DETECTIVES INC.

Bob Rainier and Ted Denning, two streetwise private investigators, were two of the most important characters early in the creator-owned era that began slowly in the 1970s and accelerated in the '80s. Do you know why?

Aside from being one of the earliest graphic novels, the duo (and their stories) were representative of the shift toward more adult storytelling during that period. They were also the work of a creator who felt limited by the marketplace of the day.

Don McGregor, who wrote for and who had been an editor for Marvel Comics, risked much of his career when he rolled the dice with upstart Eclipse Comics and published Detectives, Inc. - A Remembrance of Threatening Greenthrough them.

Rave reviews followed.

"Rainier and Denning are characters who resonate with hardboiled legacy - Raymond Chandler twisted by Jim Thompson. Don McGregor is the crowned king of the graphic noir novel," said Paul Bishop, author of Tequila Mockingbird, and head of LAPD's Sex Crimes Unit, as an example.

The duo of Rainier and Denning are often referred to as the "Culp and Cosby of crime comics," after Robert Culp and Bill Cosby, who teamed on the groundbreaking TV series I Spy, the first show to portray a racially mixed duo as equal partners. This wasn't a coincidence. Detectives, Inc. creator Don McGregor is a longtime fan, and even dedicated his DC Comics mini-series, Nathaniel Dusk, Private Investigatorseries to Culp.

Image Comics republished the original graphic novel in 1999 and collected a follow-up mini-series, Detectives, Inc. - A Terror of Dying Dreams, in graphic novel format for the first time that same year.

A collection featuring both stories is due from IDW Publishing. ~J.C. Vaughn, Scoop Magazine. Used with Permission.

Across the decades with Detectives Inc.