|
Post by cromagnonman on Nov 21, 2017 10:46:40 GMT
Why is it, I wonder, that humble pie has such a disagreeable taste?
Allow me to own up to an error propogated in the above review. I guess it wouldn't matter overmuch had I not compounded matters by unwittingly perpetuating the mistake in the rewrite currently running in the latest issue of Men of Violence.
With regards to the story "The Dark Angels": I implied above that Romero's version - which appeared in Agent X9 - was an adaptation of the printed text story. In the rewrite I explicitly state that O'Donnell had no direct involvement in the Finnish comic. As I now belatedly realise this is not true. "The Dark Angels" actually began life as an original script which O'Donnell wrote in the mid 1980s for a proposed Modesty Blaise graphic novel. For reasons I am not privy to that project never came to fruition. But it was this unused script that O'Donnell forwarded to Romero after his retirement for use in Agent X9. A couple of pages of the script can be found in the 1987 Titan Books collection Death of a Jester. O'Donnell used the same script himself of course as the basis for the COBRA TRAP story.
Apologies for inadvertantly misleading any die hard Modesty aficionados out there. An honest mistake on my part. To err is human - even back here in the Stone Age. I hope it doesn't detract too much from anyone else's enjoyment either.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Apr 4, 2020 0:53:51 GMT
Making a note on this thread to record that I'm very glad I kept all my Jim Holdaway Titan Modesty books (except for the last one, which is from 1970 when Romero took over). They've proven to be the perfect reading matter to help me cling to my few remaining vestiges of sanity during this very challenging period.
I've always acquired more of an admiration for O'Donnell's powers as a story-teller. Maybe a mixed bag as an author of novels, but brilliant at plotting--and coming up with cleverly angular dialogue--for the comics. And as somebody in one of the introductory essays points out, that's not as easy as people think it is.
I may wind up ordering that final Holdaway book again...
cheers, Steve
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Apr 4, 2020 11:41:33 GMT
I had the opportunity to browse in some of the comic collections. While I was surprised how much text those daily three picture strips have and how slow they often seem, I liked the art a lot. It is so different from normal comics, but the work put into them is astounding.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Apr 4, 2020 12:21:39 GMT
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Apr 4, 2020 13:58:02 GMT
Modesty in music: fabulous version of the 1966 film song by Virginia Vee in a Scopitone video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S_Q5kXkNR8An "offbeat" duo called Sparks did a 1980s New Wave/synthpop styled thing they had to call "Modesty Plays," probably due to copyright issues: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOI2mw7GOJ4I'm not sure just what the subtext of this video was. H.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Apr 4, 2020 14:23:13 GMT
Here is another edition. This was a rather short-lived edition, 76-77, three series of King Feature material. All the original titles were changed, sometimes more, sometimes less. Jessie Fox is Modesty Blaise, Rip Kirby is, well, Rip Kirby and Agent Corrigan is Secret Agent X-9. Artwork is by Romero, Prentice and Williamson. The line-up was often changed, there were short stints of The Aquanauts by Weinberg, The Seekers by Burns and The Cisco Kid bay Reed and Salinas.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Apr 4, 2020 14:32:10 GMT
Cool scan. Thanks, Andreas!
On one of the sites I looked at this morning, the person (Scandinavian I think but can't recall specific nationality) seemed to think that Modesty was re-titled "Agent X9" in some European markets. I wonder if this was a common confusion. I think the person was mainly a computer game collector so his knowledge of comics may have been erratic.
Steve
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Apr 4, 2020 16:26:01 GMT
Cool scan. Thanks, Andreas! On one of the sites I looked at this morning, the person (Scandinavian I think but can't recall specific nationality) seemed to think that Modesty was re-titled "Agent X9" in some European markets. I wonder if this was a common confusion. I think the person was mainly a computer game collector so his knowledge of comics may have been erratic. Steve Say included instead of re-titled, and it is right :-) Of course it was re-titled. Can't say why. At the end of the sixties/early seventies there were still comic-strips in regional newspapers. As a young lad I made an album of Jeff Hawke which was translated as Peter Falke, cutting out every daily part. Can't still understand why there is no British reprint of the complete Jeff Hawke. I even bought an Italian one, seems the series was pretty successful there. But it was common to either translate names or invent one because it didn't sound right for the predominant young customers. Garth was published as John Tornado.
Good you held on on the Titan edition. Seems most of it is out of print. Of course 15 volumes are a lot.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Apr 8, 2020 2:46:51 GMT
I have been reading the Jim Holdaway Modesty strips at quite a clip... it seems to help to immerse myself in a fantasy version of Sixties London/Cosmopolitania at regular intervals during this challenging time.
Tonight I ordered The Hell Makers, Holdaway's penultimate volume, which I may have somehow failed to buy when it was initially out. I was pleased to find a used copy on a popular online retail site (let's call it Sapphist) for under 20 bucks, inclusive of shipping--pretty sure I'd have paid around the same amount for it when it was new.
Talking of Sixties London, last night I started revisiting some of the late Honor Blackman's episodes of The Avengers. Now and forever an utter delight. I'm glad Honor enjoyed such an excellent long life with so many marvelous adventures (and Avengers) and leaves such a wondrous legacy behind her. Hail the Traveller!
cheers, H.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Apr 8, 2020 7:39:06 GMT
Talking of Sixties London, last night I started revisiting some of the late Honor Blackman's episodes of The Avengers. Now and forever an utter delight. I'm glad Honor enjoyed such an excellent long life with so many marvelous adventures (and Avengers) and leaves such a wondrous legacy behind her. Hail the Traveller! cheers, H. O yes, another sad loss. Strangely I have never seen her contribution to The Avengers. They are never re-run, and I have only some of the b/w Rigg series on the shelf. But recently I watched her Bond on TV once again, and it still held up.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Apr 8, 2020 12:22:57 GMT
|
|