The Killing Distance

Modesty Blaise Story Strips #26

by Peter O'Donnell, Enrique Badía Romero (Illustrator)

Continuing the only complete collection of Modesty Blaise Adventures! The return of the 'ass-kicking femme fatale'. Full of classic action and adventure and dripping with 60's chic.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Action

104 pages, Paperback

First published March 17, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Peter O'Donnell also wrote as Madeleine Brent.

http://www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html
is an excellent resource on this author.

To help keep the novels and the adventure strip collections separate, here's some info about the Modesty Blaise works.

In 1963, O'Donnell began his 38-year run as writer of the Modesty Blaise adventure story strip, which appeared six days a week in English and Scottish newspapers. He retired the strip in 2001.

Each strip story took 18-20 weeks to complete. Several publishers over the years have attempted to collect these stories in large softcovers. Titan Publishing is currently in the process of bringing them all out in large-format softcover, with 2-3 stories in each books. These are called "graphic novels" in the Goodreads title.

Meanwhile, during those 38 years, O'Donnell also wrote 13 books about Modesty Blaise: 11 novels and 2 short story/novella collections. These stories are not related to the strip stories; they are not novelizations of strip stories. They are entirely new, though the characters and "lives" are the same. These have been labeled "series #0".

There is a large article on Peter O'Donnell on Wikipedia, with a complete bibliography.

Reviews

[Dragan Nanic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I simply love Modesty. Even when there are two strips missing, like here in Guido the Jinx, or when the print quality is subpar (again Guido).

All of these stories begin relatively banal, yet each of them manage to get its ground and transform into exciting, quality writing. The imagination of Peter O'Donnell is unbelievable - getting pirates and the baby delivery in the same story and topping it with amazing discovery about Willie. Fantastic and fun! And running into the movie set about prehistoric people (to get the plausibility for the scarce outfit, I guess :) And then the killing distance as a scary term and a challenge equal the locked room mysteries.

I want more!

[J Grimsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 very readable stories. The Killing distance is the best

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

At a time (early sixties) when women were almost universally portrayed as weak and the only support that they can give the hero is to make the coffee, Peter O’Donnell created the character of Modesty Blaise. With her partner Willie Garvin, she carries out the most dangerous assignments, yet kills only when absolutely necessary. The two of them are true professional partners, capable of acting independently, yet when orders need to be given, it is Modesty that gives them. While there is no sexual component to their relationship, neither one ever hesitates to strip in front of the other when the circumstances require it.
There are three stories in this graphic novel, “Guido the Jinx,” “The Killing Distance” and “The Aristo.” In the first one, Modesty and Willie are primitive camping along the old silk road in Central Asia when they come across a film crew shooting a story about a tribe of cave men. As is the case in all Modesty stories, when Modesty and Willie agree to serve as stunt people things rapidly escalate into a matter of grave international danger.
In “The Killing Distance” a former highly ranked KGB operative that has changed identity to become a wealthy billionaire decides to have Sir Gerald Tarrant killed. The attempted assassination takes place in front of Modesty and Willie and it then becomes their purpose to turn the tables on the billionaire.
“The Aristo” has Modesty and Willie in Asia making the rounds of disabled retirees from Modesty’s former organization, “The Network.” A major villain attempts to kill them by sabotaging their plane and they are forced to ditch at sea. In true Blaise style where things always go from bad to much worse, this pits Modesty and Willie against a deadly and ruthless pirate crew.
Modesty Blaise is one of the most powerful and capable female characters ever created and in these three stories she is at the top of her game. While they rarely seek danger out for themselves, Willie and Modesty do not hesitate in stepping into it when they encounter what they consider a just cause. Unlike other heroes that kill when it is convenient, they only do so when it is absolutely necessary. These are great stories featuring what was one of the first strong female heroes.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

This time we’ve got a Hollywood location shoot on the Silk Road mixed with uranium theft, an Ex-KGB assassin’s lair in the Atlas Mountains, and (best of all) lost-at-sea, delivering-a-baby fight to the death against pirates on the South China Sea. One of the better compilations, but that are all awesome.

9/10

[Adam Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three more fun romps with Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin. Plenty of far-fetched action and adventure. Great if you like this kind of thing, and I must admit that I do.