Secret Agent X-9

Rating:
Summary: Hugely entertaining two-fisted adventure by two masters
Review: 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.