- Detectives Inc.
-
Detectives Inc. 
Detectives Inc.: A Terror of Dying Dreams (1985). Cover art by Gene ColanPublication information Publisher Eclipse Enterprises Formats Original material for the series has been published as a set of graphic novels. Publication date 1980: Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green
1985: Detectives Inc.: A Terror Of Dying DreamsMain character(s) Ted Denning, Bob Rainier Creative team Writer(s) Don McGregor Artist(s) Marshall Rogers, Gene Colan Letterer(s) Tom Orzechowski, Mindy Eisman Editor(s) Dean Mullaney Detectives Inc. is a series of two original graphic novels written by Don McGregor and published by Eclipse Enterprises in 1980 and 1985.
The first, Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green, featured black-and-white art by penciler-inker Marshall Rogers. The second, Detectives Inc.: A Terror Of Dying Dreams, was drawn by Gene Colan, and printed directly from his detailed pencils; a later comic-book reprinting added a sepia-tone wash in place of inking.
These two early graphic novels were not superhero or science fiction/fantasy stories, and A Remembrance of Threatening Green (1980) was the first naturalistic graphic novel to follow Will Eisner's influential A Contract with God. The Gay League's "LBGT Comics Timeline" cites the book as "featuring the first lesbian characters in mass-market comics".[1]
Contents
Description
Set in and around New York City, the two humanistic mystery-dramas each stars interracial-buddy private detectives Ted Denning and Bob Rainier. A Remembrance of Threatening Green involves a midwife hiring the investigators to find who killed her lesbian lover. In A Terror of Dying Dreams, a social worker has the duo investigate a wife-beating millionaire.
Publication history
The books' genesis, McGregor recalled, had gone back several years. "I had created Detectives Inc. as early as 1969, as roles for Alex Simmons and myself to play in Super8 millimeter movies I was making".[2] In the early 1970s, the two produced a crude Detectives Inc. comic book, self-published via photocopier.
Eclipse Comics later reprinted the two graphic novels as color comic-book miniseries, dividing the former into two issues (1985) and the latter into three (June, Sept., Dec. 1987), with new Colan covers inked by Steve Leialoha. The graphic novels themselves were reissued by Image Comics in 2001 (ISBN 1-58240-084-9 and ISBN 1-58240-097-0, respectively).
In 1985, McGregor wrote and directed a low-budget, shot-on-video movie version of Detectives Inc., which has been shown at comic book conventions but remains unreleased commercially.
The graphic novels are unrelated to the book Detectives Inc.: A Mystery Story for Boys by William Heyliger (Goldsmith Publishing Company, Chicago, 1935) or to the children's book Goblinz! Detectives Inc. (ISBN 0-14-131501-6) by Kaye Umansky (Puffin/Penguin Books, 2004).
Critical assessment
Ain't It Cool News, Oct. 9, 2001: "McGregor sought to create a realistic private detective comic book, and he succeeded in spades, producing a violent, touching and emotional story. ...[W]hat’s going on with the characters, how they relate to one another and the others in their lives, is equally as important as the plots they find themselves in. McGregor is as interested in why people do what they do and how they deal (or are unable to deal) with the demons they carry around. For the detectives, sometimes it seems the case is just a way of distracting them from their own problems, such as Denning’s attempts to deal with killing a teenage boy to save his partner in the prologue to the story, or Rainer’s ever-present strained relationship with his ex-wife".[3]
References
- ^ Gay League LGBT Comics Timeline
- ^ Mile High Comics: Interview with Don MCGregor
- ^ AICN COMICS: Crime Comics Special!!", by "Moriarty" NOTE: Contains erroneous credit for first graphic novel's artist.
External links
- Detectives Inc. page of Don McGregor official site
- Thrilling Detective: Ted Denning & Bob Rainier
- Comics2Film: Detectives Inc.
- Images from the Detectives Inc. movie
- Review of Detectives Inc.: A Terror of Dying Dreams
- Review by Chris Beckett of Review of Detectives Inc.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green
- The Comics Journal #54 (March 1980): "From Detective to Detectives Inc.: An Interview with Marshall Rogers", pp. 56-70 (offline)
- The Comics Journal #62 (March 1981): Review by R. Fiore, po. 8-9 offline)
- Comics Feature #6 (Oct. 1980): Review by Peter Gillis, pp. 77-78 (offline)
- Wizard #13 (Spring 1980): "Marshall Rogers at Midnight" (interview), pp. 4-9 (offline)
- Wizard #14 (Winter 1981): Review (with other works), pp. 34-37 (offline)
Categories:- Eclipse Comics titles
- American graphic novels
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
