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 ENRIQUE BADIA ROMERO B orn in 1930 in Barcelona. Despite parental disapproval he began to draw at an early age and at 15 became apprenticed to the well known Catalan artist Emilio Freixas. During the 50’s he gained experience by editing his own magazine and working for most of the well known Spanish picture strip publishers. He soon spread his activities to other European publishers and in 1970, after the sudden and tragic death of Jim Holdaway, accepted the chance and the challenge of drawing Modesty Blaise. Over the next seven years he was to draw nearly two thousand five hundred Modesty Blaise strips over twenty two full length stories. During this time he was also instrumental in the successful launch of “Axa” in 1978 with writer Donne Avenell and it was at this point his first period as Modesty artist came to a close. He was to re-commence his association with her in 1986 on the retirement of Neville Colvin, and would continue to draw her until the final strip number 10183 appeared in the Evening Standard in April, 2001. The strips have not been the only Modesty works he has drawn for. In 1981 he produced twenty full page illustrations for the novel “The Silver Mistress” published by Archival Press, he has produced a number of special covers for Rick Norwood’s publication Comics Revue and more recently has illustrated “The Dark Angels” a graphic version of a short story written by O’Donnell and published in “Cobra Trap” in 1996. Over the thirty five year life span of the character in the Evening Standard he has drawn more than 60% of the total number of strips. JOHN M BURNS Born in 1938 he began his artistic career at the age of sixteen as a trainee apprentice with Doris White at the Link Studios. Among his early work was the supply of artwork for Girls Crystal and School Friend for Amalgamated Press. After a four year apprenticeship at Link he left to join the RAF, serving in Singapore in Intelligence. He returned to Link three years later, staying for another two. During the early 1960s he drew for D C Thomson’s Diana and Odham’s Wham , “Wrath of the Gods” in Eagle and “The Tuckwells” in The Sunday Citizen among others. and from 1964, his first newspaper strip, “The Seekers” in the Daily Sketch. This ran until 1971. His association with the strip of Modesty Blaise was brief. Taking over from Romero in November 1978 he drew two complete stories over the next year before being replaced half way through his third story by Pat Wright. His association with the character did not end there however. When Titan Books decided to launch Modesty Blaise in its Great British Newspaper Strips series it was to him they turned for the covers. The eight books in the Titan series each bore a distinctive Burns cover painting and are among some of the best known visual expressions of Modesty Blaise. John also produced a number of covers for a series of Swedish Modesty Blaise books. T H E M O D E S T Y B L A I S E C O M P A N XIII Since the Modesty Blaise strip ended, Romero divides his time between his grandchildren, here sharing a pipe with Axel... ...and his Mazda Miata MX5. John’s self-portrait from around the time he was drawing Modesty Blaise ... ...and over 25 years later, still going strong.