Od LSD i hipi scene Londona šezdesetih do terorizma i biološkog rata devedesetih Modesti Blejz je sređivala negativce kao od šale. Nošena talasom narastajućeg feminizma i emancipacije žena, svojom se samostalnošću, sposobnošću, samouverenošću i lepotom nametnula kao uzor svakoj ženi, a da se ne lažemo – i mnogim muškarcima L egendarni scenarista Piter O’Donel je početkom Dru- gog svetskog rata u zemlji koja se tada zvala Persija bio podoficir za vezu u vojsci Velike Britanije. Slučajni susret sa siro- četom i izbeglicom iz neke od balkanskih zemalja, hrabrom i naočitom devojčicom, koja se, iako izgladnela i uplašena, držala dostojanstveno i ima- la neverovatnu energiju, pro- sto je opčinila majstora Pitera. Zakuvalo se u njemu, u njego- voj imaginaciji, i probudilo že- lju da devojčicu koju više ni- kada nije video, nakon što je smazala vojnički gulaš, pono- vo sretne. Za to su mu bile potreb- ne pune dve decenije, kada ju je oživeo u stripu u liku neve- rovatne junakinje Modesti Blejz. Kada sam prvi put čuo da je mu je in- spiracija bila devojčica iz balkanskih zemalja, nadao sam se da će i Mode- sti biti u najmanju ruku Jugosloven- ka. Ipak, O’Donel je izabrao mađar- sko poreklo ove strip junakinje. Ne verujem da su Mađari ponosni na tu činjenicu kao što bi Srbi bili da je ova zanosna crnka jedna od nas. Strip o Modesti Blejz je brzo i neočekivano osvojio strip fanove. I na prostorima bivše SFRJ se pokazao kao veoma interesantno štivo. Lista revija na či- jim stranicama je objavljivana zaista je dugačka. Pokazala se kao nezaobi- lazna. Ikona, ne samo svog vremena nego i vremena koje nam tek dolazi. Jeste Modesti sa Balkana, ali je
From the LSD and hippie scene of London in the 1960s to the terrorism and biological warfare of the ‘90s, Modesty Blaise sorted out the bad guys as though for fun. Carried on the wave of growing feminism and the emancipation of women, with her independence, ability, self-confidence and beauty she imposed herself as a role model for every woman and, frankly, many men too A t the start of World War II, legend- ary writer Peter O’Donnell was sta- tioned as a non-commissioned li- aison officer of the British Army in
strip character Modesty Blaise. When I first heard that the inspiration for this character was a little girl from a Balkan country, I hoped that Modesty would at least also be from Yu- goslavia. However, O’Donnell opted to give his comic heroine Hungarian origins. But I don’t believe the Hungarians are as proud of this fact as the Serbs would have been had this captivating brunette been one of us. The Modesty Blaise comic stories quickly and unexpectedly won over lovers of comics. And it also proved very interesting reading on the territory of the then Socialist Yugo- slavia. The list of publications that published this comic strip on their pages is very long. She proved irresistible ; an icon not only of her own time, but the times that are yet to come for us.
the country then known as Persia. A chance encounter with an orphan and refugee from some Balkan country, a brave and person- able little girl, who – despite being starving and scared – had retained her dignity and possessed incredible energy, simply spell- bound Peter the master writer. In him bub- bled an idea, in his imagination, and a desire awakened within him to again meet that little girl who he never saw again after she wolfed down a plate of army goulash. Making that happen took him two full decades and only occurred when he brought her to life in the form of incredible comic
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