'Modesty Blaise' #1178 by Jim Holdaway

My recent acquisition—the original art used for an episode of 'The Black Pearl', the 10th Modesty Blaise adventure, drawn by Jim Holdaway, and appeared in the 'London Evening Standard' in February 1967.

You can see more of my 'Modesty Blaise' comics in my collection here.

 

#7 Modesty Blaise by Jim Holdaway

In one of my last posts about comics, I mentioned how I envy artists who can create perfect drawings with seemingly random and out-of-control lines.

I think this original from Modesty Blaise by Jim Holdaway, from 1965 is a great example. By the way, there is no one single correction on this strip.

 

#6 Modesty Blaise by Jim Holdaway

I always envy comics artists who can create seemingly random and out-of-control lines for perfect drawings. 

Two of them, Yaroslav Horak of James Bond, Jim Holdaway of Modesty Blaise are English. 

 

If you need any proof, just look at Jim Holdaway's signature. Of course, I also love Modesty Blaise comics because of his characters. But sometimes in the rush of lines and deadlines, artists lose track of some other aspects of the drawing. 

 

A good example is this strip of Modesty Blaise's episode "Galley Slaves" from 1968. Just look how small M-16 is in comparison to the person in the middle frame. It looks like he is holding a toy gun. But then, who cares. Just look at how simple and beautiful the drawing of Modesty's hand is in the last frame of the comic.
 

You can see more Modesty Blaise original strips here1, here2, here3, here4 and here5.

 

 

Modesty Blaise (Galley Slaves), Part 3, by Jim Holdaway

Sometimes one gets lucky. 

I managed to acquire another comic strip by of Modesty Blaise (Galley Slaves) from 1968 by Jim Holdaway. Now I have three consequential strips from the same episode.

More of Modesty Blaise from my collection here, here, here here and here.

 

Modesty Blaise (Galley Slaves) by Jim Holdaway

I acquired these two comic strips of Modesty Blaise (Galley Slaves) from 1968 by Jim Holdaway not only because I had the unique chance to buy two sequential strips but also because of the drawing of the warship. Despite being painted as a minimalistic geometric abstraction, the warship is still completely realistic and convincing.

More of Modesty Blaise from my collection here, here, here and here.

Alex Raymond, Jim Holdaway and... Mirko Ilic

Seeing this cover of this Italian Il Mago comics magazine from 1979, makes me smile.

Not very often, as a matter of fact never before, the face of my comic “ hero”  appeared between faces of Rip Kirby by Alex Raymond and Modesty Blaise  by Jim Holdaway.

 

Modesty Blaise by Jim Holdaway

I recently acquired a Jim Holdaway daily comic strip Modesty Blaise (London Times Mirror, 1970). This specific strip is from the story titled "The War-Lords of Phoenix". Sadly, Jim Holdaway would pass away several months after this strip was published.

Here you can see the previous posts of my Modesty Blaise acquisitions.
Post 1   Post 2   Post 3

Even without Modesty Blaise

When you know... you know. Even without Modesty Blaise or having much drawing this still looks great. Modesty Blaise comic strip from 1969 by Jim Holdaway

She's finally mine.

After waiting for her for so many years she finally gentle fell into my arms and said "I'm yours." And in the background a man was singing: "Wasn’t hard to love you Didn’t have to try Wasn’t hard to love you Didn’t have to try Held you for a little while My Oh My Oh My"