Jon Sable #11
Maggie the Cat is alive!
Indicia Gag: Sanitized for your protection.
Creative Team: Mike Grell-story & art, Peter Iro-letters, Janice Cohen-colors, Mike Gold-editor. Ian Fleming/Terence Young, Tennessee Williams/Richard Brooks, Alfred Hitchcock/John Michael Hayes-inspiration
Synopsis: At a casino, somewhere in Monte Carlo, a game of
Chemin de fer ensues. A handsome man is winning and he lights a cigarette, while introducing himself....
Something familiar in all that....
A woman calls out "Banco!", challenging the Banker, Jon Sable. Sable deals the cards and the woman calls for a third car, and Sable deals a 4. He turns his two cards over, to reveal both face cards, or 0. He has to draw another, and deals an 8. The odds favor him winning again; but, the woman turns over her cards and reveals a Jack and a 5, meaning she has 9 and has won (the Jack has a value of 0 and the 5 and 4 are added for 9). Later, the young woman and Bond...er, Sable, share a glass of champagne and tour the casino, which has a Christmas tree installation, decorated with real jewels....
The centerpiece is the star, with a spectacular diamond in the center. the diamonds belong to Sir Henry Blankenship. Sable and the lady trade banter and she corrects him on the size of the diamond, before leaving, as he has to confer with his employer, Sir Henry Blankenship. Sable is there to provide security for the jewels, before they are auctioned off. He informs Sable of his card partner, Lady Margaret Graemalcyn, Maggie, to her friends. She married into the title, but he died behind the wheel of a fast sportscar, with his mistress by his side. He further briefs Sable on the center piece of the collection, El Captiloio...
The diamond was part of a display at the capital building, in Havana, Cuba, until it was stolen, in 1946. No trace of it was found, but a senate guard and a policeman were formally charged, with the theft. It traded hands several times, before ending up in the hands of Sir Henry Blankenship, who won't speak of how he acquired it. sable is there to ensure it isn't stolen again, before the auction.
Elsewhere, Maggie is approached by a man, named La Roche. He has a proposition for her and she says she isn't interested. He speaks of "professional courtesy" and warns her of Sable. La Roche speaks of the theft of the MacDonald Ruby, in St Moritz, the previous year and Lady Margaret says it is of no interest to her. La Roche tries to stop her leaving and Sable turns up and extinguishes his cigarette in the back of La Roche's hand. Sable walks with her and Maggie says goodnight. Sable remarks about the splendid ruby she is wearing.
La Roche meets with two men, who ask for a progress report. He tells them to relax; if they were to buy the diamond at auction, it would be astronomical; he will charge them a merely outrageous price.
In the night, a black clad figure climbs through a window, above the jewel display. The figure wears a harness, with a winch and cable on it. He hooks up the cable and lowers himself to the floor, with the winch. However, his foot triggers photo-electric beams and set off an alarm. A knife cuts the cable and the figure drops to the floor. Sable holds the knife. He unmasks the unconscious cat burglar and it is La Roche, who is taken away by police, after he has been revived. Sir Henry arrives, with Lady Maraget in tow, having been alerted while they were having a late supper. Sir Henry brags about the security system and then reveals its secrets to Lady Margaret, to Sable's consternation...
Sir Henry is satisfied with Sable's security set up and invites Jon to a party, on his yacht. Lady Margaret will be there and Jon happily accepts.
Meanwhile, in New York, Sonny Pratt comes to a door, with his family name on it, and rings the bell. A woman answers and Sonny says hello to her and he has brought Christmas presents. She slams the door in his face....
At the party, Sable meets up with Maggie and she remarks that she thought he would be on guard duty. He says he is. They dance and enjoy the party, while trading banter about knowing where Lady Margaret is. They share a bottle of champagne, as Maggie talks about the stories about her. She admits there is truth in them, as she dumps a "mickey" into Sable's drink. She says the ruby was a present from her late husband to Lucy MacDonald, squandering his fortune on his mistresses and fast cars. Sable hits her with a bit of info, but doesn't get it entirely right and she corrects him...
She is Cuban and English, her mother an Englishwoman, working at the British Embassy, in Havana, where she met a dashing Cuban police captain. She was the result. El Capitolio was stolen the week before her parents were to be married and he was arrested and falsely charged. He spent 12 years in prison and died behind its walls. She has vowed to steal back the diamond, and Sable is unconscious and cannot stop her.
Maggie climbs the outside of the casino, clad in black fatigues and a beret, to hide her blond hair. She cuts through a glass window and drops a smoke grenade, to reveal the eyebeams of the security system. She fires a quarrel from a crossbow, anchoring a line across the room. She slides out on the line, hanging from a swiss seat rig. She uses a hand torch to cut the diamond out of the star setting and it drops to the floor. She picks it up with ice tongs and then her grappling hook tears through the carpeting, where it anchored and she drops lower, tripping a beam. She swings through a doorway, before security doors slams shut, avoiding the trap.
Sable, groggy, turns up with Sir Henry and they find the diamond gone. Sir Henry rages , but Sable pours a glass of champagne and gives a toast to the best, Maggie the Cat.
Thoughts: This is probably my favorite issue and Maggie the Cat is my favorite guest character. Grell mixes a bit of James Bond, with To Catch a Thief, while taking the name from cat on A Hot Tin Roof. The Monte Carlo setting is straight from the Hitchcock film, where Cary Grant romances Grace Kelly, while hunting for a cat burglar who is operating, who the police believe to be him. Kelly met Prince Ranier of Monaco and they fell in love and married and the American movie star became a real princess, until her death in a car accident. There is a bit of Maggie the Cat in a character in the film. The opening mirrors the introduction of Sean Connery, as James Bond, in Dr No, right down to the card game dialogue, before Grell diverts.
The story is terrific and Grell follows the conventions of caper films, as he illustrates the elaborate security details, plus Sable's own skill and cunning. He presents a coupleof potential burglars and lets one get caught. Then, he has Maggie pull of the crime in spectacular and meticulous fashion. The best part is Maggie's plan and actions are very plausible. She eliminates Sable by drugging him, which you'd think he'd be wary, given he believes she is L Roche's back-up, for the Cubans; but, he has demonstrated he is a bit of an idiot, where women are concerned. So, with Jon out of the picture, Maggie scales the building and gains entry, then uses a smoke grenade to reveal the laser beams that cross the room. Lasers will appear in smoke, as it intercepts the beam. She can see where to maneuver and she shoots a grapple across the room. Note she snags it into the carpet, rather than the Hollywood idea of imbedding an arrow (or crossbolt) in a wall, which will support the weight of a man, hanging on a line attached. Maggie fire the grapple, with rope attached, across the room, but, the grapple is a hook that digs in. However, it catches carpet, that slowly tears. She cuts the diamond out of its setting, then the traditional complication arises, as the grapple tears further and she is dropped, breaking the eyebeam. She cuts the line and swings through a doorway, just before the barred doors slam shut on the line and she is able to run away. The scene is rather reminiscent of the theft of the Pink Panther Diamond, at the beginning of Return of the Pink Panther, as is the relationship between Maggie and the thief in that film.
I'm a sucker for caper films and own many, from Topkapi, to How To Steal a Million, Grand Slam, Seven Thieves, Rififi, Bob Le Flambeur, Seven Golden Men, Gambit and the complete series of Mission Impossible, which had Greg Morris forever sliding under and around photo-electric eyebeams. Grell just ticked all the boxes on my adventure list, with this one, including classic Connery Bond.
Chemin de fer is the original form of the game
baccarat, where the object is to get as close to 9 as possible, similar to Blackjack. However, one player is the Banker and makes a wager and the players take it in turn to challenge the bank, for the stated amount, or make individual wagers, in turn. The game uses 6 decks, which are shuffled together and placed in a shoe, for dealing. This is Bond's game, rather than the more modern
baccarat version.
La Roche's harness rig is a small winch (like that on a jeep), with a battery pack to run it. Such winches use a cable, which Sable would not be able to cut, with just a knife, but we can assume he had a rope, instead of a cable.
I especially applaud Grell's use of practical clothing, for Maggie's theft. She wears black utilities and boots, which help hide her in the darkness and hide her feminine silhouette, more than coveralls would. Also, they would be easier to don and shed than coveralls. She has practical combat boots, not some kind of high heeled boot, ala Catwoman or various superheroines or villains. Maggie is a real pro, not a fantasy figure. The beret helps hide her blonde hair, but, is easier to explain as a piece of clothing than a watchcap or balaclava, during her escape. It's all very utilitarian and adaptable to throw off suspicion, compared to what you normally see in comics or Hollywood. When she reappears, she continues the trend of practical work clothing. However, in 1996, Grell launched a Maggie the Cat solo series, at Image, where he had been publishing Shaman's Tears. Here, he adapted Maggie to play a bit more to the market. Her missions were still relatively realistic; but, her work clothes less so. The loose fatigues were replaced by tight clothing and a bustier/corset, and high-heeled lace-up boots. She also got "claws": climbing spikes that could be extended to dig into mortar, around bricks.
It was a concession to commercialism and it didn't help the book. Better to have been true to the character, in my book, though I don't blame Grell for giving in to commercial concerns.
Mike Gold's editorial page promotes the upcoming graphic novel from First; Jerry Bingham's gorgeous adaptation of Beowulf. Elsewhere, Charles Meyerson's essay series on the origins of indie comics continues, with a piece on Jack Katz' The First Kingdom...
Katz had been around since the 40s, but the Undergrounds showed him it was possible to do the idea he had, which became the epic story of The First Kingdom. the series was published by Bud Plant, a comic dealer in California, who also had a West Coast comic distribution business, for a time (before selling off to concentrate on retail and mail order). Bud Plant is his real name and his business is in Grass Valley, CA. When I first started ordering from his catalog, I thought it was fake. It sounds like something from an Underground Comic. However, Bud's operation was always great and provided excellent customer service, with a lot of interesting material. His catalogs did much to expand my interest in the indies, illustrative art, art deco and similar architecture and design, as well as being a source of graphic novels and trade collections. Bud's on-line;
so, check out his site.We get a clue about next issue's plot, in dramatic fashion...
