On Sun, 12 Jan 1997, William Denton <buff@vex.net> wrote: >On Sun, 12 Jan 1997, Flavio wrote: > >: -SECRET AGENT X9 (http://mmnewsstand.com/AgentX/)- spy comic strip >: written by Hammett (I'm not sure he wrote all the stories). > >This is a different Secret Agent X9, I think. It looks good, though. >I think Hammett's stuff was printed in a book, but does anyone know if >it's available? Or what the storylines were like? *That* Agent X-9 isn't Hammett's Secret Agent X-9. Flavio's right, however, Hammett didn't write all the Secret Agent X-9 stories, he worked on the strip from Jan 1934 to April 1935 before his disregard for deadlines led to a closing of the contract. While Hammett was on contract, he wrote the scripts which were rather Continental Op-esque in nature. Comic Art Historian Bill Blackbeard considers the strips to evoke characterisations from The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man. The SA X-9 strips were drawn by Alex Raymond, who went on to draw Flash Gordon. The strip marks the start of Raymond's career and the end of Hammett's. Some scripts were apparently 'mucked about with' by King Features subs and the earlier stuff is generally regarded as the better material. There are two volumes of collected Secret Agent X-9 strips from 1934 which are quite collectible---ie pricey and rare. More recent, and more affordable, is a single volume reprint _Dashiell Hammett's Secret Agent X-9_ with an introduction by William F. Nolan (International Polygonics Ltd: NY, 1983). This reprints the four complete strips Hammett wrote: 'You're The Top!'; 'Mystery of the Silent Guns''; 'The Martyn Case' 'The Torch Car Case'. According to Julian Symons, the Feds were interested in the X-9 strip because it had not been 'cleared', so this brought Hammett to the attention of the FBI. OK, the first syndicated detective strip was Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, which dealt with the very real issue of gangsterism in a reassuring way --- a lantern-jawed agent of justice sorted out the corrupt mobsters in a way that the real repressive state apparatuses were signally failing to do. The strip ran in the Chicago-based Tribune-News Syndicate, and started in 1931. The strip proved to be very popular --- so popular that Randolph Hearst wanted one for his newspapers. Hammett, at the top of his tree in 1933, was approached, and agreed to write for Hurst's King Features. The strip began in January 1934. Hammett 'left' in 1935, and Raymond handled some scripting until Leslie Charteris (as in The Saint) was hired. Charteris did only one complete story, 'The Fixer' (which is included in the 1983 collection) and this was also Raymond's last X-9 strip. At one time the strip criticised a pink-tinged writer --- shades of the Frankenstein monster turning on its creator ;-) (I don't have a reference to this to hand --- maybe it's in Layman) In 1967 the strip was renamed Secret Agent Corrigan, and was written and drawn by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. In 1980 George Evans took over both roles. The strip may still be running today. FWIW, this was the last Hammett material to be published during his lifetime. On crime comics, see: Mike Benton, _The Illustrated History of Crime Comics_ (Taylor: Dallas, 1993). Eddie Duggan -------------------------- Where did I put that damn .sig? -------------------------- - # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" # to majordomo@icomm.ca