Johnny Dynamite

by Max Allan Collins, Terry Beatty

The Wild Man from Chicago He's rough He's tough He's JOHNNY DYNAMITE A rock 'em/sock 'em private eye from the Windy City, with his best gal, and faithful secretary, Judy Kane by his side, in this hard-boiled Mike hammer-influenced story, Johnny's back in a psychotronic/occult/period piece fighting zombies with crime on their undead minds From the creators of ROAD TO PERDITION and MS. TREE.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Mystery, Horror, Fiction, Crime

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2003

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Johnny Dynamite is the wild man from Chicago - a rough, tough PI. He even takes on a few zombies.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found at the dollar bin at the comic shop. Dimly remember this coming out years ago, but for some reason never picked it up. Better late than never, huh? More later.

Welcome to later. Wonderfully hard-boiled noir detective fiction with a zombie twist. Not surprising that this was so well done given that this was done by the creators of Ms Tree, Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty. Collins provided a solid story that was complemented and enhanced by Beatty's sharp clean lines. The decision to keep it black and white was also a nice touch. My only complaint is that it was a little too "talky" at times. This graphic novel is well worth seeking out and reading even if you have to pay full price.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I followed the four part Johnny Dynamite mini-series when Dark Horse published it back in 1994. It struck me as a cross between James Ellroy and "Kolchak The Night Stalker". Terry Beatty's artwork recalled the stiff and static art style from the Charlton Comics era of my youth.

I found the compiled version of the series disappointing because the series was originally printed in garish white, black & red, and here it's printed only in black and white. It sounds weird, but I miss the ugly red print, perhaps when it reaches another printing they'll add the third color. I would still recommend this book because it's a great story and the artwork rocks in a funny way, too.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different and very cool

[Matt Piechocinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Max Allen Collins is on the fast track to becoming a treasure in my mind. This was fun, but I thought the ending fell a little flat.

[Jon Weidler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sharp, witty throwback to 1950s Noir with an excellent undead twist.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noir detective with zombies. Need I say more? Max Allan Collins is just having fun here. Short and enjoyable.