- Synopsis - Samples - Behind the Scenes - Reviews - Buy the Book! -

Synopsis

"This book has it all!

NUDITY
      HOMOSEXUALITY
            BISEXUALITY
                  ABORTION
                         POVERTY
                               RACE WARS
                                     and MURDER!

Yet, it lacks one thing that typical overground comics revel in...and that's sensationalism." -- WHIZZARD

That review catch your eye?

It is exactly the intent and impact I had hoped for when I wrote DETECTIVES INC.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green.

Sample Pages

So, you've scanned through the info on this page, seen what Don has said about the story, read what other folks had to add in their reviews, and even checked out a few of the panels of Marshall Rogers' art, but you're still not sure if you want to actually pull out your wallet or checkbook...

Well, we really care about our readers! We wouldn't ask you to buy something without at least being able to sample it a little. In fact, Don is so confident that these characters will draw you into their world, that we're happy to give you two pages from the book to try on for size yourself. The best way to sell something of this caliber is for you to see it yourself. Kick the tires, take it for a spin, but don't be surprised if you find you just have to get behind the wheel for good.

(page 18)

(page 19)

Behind the Scenes

I'd created DETECTIVES INC. in 1969, and it was drawn by my compadre Alex Simmons, who is now the Creator/Writer of BLACKJACK COMICS, published by his own company, DARK ANGEL PRODUCTIONS.

It wouldn't be until 1978 before I'd begin writing another DETECTIVES INC. comic, and that book would take TWO YEARS to completion. DETECTIVES INC.: A REMEMBRANCE OF THREATENING GREEN would become printed reality in MAY 1980! It was two years fraught with economic horrors, not the first time I'd had to contend with the realities of what it cost to be a writer, and writing stories I WANTED TO WRITE! My son, Rob, was two years old, at the time, and I knew every decision I made as a writer affected him, and my wife, Marsha. She had to live through the creation of DETECTIVES, INC.: A REMEMBRANCE OF THREATENING GREEN, and that's just one of the reasons the book is DEDICATED to her.

People have come up to me over the years at comic conventions, and many of them have fond memories of this private eye two-some. It's a pleasure to be back with them after being apart so long.

For my first foray into the ALTERNATIVE MARKETPLACE (which many professionals in the business claimed matter of factly and disdainfully did not exist), I felt I could not start with DETECTIVES INC. or RAGAMUFFINS, as a series, though I was passionately excited by both. I had to figure the best way to give such unusual strips a chance to survive!

I was beginning to learn, it wasn't just about telling the stories I wanted to tell. Oh, that was still the bottom line, facing that blank sheet of paper, and keeping important what I ultimately put down there, but if I wanted those books to even have a minimal odds for survival, I had to consider how to realistically give them a fighting chance in the publishing arena. And that arena is covered in blood-stains! Splattered psyches stain the mats!

There were a lot of things to prove in the beginning. I had to establish that the comic fans COULD support a book, COULD make it a success! I had a firm belief in comics and the readers, but I wanted to give myself, and the foundling company, Eclipse, a real shot at staying alive, at capturing the attention of the distributors and store owners, so that the readers would actually get a chance to decide for themselves whether they wanted the books or not.

Once SABRE went into a SECOND PRINTING, it was a positive sign.

There might have been people who still thought we were "...'round the bend," but there were others who saw opportunity, and were quickly setting into cement what graphic albums were, in size and format. I'd never intended that.

Dean Mullaney, the publisher of Eclipse Comics, gave the green light for a second series, and I turned back to two characters I'd wanted to do for years: DENNING & RAINIER!

I tried all different kinds of story-telling in DETECTIVES INC., ideas I'd had in mind since I'd mapped out the initial DOZEN or so stories for Rainier and Denning back in the late 60s. I'm not sure when I thought these stories would be drawn or see print, since it took a year to get the first one ready.

But in 1981, with WORK FOR HIRE CONTRACTS being forced on comics creators at the big comics companies, and with my son, Rob, newly born, I was back with my favorite duo.

So, here we are in cyberspace, and anyone can come from anywhere, and no one is dictating what can be on the racks, can or can't be seen.

We can help increase awareness that a book exists for the stores that carry it.
But we can also let you have access to that book if you don't have a store near you.
Or, if the store near doesn't carry anything but the most mainstream super-hero titles.

This is a way that can directly support the creators of the books, who didn't want to sign a carte blanche Work For Hire contract, but had their livelihoods taken away from them if they didn't. Because you CAN order them right here, over the Internet.
Or by phone.
Or by mail.

And hey, if we can sell enough books, in the stores or through the Net, you might yet get to see that DETECTIVES INC. graphic mystery about the bombing of abortion clinics. Want a title? Okay, here it is: A HORROR OF BURNING PLACES.

It could happen.
You could make it happen.
Thanks.
And, be kind to each other.
Be kind to yourselves.
And hang in there!

And check out the REVIEWS on DETECTIVES INC.: A Remembrance of Threatening Green. It's hard for my brain to not go "TILT!" that all these talented folks wrote such terrific things about our detective duo. If you've never read DETECTIVES INC., here's a few responses by people who have.

Reviews

"The writing and illustrations owe far more to the techniques of the motion picture than to comic books, with cross cutting and other film innovations used most effectively to tell the story of a murder with roots in a lesbian love affair."
-- ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERY MAGAZINE

"DETECTIVES INC. is a dramatic book: It is tense and powerful and draws one into its action...it is easy to be attracted to a Captain America or a Superman, because he is a dream, an ideal. It is less easy to become attracted to a human being, and this is one of the things that Don McGregor and Marshall Rogers do here: they assert (and show) that two detectives, the divorced wife, two lovers separated by death from their common object of passion and others, can be just as exciting, as powerful, as dramatic an ensemble as the Avengers or the Justice League of America."
-- Peter Gillis, COMICS FEATURE

"DETECTIVES INC. is a tour de force for writer/creator Don McGregor and illustrator Marshall Rogers.

It is one of the new breed of mature underground productions that places people and relationships ahead of superheroism and bizarre, horrific plots.

McGregor's Culp and Cosby type detective team of Ted Denning and Bob Rainier live in a Philip Marlowe existence on the seamy side of 1980 New York. Although the plot is fairly simple, their lives are refreshingly complex and the two stories are well blended with the help of Rogers' excellent black and white illustrations."
-- Howard Zimmerman