Wednesday, September 23, 2015

9/23/1935 Secret Agent X-9 gets a new master

September 23, 1935.  Secret Agent X-9 was a comic strip, originally written by Dashiell Hammett and drawn by Alex Raymond (better known for Flash Gordon).  X-9 was the only spy in history who was addressed by his secret spy number instead of his name (huh?).  The agency he worked for was equally nameless.

X-9's adventures began in 1934 but on this date the authoring duties transferred from Hammett, the creator of Sam Spade, to Leslie Charteris, the inventor of the Saint. Sledom has so much talent been spent on so little a result. 

Charteris left the strip a year later but it limped on with a  pseudonymous authors (joining the agent and his agency in namelessness, I guess), until 1992.

1 comment:

  1. "Chuckle!" I can think of one other famous spy only known by a number. Would you believe "99?" :)

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