Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond's Agent Secret X-9

In the 1930s, Dashiell Hammett, after being requisitioned by Selznick for Hollywood (The Maltese Falcon with John Huston), was solicited by press magnate William Randolph Hearst to develop comics for his newspapers. This led to Agent Secret X-9, created with illustrator Alex Raymond (later famous for Flash Gordon). Unlike Chester Gould's dandy Dick Tracy, Hammett and Raymond's secret agent is virile, tough, and rebellious against authority, traits that define the narrative's speed and dynamism. Agent Secret X-9 exemplifies a classicism emerging from the fruitful relationships between comics, crime novels, and cinema in the 1930s. From crime fiction, it borrows stereotypes (perverse brunettes, femme fatales, gangsters) and serialized narrative structures with constant surprises and revelations. From cinema, it adopts dynamic efficiency through sharp narrative cutting (one action per panel) and precise framing. The private eye is an unstoppable force. These forms might have aged poorly (halftone black-and-white, slicked hair, impeccable smiles) had these stereotypes not become a key resource for pop artists in 1950s England and the United States.