1Modesty Blaise

The Original: Created in 1963 by Peter O'Donnell and Jim Holdaway, Blaise began life in a comic strip but has since gone on to conquer books, TV and even a movie or two.

Her background has been debated, though it's largely agreed that she worked her way up a criminal organisation, got rich, then retired and, bored by her wealth, accepted assignments for the British Secret Service.

Blaise has been filmed before in 1966 as a comedy thriller, as a 1982 TV movie that was intended to launch a series and one more effort (see below).

Our Director Pick: Quentin Tarantino. He loves the 'toon, was a sponsor for a less-than-successful, dumped-to-DVD 2003 Miramax take on the character (My Name Is Modesty) and has expressed interest in making his own version.

The Pitch: Have QT dig out the treatment he commissioned from, of all people, Neil Gaiman, let them work on the script together and give it the full-on Tarantino treatment.

And we'd cast Emily Blunt as Modesty, in a whacked-out, 60s-set tale of the character investigating an underworld protection racket run primarily by… a pair of puppeteers who turned to crime after the music halls closed down.