Created by Robert Venditti and David Lapham "Just because pizza is round doesn't mean you can cut corners." HANK HOWARD isn't a man you meet every day. No matter how you slice it. Sure, he's a private eye, a hard-boiled and slightly rumpled doofus right out of central casting, complete with the obligatory fedora and … Continue reading Hank Howard (Pizza Detective)
Tag: Comics
Henry Archer (The Other/Half)
Created by Jim McCann and Joe Eisma Released on National Coming Out Day in March 2026 was The Other/Half, a rom-com/mystery mini-series featuring rough-and-tumble NYC private eye and backstreets rambler (he needs a shave and wears a rumpled trench coat) HENRY ARCHER and his fiancée Ethan Herbst, a suave, sophisticated man-about-town socialite currently on the … Continue reading Henry Archer (The Other/Half)
JJ Flask
Created by Chris R. Notarile Sing along if you know the words... In 2021, a black & white film short, J.J. Flask, was announced, written and directed by filmmaker Chris R. Notarile. The eponymous hero, JJ FLASK, we're told, is "an old fashioned, hard-boiled P.I. in a modern day setting," trying to scrape out a … Continue reading JJ Flask
Mike Hammershlammer
Created by Melvin Slane Pseudonym of Al Feldstein & Jack Davis "The papers say I'm a kill-crazy shamus. Well, maybe I am..." For many of us of a certain age, our first exposure to spoofs, lampoons, parodies and satires — whatever you want to call 'em — of pop culture came in the pages of … Continue reading Mike Hammershlammer
My Scrapbook: Luke Cage, Page One
My ScrapbookLuke Cage, Page One The above splash page, presented in all its pre-press, pasted-up, camera-ready glory, is from the very first issue of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire (June 1972), garnered a lot of attention when it came up for auction at Heritage Collectibles. Not just because it's one righteous, bad ass piece of … Continue reading My Scrapbook: Luke Cage, Page One
Flip Minnow, P.I. (Kermit the Frog)
Created by Roger Langridge The Muppets created by Jim Henson Down those mean streets a frog must go? KERMIT THE FROG, musician, performer, and banjo player, but probably best known as the beloved hard-working emcee and stage manager of television's long-running The Muppet Show, may be the hardest working amphibian in show biz, but when … Continue reading Flip Minnow, P.I. (Kermit the Frog)
Ace Fedora
Created by Chris Gumprich and Jason Rainey Just the thing for all you comic-loving fedora fetishists out there! ACE FEDORA is the alter ego of a daydreaming numbers cruncher caught up in a tangled web of lies, office intrigue and his own warped imagination, in Ace Fedora, Private Eye, a witty little 2004 mini-comic. He's … Continue reading Ace Fedora
Spade Hearns
Created by James Ellroy(1948--) It's 1942 in post-Pearl Harbor Los Angeles, the blackout's on and the "Jap scare" is going full-tilt, and SPADE HEARNS is a laudanum-tippling P.I. wondering where the lights went, in the short story "Torch Number" by James Ellroy. Hard up for paying cases, the former LAPD detective finds himself working for … Continue reading Spade Hearns
Mitsuko Hoshino (My Dear Detective)
Created by Natsumi Ito My Dear Detective (subtitle: "Mitsuko's Case Files"), the manga series featuring Japan's first female private eye, MITSUKO "MIMI" HOSHINO, is a far cry from the more hard-boiled, violent manga and anime antics of, say, City Hunter or Cowboy Bebop. In fact, the concept here is more often described as "light-hearted," "sweet" … Continue reading Mitsuko Hoshino (My Dear Detective)
Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez (Death to Pachuco)
Created by Henry Barajas & Rachel Merrill Set against the backdrop of June 1943 Los Angeles, Death to Pachuco is a five-issue comic mini-series (later a graphic novel) from Image worth investigating. The US has just entered World War II, but tensions — racial, political, cultural, economic — are ratcheting up back home, particularly in … Continue reading Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez (Death to Pachuco)