Modesty Blaise (comic strip): Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"The most complex, sophisticated, skilled and intelligent of all [[Action Girl|action heroines]]."''|'''Jennifer K. Stuller''', author of ''Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology''}}

 

(Only crime that's unusual enough to attract their interest, though -- or nasty or personal enough to attract their anger.)

 

 

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* [[Accidental Kidnapping]]: Willie is kidnapped in "Milord" when he is mistaken for Guido Biganzoli.

* [[Action Dress Rip]]: Modesty's skirts are designed to tear away, leaving her legs free for action.

* [[Affectionate Nickname]]: To Willie, Modesty is always "Princess." It's a sign of respect as well as affection.

* [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels]]: "Samantha and the Cherub"

* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: Count Orlando Smythe in "The Balloonatic"

* [[Author Existence Failure]]: The strip's first artist, Jim Holdaway, died suddenly in 1970.

* [[Bad Habits]]: 'Father' Lamont in "Milord", who poses as a priest in order to abduct girls for a porn and snuff film ring.

* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: ''All the time''. They often have good reason to, though; they know that if they kill Modesty, Willie will hunt them down and kill them (or vice versa). Because of this, villains tend to want to kill them both at the same time.

* [[The Caper]]

* [[Cold War]]

* [[Comic Book Fantasy Casting]]: Willie's appearance is based on [[Michael Caine]].

* [[Diabolical Mastermind]]: Gabriel

* [[Disability Superpower]]: Recurring character Dinah Collier is blind and psychic.

* [[The Ditz]]: Aniela

* [[Double Standard]]: Averted; both protagonists routinely take lovers. Willie more than Modesty, admitted. By the last arcs in the strip, Modesty has several old flames who she routinely cycles between, with all parties involved aware of the others. Willie, on the other hand, has a lot of flings and one-night stands, with Maude Tiller (and in the book version, Lady Janet Gillam) as the recurring love interest.

* [[Gladiator Games]]: "Those About to Die"

* [[Gladiator Revolt]]: "Those About to Die"

* [[Heroic Neutral]]

* [[Hollywood Silencer]]: Just about every time somebody shows up in the comic strip with a silenced handgun, it's a revolver. Attaching a silencer to a revolver doesn't do much.

* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]: "The Killing Ground"

* [[I Have Your Wife]]: In "Samantha and the Cherub", Lucy Kolin, the wife of Soviet musician who defected to the West, is kidnapped. Her husband is told to renounce his defection and return to the USSR if he ever wants to see her again.

* [[Improvised Weapon]]: At least [[Once an Episode]]

* [[Ironic Nickname]]: Her mentor started calling her "Modesty" as a joke.

* [[Knife Nut]]: Willie Garvin

* [[Lady of War]]: Modesty

* [[Latex Perfection]]: In "Butch Cassidy Rides Again", the gang uses latex masks to make themselves appear identical to the Hole-In-The-Wall Gang.

* [[Milkman Conspiracy]]: The secretary/spies in "The Head Girls"

* [[More Expendable Than You]]: Whenever a caper requires Modesty to put her life on the line, Willie asks if he can't do it instead.

* [[New Old Flame]]: Many stories start with the return of an ex-lover of either Modesty or Willie.

* [[New Old West]]: "Butch Cassidy Rides Again"

** In "Million Dollar Game", a vet is shot in the thigh in a position he cannot reach. He talks Modesty through the procedure for removing the bullet.

** In "Dossier on Pluto" another vet, via telephone, has Modesty relay instructions to a scientist on how to remove a bullet from a dolphin.

* [[Ruthless Foreign Gangsters]]: "Take-Over"

* [[Scarecrow Solution]]: Modesty stages a fake alien visitation in "The Moonman".

* [[Show Some Leg]]: at least [[Once an Episode]] and not confined to Modesty, either.

* [[Silver Bullet]]: The villagers use one to slay what they think is the vampire in "The Vampire of Malvescu".

* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: The Boote brothers in "The Wicked Gnomes"

* [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]]

* [[Unspoken Plan Guarantee]]

* [[Unwanted Rescue]]: In "The Vanishing Dollybirds", Modesty and Willy set out to break a white slavery ring. However, at the end, it turns out that the girl they originally set out to rescue is perfectly happy as a member of the sheik's harem. Unfortunately they don't learn this until several people - including the woman's sister - are killed.

** Modesty is often asked this when she uses non-lethal methods to defeat enemies, such as in the story "Idaho George". She usually replies that she didn't find it necessary (or in the case of "Idaho George" that it felt better to beat the tar out of the men who beat her up and tried to drown her rather than just shoot them). There are also several occasions in which Willie and Modesty criticize each other for choosing not to use deadly force when not killing was seen as the riskier option.

* [[Western Terrorists]]: "The Vampire of Malvescu" featured Europe's Fist, a terrorist group dedicated to striking back by committing an retaliatory act of terrorism for every act of Middle Eastern terrorism committed against Europe.

* [[Wretched Hive]]: Calia, the 'Republic of Desperados', in "The Jericho Caper"

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: In "The Head Girls", Gabriel kills Southern when the latter stops being of use to him. According to Willie, this is not the first time Gabriel has made use of this trope.

=== Adaptations with their own trope pages include: ===

 

 

=== Other adaptations include examples of: ===

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:British Comics]]

[[Category:Newspaper Comics]]

[[Category:The Sixties]]

[[Category:Print Long Runners]]