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Post by cromagnonman on Sept 22, 2017 21:36:05 GMT
COBRA TRAP is the thirteenth and final book which Peter O'Donnell wrote about his iconic strip cartoon characters Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin. It is also the last book O'Donnell himself published before his retirement in 2001. When the book first appeared in 1996 it caught rather a lot of Modesty fans on the hop, arriving all but unheralded and after an unprecedented eleven year hiatus in the series. To make matters worse it didn't exactly hang around on the shelves either, disappearing almost as soon as it arrived. To compound the situation further it remains the only Modesty book not to subsequently gravitate to a Pan paperback edition. And so until Souvenir Press itself began to reissue the entire sequence in trade paperback format a few years ago it was a book that remained all but unavailable to the majority of Modesty's fans. In contrast to most of the other Modesty books COBRA TRAP is a collection of five novellas rather than a novel. The first story "Bellman" takes the reader back to the days when Modesty ran the international criminal syndicate known as The Network. Although an unapologetic criminal herself Modesty always harboured an animosity towards the vice trade. She had experienced too much degredation of her own during her lost childhood to ever want to be complicit in inflicting it on others. On occasion this animosity would express itself in active operations which The Network conducted against pimps and pushers. Such is the premise of this story which sees Modesty framing one particularly loathesome dealer - the titular Bellman - for complicity in a banana republic revolution. The evidence she fabricates consigns Bellman to years of hard labour in the emerald mines. The story then skips ahead to the more familiar period of Modesty's retirement when she and Willie find themselves on the receiving end of Bellman's revenge. This takes the form of having them kidnapped and marooned on a remote Scottish island to be stalked by a trio of professional hunters. It requires no great insight to appreciate that this is essentially a riff on Richard Connell's classic tale "The Most Dangerous Game". More than that though it is also an elaboration on one of the Modesty strip cartoons from the 1960s called "The Killing Ground". This was a story which O'Donnell had been obliged to come up with in a hurry after a strike at The Evening Standard posed a problem for other newspapers in which the strip was syndicated. As such it is necessarily a simple and straightforward tale albeit one with plenty of convincing and colourful action. Particularly entertaining is the moment when Willie poleaxes one of the hunters with nothing more threatening than a water bottle. In Willie Garvin's skilled hands practically anything that can serve as a missile is a potentially lethal weapon. Its difficult to escape the suspicion that the Marvel Comics villain Bullseye was largely inspired by him. Modesty and Willie are never more resourceful or dangerous - or fun to read about - than when their backs are to the wall as Bellman and his hired killers come to appreciate to their cost. The second story "The Dark Angels" reverses the creative history, being adapted for the Finnish comic Agent X9 by the artist Romero after O'Donnell's retirement. Once again though it pits Modesty and Willie against a trio of professional killers, this time in the urban arena of a construction site. Properly tooled up for the challenge this time there is markedly less tension to be wrung out of the encounter. That said the razor wired bullwhip which one of the killers employs is a suitably nasty innovation. The similarity in these two scenarios highlights one of the unfortunate flaws in O'Donnell's writing; to wit a tendency to repetition and recycling of ideas. In his defence it must be conceded that he was obliged to come up with three major storylines each and every year for the strip cartoon. As such it is understandable that there should be a degree of regurgitation of ideas and gimmicks in his work. Generally though he allowed enough time to elapse between usuages to not make the tendency too obvious. Unwisely running two such stories side by side as he does here shines a rather unforgiving light on his limitations. The story also contains one of those rare but regrettable instances when either Modesty or Willie's capabilities exceed the plausible and strays into the realm of super heroics: in this case an acrobatic maneuver on a scaffolding pole that should by rights be confined solely to Gotham City. To compound the problem of repetition "The Dark Angels" also features a sinister tetrad working to protect British business interests by assassinating the CEOs of foreign companies involved in hostile takeovers. An almost identical tetrad called Salamander Four then features in the next story in the book called "Old Alex" which, I suggest, has a claim to be considered the very worst Modesty Blaise story O'Donnell ever authored. As I hope to explain just why next time.
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Post by cromagnonman on Sept 23, 2017 21:06:53 GMT
Ok Crom, you've kept us all in suspense long enough. So just why exactly is "Old Alex" a candidate for the ignoble distinction of being the very worst Modesty Blaise story that Peter O'Donnell ever wrote?
I'm glad you asked me that. Well, for a start, its a very fussy sort of story with no less than three distinct plot threads, which is at least one too many for the length of the yarn. There's nothing wrong with any of them on their own but its the utterly absurd and contrived manner in which they are all tied together which makes the whole thing the dog's dinner that it is.
The senior and most involving of the three storylines centres around a brutal attempt on Modesty's life. Whilst out trekking alone in the remote Pyrenees she is shot with a tranquiliser dart. When she comes round she finds she has been incarcerated in a small cave with a huge boulder rolled across the entrance sealing her in. It is immediately obvious to her that she has been entombed to suffer an agonising death from dehydration.
Now this entire sequence is, admittedly, excellent. The resourcefulness Modesty displays in keeping herself alive for ten whole days, and even in managing to fashion a crude whistle for herself from the detritus on the cave floor, demonstrates O'Donnell's admirable inventiveness. Unfortunately it is from this point on that the story goes downhill at something approaching terminal velocity.
In contrast with so many earlier examples in the series there is no clever extricating of herself from the deathtrap this time. Modesty is only saved from certain death by the chance passing of an old French peasant. If that strains credibility in itself what are the chances that he just happens to have an ox and a stout length of chain with him too?
This peasant is, of course, the old Alex of the story's title, and a strange sort of French peasant he proves to be too, being prone to spontaneous outbursts of English profanity and archaic colloquialisms. It isn't very long before Modesty has discovered that he is in fact an RAF pilot shot down during WW2 and blighted by amnesia ever since. Nor is he just any old pilot either but rather the Honourable Alexander Sayle, long lost heir to a titled estate.
This element of the story is by far the most twee and ultimately insubstantial. Predictably the repatriated Alex proves utterly miserable in his new circumstances and like John Goodman's King Ralph soons gives it up to go back to his old life.
In the meantime Modesty's friend, the eternally irritating and insufferable Steve Collier, is badly beaten up in an East End pub having got lost and stopped there to ask directions. This naturally sets up an amusing sequence where Modesty exacts retribution by beating his attacker to a pulp whilst disguised as an elderly Glasweigen Bible basher. Shortly afterwards Modesty is visited by one Sir Angus McBeal, an old adversary and one of the directors of the criminal tetrad known as Salamander Four. Generally speaking O'Donnell was always averse to the concept of recurring villains considering them something of a cop out and usually killed them off at the end of every book. Salamander Four was a rare exception having featured in an earlier book as well as in the comic strip.
Anyway that is by the by: McBeal reveals that Salamander Four was behind the attempt on Modesty's life in France. Furthermore that the thug she destroyed in revenge for Collier was a low level henchmen in their employ. Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world Collier gets himself beaten up in a front for Salamander Four activities. Again what are the chances of that? Disguised or not Salamander Four knew who to blame for this latest outrage against their prestiege. Consequently another contract has been taken out on her life, this time delegated to the Albanian sniper Skendi. When Modesty questions just why McBeal is betraying his colleagues by advising her of all this the answer is - wait for it, wait for it - that the newly repatriated old Alex is the father McBeal grew up never knowing. As with the death of Little Nell you'd need a heart of stone not to laugh, wouldn't you?
So there you have your answer. If this isn't melodrama of the very worst and contrived kind then I really don't know what is.
It goes without saying that Modesty and Willie foil the second assassination attempt by the use of a dummy in a wheelchair and poleaxe Skendi by attacking him in hang-gliders but I suspect that by this point you've given up caring. I know I had.
Seen in the wider context of the Modesty saga as a whole this ridiculous story was a rare misjudgement on O'Donnell's part. I'm pleased to be able to say that the next story in the book, "The Girl With The Black Balloon", despite likewise utilising one stonking coincidence, shows Modesty, Willie and O'Donnell himself back to their scintillating best.
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Post by helrunar on Sept 24, 2017 13:01:19 GMT
Thanks for that very entertaining review, Crom. Again, I KNOW reading your clever, delightfully sardonic commentary was much more fun than slogging through the O'Donnell book would have been.
I don't think I even got beyond chapter 2 of the original Modesty Blaise novel when I checked out from the library a few decades ago. I do have all the beautiful Jim Holdaway strips in the books that came out sometime around the turn of the millennium. And a few of the others. I actually have most of them earmarked for de-accession but will keep at least a couple of the Holdaway books.
cheers, H.
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Post by andydecker on Sept 24, 2017 17:54:47 GMT
I read most of the novels back in 77 or so. Still have a few them. They had foto covers with pictures from the awful movie.
I liked them a lot, Modesty with her weapons, the little Congo or whatever it was called fascinated me. Willie with his knifes. It was before I discovered american crime fiction and spy novels. After that the series appeared a bit like the campy Bond movies of the time with their super villians and colorful crime organisations which seemed better suited for a kids comic.
The existence of the comic I only discovered later. I never could work up enough enthusiasm to buy one. The art looks great, though.
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Post by cromagnonman on Sept 26, 2017 12:14:22 GMT
Thanks for that very entertaining review, Crom. Again, I KNOW reading your clever, delightfully sardonic commentary was much more fun than slogging through the O'Donnell book would have been. I don't think I even got beyond chapter 2 of the original Modesty Blaise novel when I checked out from the library a few decades ago. I do have all the beautiful Jim Holdaway strips in the books that came out sometime around the turn of the millennium. And a few of the others. I actually have most of them earmarked for de-accession but will keep at least a couple of the Holdaway books. cheers, H. The comic strips have been reprinted any number of times over the years and in a wide variety of venues; Agent X9, Comics Revue, Cartoonist Showcase, the Ken Pierce collections, to name just a few. But nothing has ever come close to matching the quality of reproduction found in the Titan uniform editions. If its those that you are considering dispensing with then I would advocate caution H as many of the early volumes especially are now out of print and seem to be commanding quite tidy sums on the second-hand market. That Holdaway artwork really is astonishingly good, isn't it.
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Post by helrunar on Sept 26, 2017 14:52:49 GMT
O Crom the Mighty,
Yea verily, it is the Titan books that I own. I know I'm going to get rid of whatever non-Holdaway books I have in the set. I might pass them along to a charity over here called Vietnam Vets. I myself would have potentially been a Vietnam Vet had I been maybe five years older (unlikely I could have passed the physical though). We had mandatory conscription over here during that period. I didn't get the military gene. It's all as incomprehensible to me as team sports and video games.
If I were in the UK I'd message you and ask if you would like to have any of them, but it's gotten really expensive to ship books back and forth across the Atlantic (I somehow CAN'T call that mighty sea "the pond"--blech).
I liked the artist named Neville something (Colvin?). I don't really care for the Badia strips, of which there are a plethora. I might have one story only by him that wasn't Titan, but in some other series; can't recall offhand. I think he was very talented; it's purely a matter of taste or aesthetics or some other dinosaurish thing that officially ceased to exist sometime in the 1980s.
cheers, H.
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Post by cromagnonman on Sept 28, 2017 10:26:37 GMT
O Crom the Mighty, If I were in the UK I'd message you and ask if you would like to have any of them, but it's gotten really expensive to ship books back and forth across the Atlantic (I somehow CAN'T call that mighty sea "the pond"--blech). I liked the artist named Neville something (Colvin?). I don't really care for the Badia strips, of which there are a plethora. I might have one story only by him that wasn't Titan, but in some other series; can't recall offhand. I think he was very talented; it's purely a matter of taste or aesthetics or some other dinosaurish thing that officially ceased to exist sometime in the 1980s. cheers, H. That's a very kind and generous inclination on your part H, and I thank you sincerely for it. But, as you rightly point out, transatlantic postage costs have become so extortionate these days that its not economically feasible . But I do appreciate the thought. As it happens I do have most of the Holdaway strips from the first time Titan attempted to publish the Modesty saga back in the mid 80s. I was fortunate enough to meet O'Donnell around that time and have him sign some of them for me. They didn't always publish the stories in sequence back then but I still think I've got eleven or so of the nineteen stories Holdaway completed. That's enough for me not to want to duplicate any with the current editions. I do like the Romero strips too, just not to the extent of cramming my finite shelf space with the entire series.
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Post by cromagnonman on Sept 29, 2017 20:09:27 GMT
With "The Girl with the Black Balloon" O'Donnell falls back on the tried and tested search-and-rescue scenario which had been the governing premise for almost all of the early Modesty novels. Because O'Donnell was intransigent in his belief that Modesty and Willie should never initiate trouble but only ever react to it then saving their friends from the clutches of nefarious villains proved a convenient way of drawing them into any given story. Unfortunately it proved so convenient that it wasn't very long before it established itself as something of a lazy formula. To O'Donnell's credit he does appear to have been as well aware of this fact as anyone and so tried hard in his later novels to concoct fresh ways of conscripting his heroes into the plot, with varying degrees of success. The use of the old stand-by plot in this instance cannot fail to invoke a nostalgic air.
Putting a fresh spin on the old premise however is the suggestion that Modesty is more motivated by revenge than altruism here. This in itself is rather odd as O'Donnell was always at pains to point out that neither Modesty nor Willie was much interested in revenge. It was only in "Bellman" that the drug dealer's rancour eroded corpse served as a salutary lesson on where such bitter feelings got you. Saying that both Modesty and Willie had engaged in acts of vengeance previously which, I guess, just goes to illustrate how difficult it is maintain total consistency in a series of such longevity.
In this instance Modesty is driven to avenge a secret agent friend of hers by the name of Johnny Nash. Nash has been found murdered and mutilated - given a manicure with bolt-cutters as it is adroitly phrased - whilst attempting to locate a kidnapped Norweigen statesman called Hallenberg.
How Modesty sets about identifying those responsible is really rather cute. The killers had been careless enough to leave a cotton glove behind at the crime scene. Not of any real forensic value in itself except that Modesty is able to call on the services of an Australian aborigine friend who uses it to, quite literally, sniff the perpetrators out at a society function. Now I have no idea if indigenous Australians really have the capacity to achieve things like this but its the sort of fascinating conceit that O'Donnell was particularly adroit at selling convincingly.
The murderers prove to be a couple of seemingly innocuous coves by the names of Mountjoy and Bird who, amusingly, masquerade as vicars whilst scouting targets for their lucrative extortion rackets. The psychotic Bird particulalry makes for a decent enough villain though he isn't really in Modesty's league and pales beside the rogues gallery of memorable freaks and grotesques with which O'Donnell populated the novels.
Following a terrific sequence in which Modesty and Willie are suckered into a trap sprung on them in a cellar, and then rather ingeniously extricate themselves from it, the action switches to the Cornish cliff top hideaway of Poldeacon. It is here that Modesty and Willie undertake the rescue of Hallenberg by use of the black balloon of the eccentric Lucy Fuller-Jones.
Lucy is the last in a line of distinctly Gamma grade partners which the Alpha male Willie has a disarming habit of consorting with. But at least his girlfriends are marginally less insufferable and grating than Modesty's bedfellows such as the aforementioned Collier and the equally irritating Giles Pennyfeather (thankfully absent from this book).
In my estimation this is the best yarn in the book and by a wide margin too. It boasts all the attributes of the best of the novels - wit and ingenuity and cracking action scenes - without any of the corresponding contrivances in plot and character. And it also displays that underlying current of real nastiness which is what seperates the books from the comic strip and which many fans of the latter object to in the former. But as I see it the books represent the true essence of what O'Donnell - and Modesty - was all about without the restrictions of good taste imposed on either of them by publication in a family newspaper.
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Post by cromagnonman on Oct 1, 2017 19:18:52 GMT
And so we come (at last) to the final contentious story, the titular "Cobra Trap" itself. A story so contentious indeed that I believe some Modesty fans refuse to read it. At this late stage I dont really think its freeing any felines from haversacks and holdalls to reveal that this is the story with which O'Donnell brought the careers of both Modesty and Willie to a final and unequivocal end. It will surprise no one to learn that they go out with a bang. The only question is whether it is a big enough bang to do either of them justice.
But before we reach that point Willie is deputised to channel the ageing O'Donnell's reflections on impending mortality and the Hereafter. We also get some amusing acknowledgements that Willie is no longer as young as he used to be. That said he is still spry enough to take out a machine gun nest single-handed, armed with nothing more than a rock and two knives.
One of the many fascinating aspects to Modesty's book adventures is the suggestion that they are contemporaneous with the years in which they were published. As such all the recurring characters are subject to the passage of Time. The comic strip might exist in a sort of eternal present but in "Cobra Trap" Modesty's age is speculated upon as being somewhere in the vicinity of 52. With a little creative accounting this is reconcilable with the established back story of Modesty being a war's end refugee and with the first novel's catagorical 60s setting.
In "Cobra Trap", as so often in the past, it is the blathering idiot Collier who is the cause of Modesty and Willie's woes. This time the boorish buffoon has got himself caught up in a banana republic revolution and is counting on Modesty and Willie to pull his fat out of the fire for the umpteenth time. This time the onerous duty falls mainly upon Willie's shoulders. It is he who is nursemaiding Collier on the train upon which the ousted government is evacuating its personnel to the Panamanian border. But the train is halted by saboutage to the tracks, and with a force of guerrillas advancing upon them someone is going to have to hold them off until the track can be repaired. No prizes for guessing who draws the short straw for this suicide mission.
Its a straightforward but entertaining enough little tale. The last couple of pages are undeniably powerful and moving. The question remains though about whether such revered characters really deserved more than a mere short story to see them off with. It would surely have been more appropriate to devote a novel to the last escapade of ageing adventurers, but O'Donnell evidently felt that a novel was beyond him by this late stage in his career and so a short story would have to serve.
Did he really need to kill his characters off? Probably not, but then the 90s were notorious for doing away with cherished characters. Captain Kirk had met a miserable and inappropriate end only a year or so previous to the book's release, and Inspector Morse would cadge his last pint only a short time after. The decade also saw Superman (temporarily) go to meet his Kryptonian Maker. Modesty and Willie were victims of the zeitgeist of the times.
COBRA TRAP isn't the best book in the Modesty sequence, not by a long chalk. Its stories are spartan in their variety and short on energy and inspiration. The product of the waning powers of an old man. But its still never less than readable; O'Donnell was far too gifted a writer to ever be less than entertaining, and it goes without saying that Modesty and Willie retain all their charm to the bitter end.
Its an interesting if somber coda to one of the great partnerships of British thriller writing history.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 1, 2017 21:09:56 GMT
Thanks again, Crom, for that very entertaining review of a book I'm unlikely ever to read.
I personally was not in favor of O'Donnell's need to provide "a decisive end" to the exploits of Willie and Modesty. But, as you said, this was very much in the vein of how a lot of genre work had evolved in the 1990s, and the same sort of "dark" trend continues today.
I prefer to think of them as retiring to some quiet nook, perhaps in the Canary Islands, where they would enjoy some peace and sporting fun until the libation of "Mr Weston's good wine" (i.e., "fell off the perch" as Nancy Mitford used to say).
Still, it is very interesting to read such a well-written account of this final volume.
Cheers, H.
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Post by severance on Oct 30, 2017 14:01:47 GMT
A superb overview of the final 'Modesty Blaise' collection - thanks for all the hard work Crom. I've been a huge fan of Modesty Blaise for years, which almost certainly means that I wouldn't be able to give this collection the thorough objectivity that you've given here. Your analysis of "Old Alex," for instance, shows how ridiculous it sounds, and yet I have absolutely no memory of this story - which probably means that it is in fact one of Modesty's lesser 'capers.' I can remember vividly the escapades at the Berlin Wall of "The Giggle-Wrecker" and Willie's first-person narration of his rescue of Modesty in "I Had a Date with Lady Janet" - both stories from O'Donnell's previous Modesty collection "Pieces of Modesty," and yet none of the stories contained here are anywhere near as memorable. That's not to say that I didn't devour the book on it's initial release (and will again), even reading the last story which some fans have vowed never to do. Surely authors are entitled to kill off their creations, like Arthur Conan Doyle did with Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls - though in that case I gather it was because Doyle had come to dislike the character, which you definitely can't say about Peter O'Donnell. His love for writing the characters of Modesty and Willie is shown throughout all the novels and comic strips, perhaps he just felt the need for closure while he was still able to write. Thanks again for your analysis. Lastly, to show what a complete fanatic I am about Modesty Blaise, here are scans of a couple of other editions of "Cobra Trap" that I have in my collection - the large print edition hardback from the Ulverscroft Foundation and a hardback from Sweden with lovely John M. Burns cover art.
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Post by cromagnonman on Oct 31, 2017 13:55:11 GMT
I'm gratified that you approve Sev. Praise of this sort coming from such a true devotee of the Modesty canon as yourself is to be especially welcomed and appreciated.
I guess I class myself as being somewhere between a fan and an afficianado of the series; knowing a bit more about it than the casual reader without being particularly conversant with all its minutiae. This inclines me naturally to be generous with its flaws but not oblivious to its more irritating idiosyncracies. For instance I do share the exasperation of Kingsley Amis over O'Donnell's fascination with psychic powers which he used to paper over some gaping plot holes on occasion. And there is that irksome reliance on coincidence to steer wayward plots out of blind alleys. The first novel, for example, hinges completely on one of Gabriel's men breaking his leg in an accident at just the most propitious moment insofar as Modesty and Willie are concerned. This is the sort of thing you probably can get away with in the context of a daily strip cartoon but it shows up alarmingly in prose.
Saying that, whatever the faults or failings of the books they are heavily outweighed by their delightful virtues. I know I always come back to them however long may have elapsed between readings. I guess that speaks volumes about their residual quality.
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post those wonderful scans. The Burns especially is terrific. It remains one of the great tragedies of the Modesty series that Burns was unaccountably and unceremoniously sacked from the strip cartoon in the manner that he was. Not to denigrate Colvin in the slightest but I think Burns had a far greater aptitude and affinity for the strip. The fact that he still consents to do Modesty illustrations all these years later demonstrates his own personal fondness for the characters.
Can I ask whether you have the US Mysterious Press hardcover editions of the series? And if so whether I might trouble you to post the cover for PIECES OF MODESTY.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 31, 2017 14:36:42 GMT
I found the German collection on my shelf. The original title is said to be "The Modesty Blaise Short Stories", unfortunatly the original story titles are not included. Six stories in all, "I had a Date with Lady Janet" included. So maybe this is "Pieces of Modesty."
Lovely Burns cover. I only knew his comic work, mostly on Nikolai Dante. Great artist.
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Post by severance on Nov 1, 2017 17:05:10 GMT
Can I ask whether you have the US Mysterious Press hardcover editions of the series? And if so whether I might trouble you to post the cover for PIECES OF MODESTY. No worries.
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Post by cromagnonman on Nov 1, 2017 23:34:46 GMT
Can I ask whether you have the US Mysterious Press hardcover editions of the series? And if so whether I might trouble you to post the cover for PIECES OF MODESTY. No worries. Thanks Sev.
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