Jim Holdaway strips featuring Modesty Blaise herself are becoming incredibly rare to come across, as they all stay in the private collection of collectors. One of the most important British newspaper strips, and beautifully drawn by the original Modesty Blaise artist Jim Holdaway, who created her unmistakable style, this strip is a beauty to behold. The strip is signed in a wonderful box signature in the final panel, within a deep space of black ink, deliberately placed there by Holdaway. Featuring the two main protagonists; Midesty and her right hand man Willie Garvin, the strip also features The Black Pearl- namesake of the story herself, the Bear Garvin has befriended. The central panel featuring Djut and Modesty showcases Holdaways panache for intimate facial features, whilst the first and signal panels show what can be achieved by a master of illustration with a looser inking. This strip is in very good condition but as is visible, has a ruckled corner and a fold to the lower left corner which has not become a tear. The Black Pearl was the 10th story in the Modesty Blaise series to be published by the Evening Standard and written by Peter O’Donnell. The series became extremely popular and syndicated worldwide. A series of novels was also written by Holdaway, including one which featured as the book Vincent Vega (John Travolta) is reading when he is killed by Bruce Willis in the Quentin Tarantino film ‘Pulp Fiction’. Modesty Blaise newspaper strips were drawn/ painted by Jim Holdaway, Enric Badia Romero, John Burns who sadly passes away recently, Patrick Wright and Neville Colvin. Dick Giordano also drew a comic for DC comics. Films have also been made.