Modesty Blaise

Independent adventurer · former leader of the Network

Documented in: Prose · Newspaper strips

Modesty builds her own life after a refugee childhood. Having retired from the Network, she chooses challenges rather than settling into an ordinary retirement.

She and Willie Garvin share an exceptionally close, non-romantic partnership. Their loyalty is central to both the newspaper and prose adventures.

Her past as leader of the Network gives her contacts, resources and loyalties that outlast her retirement. Her adventures often begin with a threat to a friend rather than an official assignment.

The prose and newspaper stories share their central partnership, but they do not form a single continuous chronology. Even the circumstances of Tarrant’s first approach differ.

Her interests reach beyond combat. The prose and strips show her carving gemstones, playing chess and trying her hand at painting and embroidery. These everyday pursuits help give the adventurer a life between crises.