History ComicStrip / ModestyBlaise

* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: A fourth-wall-friendly version in "The Stone Age Caper": Modesty gets captured by the villain, and his adviser, who's crossed her path before, advises him to have her killed as quickly and straightforwardly as possible. The villain of course decides to do something more elaborate and entertaining, giving her time to escape.
** 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.

* WesternTerrorists: "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.

* PocketProtector: In "The Vampire of Malvescu", Willy is saved when a bullet fired at him hit the tin mug he was holding.

* UnwantedRescue: 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.

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

* EvilPoacher: The dolphin hunter Gaspar in "Dossier on Pluto"
** Also the poachers in "Million Dollar Game".

* FunetikAksent: Willie Garvin's Cockney
** Occasionally inverted to indicate when Willie is speaking in another accent as part of a disguise.

* OpenHeartDentistry: 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.

* UnwantedRescue: 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.

** The last name she chose herself, based upon a character from KingArthur.

* AdaptationDecay: The 1966 movie and the 1982 TV movie bear little resemblance to the comic strip or novels (Modesty is depicted as Italian in one, American in the other, and the 1966 film breaks the No. 1 rule and establishes a romance between Modesty and Willie). Averted by a 1990s DC Comics graphic novel which adapted the first novel straight, with no attempt at Americanizing or major alteration.

** The last name she chose herself, based upon a character from King Arthur.

* PlatonicLifePartners

* ScoobyDooHoax: "The Vampire of Malvescu"
* ShowSomeLeg

* UnwantedRescue: 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.

* WilliamTelling: Part of Willie's KnifeThrowingAct.

* ParallelPornTitles: or rather Parallel Burlesque Titles, with "Immodesty Blaize"

The comic strip had an open AndTheAdventureContinues type ending. In the last of the short story collections, ''Cobra Trap'', the title story is a DistantFinale, which some fans have announced their intention never to read.

* DistantFinale: Averted by O'Donnell choosing not to adapt his final literary Modesty Blaise story, "Cobra Trap", as the comic strip finale (even though other stories from the book were adapted).

* CommissionerGordon: Modesty has ''several''. Sir Gerald Tarrant and Rene Vaubois are the two most prominent.

* DistractedByTheSexy

* ''Literature/ModestyBlaise'' (the novel and its sequels)

* TheVicar: The Reverend Harold Bryant in "The Wicked Gnomes"

* DidNotDoTheResearch: 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.

* ScoobyDooHoax: "Take Me To Your Leader...", "The Vampire of Malvescu"

* ChainedToARailway: In "Sweet Caroline," one of the attention getting murders committed by Sweet Caroline is to drug a famous actress and tie her to a railway track like a heroine from an old-time melodrama.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Willie can supply a quotation from the Book of Psalms to fit any situation. He once spent a year in an Indian prison with nothing to read except a psalter and so has all of the psalms memorised.

* ChainedToARailway: In "Sweet Caroline", one of the attention getting murders committed by Sweet Caroline is to drug a famous actress and tie her to a railway track like a heroine from an old-time melodrama.

* WesternTerrorists: "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.

Occasional attempts to adapt the series to film or television have ended badly. More successful was a sequence of [[Literature/ModestyBlaise novels and short story collections]], all written by O'Donnell.

->-- '''Jennifer K. Stuller''', author of ''Ink-Stained Amazons and Cinematic Warriors: Superwomen in Modern Mythology''

Occasional attempts to adapt the series to film or television have ended badly. More successful was a sequence of novels and short story collections, all written by O'Donnell.

!!The books include examples of:

* ActionGirl
* AdaptationDistillation: The books
* AlternateContinuity: The books from the comic strip.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Willie can supply a quotation from the Book of Psalms to fit any situation. He once spent a year in an Indian prison with nothing to read except a psalter and so has all of the psalms memorised.
* BashBrothers
* BattleStrip
* BerserkButton: Go ahead and hurt Modesty if you don't mind having Willie Garvin rip you to pieces. The [[DeadSidekick reverse]] also applies.
* BlackBraAndPanties
* BondVillainStupidity: ''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.
* TheCaper
* CheckpointCharlie: In "The Giggle Wrecker", Modesty and Willie have to sneak a Soviet detector across the Berlin Wall.
* CommissionerGordon: Modesty has ''several''. Sir Gerald Tarrant and Rene Vaubois are the two most prominent.
* TheCon
* CriminalAmnesiac: Willie in the novel ''Dead Man's Handle''.
* DangerTakesABackseat: Somebody tries this on Modesty and Willie in the first novel.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: In the books
* DiabolicalMastermind: Gabriel
* DisabilitySuperpower: Recurring character Dinah Collier is blind and psychic.
* DistractedByTheSexy
* DoubleStandard: 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.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: While she was running her crime syndicate, Modesty refused to deal in drugs. Or prostitution. Or anything that would require killing innocent people or police. Or even killing other criminals, except in self-defense or defense of another. Although they did a rather large amount of killing re: that last.
* FakeDefector: One of the short stories features a Soviet defector who turns out to be actually a Soviet agent pretending to defect as a way of flushing out and identifying the West's undercover assets as they helped him on his way.
* FingerGun: In a lighter moment in the first novel, Modesty gets in a finger-gun battle with a pair of small boys.
* FullFrontalAssault: In ''The Silver Mistress'' [[spoiler: Modesty fights nude, and greased-up, to keep the much-stronger bad guy from being able to grab her.]] In addition, one of Modesty's favorite tactics when entering a room full of hostiles is "The Nailer"---she strips to the waist and walks in bare-breasted, counting on the moment of startlement she generates to give her the time she needs to do what she must.
* FunetikAksent: Willie Garvin's Cockney
* FunnyForeigner: Caspar in "A Perfect Night to Break Your Neck" is a Funny Foreigner everywhere he goes, speaking in an unidentifiable accent with PoirotSpeak interjections from multiple languages.
-->"Modesty, my old!" Caspar snatched up her hand and kissed it. "I am possessed by a brilliant idea. Let us get married ''tout de suite'', old bean. ''Heiut!'' ''Oggi!'' As captain of the ''Delphine'', I will perform the ceremony. Tovarich Garvin shall be best man."
* GeniusDitz: Dr Giles Pennyfeather - also a {{Dojikko}}
* GrenadeHotPotato: "A Better Day to Die" in ''Pieces of Modesty''
* HearingVoices: ''The Impossible Virgin''; [[spoiler: it's the "fake voices from hidden radio" variation]].
* HeroicNeutral
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: ''The Night of Morningstar'' has a tragic version where [[spoiler:Ben Christie ''actually goes through with it'', because he had just found out that the villains were going to execute a terrorist bombing later that night killing tens of thousands and he absolutely could not die or blow his cover before he had a chance to warn someone. Then, after he murders an innocent teenaged girl to prove that he's not an infiltrator, the villains laugh at him and inform him that they already knew he was CIA even before the test started, and they just wanted to have fun with him. Ben doesn't really survive the revelation.]]
* IKnowMaddenKombat: Cricketing skills allow a missionary to play GrenadeHotPotato in "A Better Day to Die".
* ImpossibleMission
* ImprovisedWeapon: At least OnceAnEpisode
* IronicNickname: Her mentor started calling her "Modesty" as a joke.
* KnifeNut: Willie Garvin
* KnifeThrowingAct: Willie Garvin occasionally goes and does one of these at a circus somewhere when he feels like a holiday; Modesty sometimes plays the target's role.
* LadyOfWar: Modesty
* LockAndLoadMontage
* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: In one novel, Modesty and Willie are captured by a villain who wants to see if their reputation for inventiveness is deserved before recruiting them. He locks them in a cell but deliberately leaves a means of escape to see if they will discover it. They do, then decide that is too obvious and must be a trap, and proceed to invent their own means of escape. The bad guy is very impressed.
* MoralDissonance: Lampshaded in the short story "I Had a Date with Lady Janet" when Willie (narrating the story in first person) defends accusations of Modesty being a cold-blooded killer.
* MoreExpendableThanYou: Whenever a caper requires Modesty to put her life on the line, Willie asks if he can't do it instead.
* MurderInc: Salamander Four, amongst others
* MythologyGag: In "Cobra Trap", a character remarks how great Modesty looks for her age, a LampshadeHanging on her lack of apparent aging in the decades the comic strip had been running.
* ObfuscatingStupidity:
** Willie, sometimes.
** Jack Fraser, star secret agent wolf in the clothing of a meek and pedantic DeskJockey. The first sentence of the first novel:
--->Fraser adjusted his spectacles to the angle which he knew would produce the effect of prim stupidity he favoured most.
* PinPullingTeeth: During the climactic battle in the first novel.
* PlatonicLifePartners
** "Cobra Trap" has a scene where [[spoiler: Modesty kisses Willie before telling him that she's dying]].
* {{Qurac}}: The Sheikdom of Malaurak in the first novel.
* RedScare
* SecretlyDying: In the DistantFinale "Cobra Trap", [[spoiler:Modesty is killed in action shortly after revealing to Willie that she's already dying, from an inoperable brain tumor]].
* ShowSomeLeg
* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay: The name "Jacqueline" inserted into any conversation is Modesty & Willie's private signal for 'I'm in trouble and can't talk openly.'
* TrickedOutShoes
* TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: A fourth-wall-friendly version in ''A Taste For Death'': the second banana villain--who has been defeated by them before--practically jumps up and down shouting, "Kill them now!" or (later) "They're up to something, kill them now!" But he's overruled. It goes poorly for him.
** Major the Earl St. Maur, in ''Night of Morningstar'', argues for dropping Modesty & Willie over the side the instant the Watchmen finish determining whether or not our heroes managed to send a message before being captured. (They hadn't.) He is overruled by his superior Colonel Golitsyn, who wishes to keep Modesty & Willie alive for use in an elaborate disinformation plot. Karmically, Golitsyn was one of the first of the Watchmen's senior leaders to die in Modesty & Willie's inevitable escape; St. Maur was the last.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Delicata kills Gabriel for this reason in ''A Taste For Death''.

!!Various adaptations include examples of: