TOP 50 FEMALE/MALE FIGHTS IN COMICS: #14

Though I started this list with no particular reason to hurry, I'm now thinking I'll try to finish it by the end of the year, and maybe after that cap off the blog with a final post saying something like HEIDI MCDONALD WAS WRONG (see initial posts for explanation).

For Post #14 I'm going to fudge my standards a little once more in that the next selection stems not from comic books but from comic strips-- where one rarely sees long, drawn-out battles, given the comic strip's demands in terms of sheer space and narrative syncopation. But I can't allow the superior work of MODESTY BLAISE-- created/written by Peter O'Donnell and illustrated by Jim Holdaway and others-- not to appear on a blog of this nature.

Ironically, Modesty's battles with male or female opponents come across better on those occasions when O'Donnell translated one of her comic-strip adventures into prose. There, O'Donnell was free to choreograph any given battle with as much detail as he pleased. In the strip, his artists were under greater restrictions.

The best Modesty-vs.-males fight I've seen appears in the storyline THE BLACK PEARL, wherein Modesty has to outfight three bulky Tibetan guys to prove her ability to lead a rebel group. As I'm still scannerless, I've no scenes from it. In compensation here's the cover to the adventure and a scene from a different adventure in which Modesty demonstrates a brand new method of foot massage. One would think Quentin Tarantino would've enjoyed it, at least.