RE: RARA-AVIS: Top 100 Hard-Boiled Characters

From: Anderson, Erick (ETW) ( Erick.Anderson@nike.com)
Date: 21 Mar 2002


        Jim Doherty wrote:

> I nominate the above based on the character's
> long-term popularity, the quality of the writing, and
> the influence the characters, or their creators have
> had on the genre. On that basis, I'd like to nominate
> two characters who, though they appear in novels and
> short stories, were created for mediums other than
> prose fiction.
>
> Joe Friday (Jack Webb; the radio/TV series DRAGNET)
>
> Dick Tracy (Chester Gould; the TRACY newspaper strip)
>
> Webb, through Friday and DRAGNET was virtually the
> inventor of the police procedural sub-genre, and
> writers from McBain to Creasey have acknowledged the
> influence of the show on their own work.
>
> Tracy is, with the sole exception of Sherlock Holmes,
> the most famous detective in fiction.
>
>

----

Which brings up a question: Should this Top 100 be limited strictly to characters from HB Literature, or HB in general? The latter would be broader based and would more easily dovetail with Jim's nominations from other genres.
Comments?
Best Regards, Erick

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