Secret Agent X-9 [Paperback]

Dashiell Hammett (Author), Alex Raymond (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

One of the best-known pulp writers of the 1930s, Hammett also wrote a comic strip. Commissioned by the King Features Syndicate as an attempt to cash in on the popularity of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, with artwork by Flash Gordon's Alex Raymond, Secret Agent X-9 ran from January 1934 to late 1935. In an excellent introduction, comics' historian Bill Blackbeard warns that the strip is at its best for "one brilliant 3 -month stretch," when X-9 goes after "The Top." After that it sinks into tiresome formula, without any of the charm that made Hammett so popular in the first place. Blackbeard attributes this to massive creative conflicts between Hammett and the syndicate. This is worth it only if you already have a large pulp or Hammett collection, or for Blackbeard's historical documentation.
- Keith R.A. DeCandido, NYPL
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Kitchen Sink Pr (Nrt) (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878160779
• ISBN-13: 978-0878160778
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #620,603 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hugely entertaining two-fisted adventure by two masters, October 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Agent X-9 (Paperback)

Wow! Dashiell Hammett, author of detective classics like "Continental Op", "The Thin Man" and "The Maltese Falcon" teams up with superb illustrator Alex Raymond of "Flash Gordon" fame to create a thriller comic strip. What more could you ask for?

Well, truth to tell this series has more in common with "Doc Savage" or "The Shadow" than Sam Spade. Still it's a rollicking adventure as a mysterious murder kicks off a killer gang's plan to pirate a shipload of gold and slay anyone who gets in their way! X9 mows 'em down with Tommy guns, gats and grenades but they keep coming over land, sea and air!

This is the beginning of X9's career, and is early in Raymond's, too. Hammett left the author's chair at the end of this series and X9, later renamed "Secret Agent Corrigan", became a bit more campy, eventually turning into something of a "James Bond" clone when artist Al Williamson took the strip over after Raymond's fatal car crash. Lots of fun.