code named “Butterfly” supervised by Mr. Carter, it arranges the kidnap of British agent Maude Tiller using the Boote brothers as local labour. Sir Gerald Tarrant’s Minister rejects a “swap or Tiller dies” ultimatum and is prepared to allow Maude to die rather than to yield to threats. Modesty and Willie are not of the same mind and intervene. They spring Brown from prison and set up their own swap. It is made to appear that the Boote brothers have set up a double cross and Carter orders their deaths. Soon thereafter he is himself killed by Maude who has worked up a head of steam over the whole business and needs an outlet. Another S 4 failure down to Modesty. I I SALAMANDER FOUR (continued) STORY 42: “GREEN COBRA”: STRIP 4680 Engaged to break and turn Sir Gerald Tarrant’s second in command Jack Fraser for a fee of three million Swiss francs. The operation is led by Pandora with the medical assistance of Dr. Vigo. Fraser is taken to an island off the west coast of Scotland where Vigo works on him using various drugs and psychological techniques but is unable to break his mental resistance. Fraser is using Modesty as his mantra to fight the effects of his treatment. Pandora orders Modesty’s death which she believes will break Frasers will and an attempt is made on Modesty’s life but it fails. After consultation with Sir Gerald Tarrant, Modesty and Willie set out to find Fraser and they are cleverly misled by Sir Angus McBeal, one of the four directors of Salamander Four, and fall into a trap. Even so they manage to overcome the opposition, free Fraser, who kills Pandora, and escape. Modesty, it seems, has, despite all the odds and being misled by one of its directors, still managed to once again ruin another highly complex and expensive Salamander Four operation. STORY 56: “PLATO’S REPUBLIC”: STRIP 6018 The Directors of Salamander Four decide to obtain the old Network records compiled by Modesty and use them for blackmail and other criminal purposes. Knowing that Modesty will not sell them they set up an operation led by Plato. The Greek monastery island of Voulakis is taken over, Phil Krolli, a former Network lieutenant and his daughter Melinda are kidnapped and Melinda is used to lure Modesty to Voulakis. She falls into the trap and her captivity is used to force Willie to deliver the files. He manages to play for time, and get on to the island under cover. Modesty breaks out, Plato is killed, the rest of the gang is rounded up and the monks get their monastery back. Another Salamander Four operational failure due to, oh dear, Modesty. STORY 69: “LADY IN THE DARK”: STRIP 7373 Engaged to secretly recover the Thracian treasure that was buried by Count Edlitz two hundred years ago. The executive in charge of the operation is Kassel. Dinah Collier is deceived into seeking the treasure using her unique gifts for divining and due to Steve Collier’s bad back, she is escorted by Willie. When he discovers it is a Salamander Four operation he tries to escape with Dinah but is caught. He manages to alert Modesty who is quickly on the scene and in to action. Once again the operation is spoiled and the criminals caught. When Kassel’s controller calls to let him know the helicopter he requested is on its way he gets Modesty, who tells him not to bother. She is asked to pass on a message to Kassel that the longer his jail sentence, the longer he will live. That’s the Salamander Four way with failure. STORY 72: “THE GIRL IN THE IRON MASK”: STRIP 7657 When they are planning to take their revenge on Modesty the brothers require the services of a criminal organisation. According to Humphrey Bone, none of the major groups, including Salamander Four, will take on anything at all to do with Blaise or Garvin. This indicates that pragmatism is not unknown in criminal circles . 142 Drawn by Romero Strip 2467 25th May, 1971 Drawn by Romero Strip 3109 19th June, 1973