Magda Mather (James Bond)

Magda Mather is an arch-villainess in James Bond. 
Appears in - The newspaper strip story The Sea Dragon (1977)
Most of the 1960's and 1970's Bond strips appeared in the UK newspaper, The Daily Express. However, this story was missed for some reason, and until published in one of the books collecting the newspaper strips in 2013, it had not appeared in any English language newspapers.
Written by - J D Lawrence with art by Horak
Story - Despite Bond's best efforts, leading businessman Sir Ivor Morlock is killed in a boat explosion caused by a mine put on the vessel by a female scuba diver. Because Bond leapt into the ocean to pursue the assassin, he escaped the carnage, but is injured slightly.
Later in hospital, a male assassin tries and fails to murder Bond, who puts him out of action. Later, Bond confronts and defeats a female nurse who set up the assassination attempt.
Clues eventually lead to Bond and his superiors to suspect a "Women's lib" corporation called "She Unlimited" is responsible for Sir Ivor's murder. Using the trick of pretending his helicopter is in mechanical trouble, Bond lands on top of the "She Unlimited" skyscraper in London. Using his alias Mark Hazard, Bond meets American Magda Mather (initially at gunpoint) the blonde chief of "She Unlimited," who is nicknamed "Big Mama." Bond also accidentally comes across the scuba assassin girl, who pulls a knife on him. Bond socks her in the jaw, knocking her cold (he conceals the body). Magda has her female mechanic "repair" Bond's helicopter, but the woman has actually planted a bomb in it. When he flies away, Bond escapes the copter by jumping out of it into the Thames just before it explodes.
Meanwhile, out in the North Sea, a massive, serpent like "monster" attacks a ship and "swallows" Max Goodstone, one of the heads of a firm called the North Sea Oil Consortium. Magda Mather has been trying to buy the Consortium, but has been rebuffed by the owners.
Bond and his bosses realize that the 2 murdered businessmen were founders and chiefs of the oil company. There is only one surviving partner, Jacques Vizard. He also refuses to sell to Magda, who dispatches a gun-girl to France to murder him - which she does, shooting him during a masked costume party at Vizard's chateau. The female assassin escapes just ahead of Bond, who has arrived at the chateau moments too late.
Bond meets Angelique, Vizard's daughter and heir. Despite pressure from her father's partner, she won't be steamrollered into selling the corporation to Magda Mather either. The partner secretly works for Magda, and Bond manages to stop him murdering Angelique, killing the villain in the process.
Bond takes Angelique to sea on a launch, figuring she will be the next target for the "Sea Dragon" which he suspects is a submarine controlled by Magda. A helicopter appears and bombs the launch, Bond and Angelique leaping into the sea just as it explodes. While they are in the water, the huge "Sea Dragon" appears, swallowing the pair, who find themselves inside a submarine where they are "greeted" by Magda Mather and a gun-woman.
Magda explains she had killed Goodstone after he had been swallowed by the Dragon earlier. She tells Bond the Dragon is armed with torpedoes and missiles. Being taken prisoner by Magda and her all female crew doesn't stop Bond from later making love to a predatory villainess. The Dragon approaches a North Sea oil rig. Magda explains that after she has killed Angelique, the Consortium shares will be put on the open market. Magda intends destroying the oil platform, which will cause the Consortium share prices to plummet, so she can buy it up cheaply. It seems the Dragon is so strong it can collapse the rig by smashing its supports with its tail. In the control area of the Dragon sub, Bond suddenly launches a surprise attack, taking the villainesses off their guard, he karate chops Magda and the 2 pilots and knocks down a gun-woman, taking her pistol. Bond escapes from the Dragon through an emergency hatch. Perching on its head he shoots out the Dragon eyes which are TV cameras, much to the consternation of Magda and her goons inside.
Bond is rescued, taken aboard the oil rig. The Dragon begins its attack on the platform, but Bond, swinging down on a crane hoist, drops a petrol bomb into the monster's mouth. This knocks out the submarine's controls.A frustrated Magda now changes to a new plan. Grabbing Angelique at gunpoint, she abandons her henchwomen, shooting one in the process, and leaves the Dragon in an escape capsule sub. Magda tells Angelique the action of the escape capsule automatically armed a bomb inside the Dragon. a button in the mini sub will detonate it, which she intends to. But Bond swings down on the mini sub and smashes the window with a wrench (?). Before she can shoot him, Bond throws the tool at Magda; hit on the head, Magda collapses, but her hand falls on the destruct button. The Sea Dragon, with Magda's henchwomen inside, goes up, bursting into fragments. The mini sub is caught up in the explosion and starts sinking. The oil rig crane lifts the sub, containing Angelique and the unconscious arch-villainess, onto the platform. Later, a captured Magda rages at Bond, who explains to the platform workers that she is a woman who had a Dragon and "a flock of the worlds most dangerous birds" ...and that "Unhappily they became EXTINCT!"
Appearance - a blonde woman , probably in her mid to late 30s
Weapons - A handgun. The Sea Dragon. Helicopters. Bombs. Mines.
Character - Ruthless, cold blooded, murderous, greedy
Notes - 
- Though there are frequently female villains in these Bond newspaper strips, Magda Mather is the only "boss." 
- She is also pretty unique in being an arch-villain who doesn't die at the end.
- Though we are told Magda heads a "women's lib" corporation, there really no emphasis on sexual "politics" in the story. Magda comes over as a standard Bond arch-villain - greedy, predatory, vicious, sociopathic etc. The only major"feminist" angle is that her aids are exclusively (very wicked) criminal women.
- Angelique, the heroine, is disappointingly passive in "The Sea Dragon," basically doing nothing to aid Bond when he takes on Magda and her minions. For a Bond story which has chosen to go the non stereotypical route of having predominantly ruthless female antagonists, this is a disappointing fault. It might have been preferable if Suzi Kew, a semi regular female agent ally in the newspaper stories, who has a very small role in this adventure, had been with Bond in the danger spots, rather than Angelique...or if they had just toughened up the latter.
==Gallery==
Magda's Sea Dragon JPEG.jpg|thumb|Magda Mather's Sea Dragon
Magda Mather and Angelique JPEG.jpg|thumb|Magda Mather and Angelique
Magda Mather and Bond.jpg|thumb|Magda Mather and Bond
Magda's gungirl covers Angelique.jpg|thumb|Magda's gungirl covers Angelique
Magda's scuba girl assassin.jpg|thumb|Magda's scuba girl assassin
Magda Mather -a hench-girl has a gun in Angelique's back.jpg|thumb|Magda Mather - a hench-girl has a gun in Angelique's back
Magda Mather and hench-girl.jpg|thumb|Magda Mather and hench-girl
Bond karate chops Magda Mather jpeg.jpg|thumb|Bond karate chops Magda Mather
Magda Mather threatens Angelique.jpg|thumb|Magda Mather threatens Angelique
Bond foils gun toting Magda Mather with the wrench jpeg.jpg|thumb|Bond hits gun toting Magda Mather with the wrench
Category:1970s
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