ILLUMINATI

Modesty Blaise: Green Cobra by Titan Publishers collects three stories: Green cobra, Eve and Adam and Brethren of Blaise, which are story numbers 42,43 and 44 respectively of the total of 92 stories of Modesty. Modesty Blaise strip has had several artists over the course of its decades, the most famous of them being Jim Holdaway, Romero and Neville Colvin. This volume collects the works of two much lesser known (for modesty fans) artists, John Burns and Pat Wright. As explained in the foreword, after Romero left, these artists were employed one after the other and neither lasted long and to this day, no one knows why. However different their styles might have been, these two had one thing in common, they were booted even before they got well adjusted to the strip. While John Burns illustrated two and a half stories, Pat Wright wasn’t even around that long. Having had read Modesty stories which had been illustrated by either Holdaway or Romero, this volume was quite interestin...

Parker is a stone cold son of a bitch. He is absolutely ruthless, completely professional, unforgiving, unyielding, unpredictable and vicious to the core. So much so that he could easily be portrayed as the antagonist of any story. And therein lies the novelty of the Parker series by Richard Stark. Portraying the ruthless, cold, vicious, professional thief Parker as the protagonist as he goes on pulling one of his daring schemes is the trademark of the Parker series and it almost never fails to deliver. Especially when it is illustrated by Darwyn Cooke. This latest installment of the Parker graphic novel series is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Stark. In the opening pages of the book, we have Parker and his slightly wacky pal Grofield pulling a heist only to see their escape go bad resulting in Parker being on the run with the money. As Parker finds respite in a closed-for-season amusement park, a local mob coupled with some dirty cops spot him and they decide t...

  Modesty Blaise: The Girl in the Iron Mask by Titan Publishers collects three stories: Fiona, Walkabout and the titular The girl in the Iron mask , which are story numbers 70,71,72 respectively of the total of 92 stories of Modesty. In Fiona, Modesty goes to a Bangladeshi jungle to visit a former Network accomplice, Sumitra. Little does she know that the area is being controlled by an old foe who is using an old, abandoned Bangladeshi jungle temple for his drug trade. Sumitra fears for the safety of Modesty and rightly worries that with her aversion for drugs, Modesty is sure to tackle the drug traffickers and decides to keep her in the dark. Along comes Willie with his lovelorn, jealous chimpanzee Fiona(who escaped from Willie's circus to be with him). With the assault on Willie and Modesty, Modesty suspects that something is amiss and so goes the story, which I found utterly predictable and to be on the weaker side of Modesty stories. There isn't too much going on ...