Premio Dardos Award

This blog has received a Premio Dardos award!


The Hammer House of Horror Blog bestowed the award (thank you, Holger!), which is given out by bloggers to blogs. You can read more about the awards in Holger's blog piece; he did the research on what they are and how they work.

It's nice to have some recognition. Although this blog is only a couple of months old, it is an extension of my website, which has been going for about six years now. A lot of work went into that, with contributions from many people, some of whom still pass along any Modesty snippets they find, and many of those end up in this blog, so... it's a group effort. Thanks to all the contributors!

Now I am starting to sound like a rambling Oscar award winner, so before I start thanking my parents and everyone I ever met...

Premio Dardos award recipients can then give the award to another blog (or blogs; some 'rules' say up to 5, some say up to 15.) I think 15 starts would start turning the award into a chain letter, so here are four that I think truly deserve this award:

Bear Alley Blog - dedicated to comics and comic art
Spy Vibe - what is says. Plus, it's a visual treat.
The Drowning Machine - book reviews and interviews
The Bookshelf Muse - a user's guide for writing fiction

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Penguin India 'Garth' Reprints Delayed

It looks like the Penguin India reprinting of the entire 'Garth' series (for which Peter O'Donnell wrote from 1953-1966) is being delayed. The original news release on the Penguin India site, in 2008, said:

"The third major reissue in our retro revival series will be the Complete Garth in a collectible 5-volume hardback graphic novel box set. Garth is a character well known to most Indians through newspaper strips and a brief run as comic books from Indrajal comics. Though there have been a couple of annuals and two dedicated volumes, never before has Garth ever been collected. So for the first time ever fans can get all 16,000 strips covering 165 stories in 3,000-plus pages."

However, the micro-website for the Retro Revival series (which recently reprinted the entire Modesty Blaise series, as well as all the Madeleine Brent novels) seems to be down right now, so looks like we have to wait for more news...

You can view a Garth strip here.

So far the artwork for the Retro Revival series has been stunning, so hopefully we can expect the Garth reprints to be just as good!

Robert McGinnis on YouTube

I came across some video montages of Robert McGinnis' book cover art on YouTube. There's a promo for a McGinnis documentary DVD, which I never knew about and must try to find:


And this montage, Girls, Guns, and Death, includes McGinnis' cover of I, Lucifer.

McGinnis is also featured in this CBS Sunday morning clip, which discusses Stephen King's first 'pulp fiction' novel 'The Colorado Kid' (2005). It is published by Hard Case Crime, a publishing house that aims to bringing back the pulp noir paperback. McGinnis was commissioned to do a number of covers for them, his first book cover work in some years. You can view all the covers on the Hard Case Crime website.

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Marek Losey Film - The Hide

This is a few degrees of separation from Modesty Blaise, but I thought I'd mention it anyway: Marek Losey, grandson of Joseph Losey (director of the 1966 Modesty Blaise film), has a debut film called The Hide. The films, starring Phil Campbell and Alex MacQueen, is adapted from a stage play.

Reviews so far are favourable: you can read the Channel 4 one here.
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Direct Hits - Modesty Blaise song

Only a few weeks after stumbling across the Montt Mardie song 'Modesty Blaise', I came across another track I'd never heard of, yet is decades old!

This snippet on The Word Magazine directed me to Modesty Blaise by The Direct Hits. I don't know how I missed this band in their time, given how much I loved mod bands! - but the song is absolutely great. You can read more about the band here, and can also download the track.

From 'The Songs That People Sing' blog:
"Blow Up came out in 1984. It is, like a lot of their material, very 1966 influenced. Groovy pop that leans into the psychedelic. Touchstones would be The Beatles Rubber Soul, The Who A Quick One and The Jam All Mod Cons."

If you give it a listen, I'd love to hear what you think...

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