Dylan Dog Case Files TP New Ptg

Dylan Dog US #1-7

by Tiziano Sclavi, Bruno Brindisi (illustrator)

Nightmares can't hurt you. There's no such thing as the walking dead. Monsters are all in your imagination. We tell ourselves these things to make us feel safe at night, to give us strength against the unknown. But there are things in the dark that can hurt us. Just ask Dylan Dog, an ex-cop who now battles against evil as a "nightmare investigator", Dylan Dog is unlike any private eye you've ever met. If creatures from beyond the unknown are after you, and if you can hire him, he just might save your life.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Zombies, Comic Book

Comic

First published April 15, 2009

About the author

Tiziano Sclavi is an Italian comic book and novel writer, who has also worked as a journalist. Sclavi is most famous for creating the Italian bestselling comic Dylan Dog, started in 1986 and still ongoing, a horror pastiche featuring a paranormal investigator. More than 450 monthly 90-pages long issues have appeared in the series, with Sclavi as the most recurrent script writer in the first decade of serialisation.

Reviews

[Orrin Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first exposure to Dylan Dog came in the form of the movie Cemetery Man (aka Dellamorte Dellamore), which was based on Dylan Dog about as loosely as one thing can possibly be based upon another. Nevertheless, it was enough to pique my interest when, years later, I got the opportunity to read the various American printings of the Dylan Dog comics (with Mike Mignola covers!)

I was blown away. I'd heard good things about Dylan Dog (there's a thumbs-up from Umberto Eco right there on the cover), but I hadn't gotten my expectations up too high, and the comics surprised me. They're funny when they try to be funny, sad when they try to be sad, and even touching when they try to be touching. They're also surprising, sometimes, and very, very tied into a certain vein of horror cinema.

Unfortunately, they've not been in print in the United States for quite some time. So when Dark Horse released an omnibus edition of the seven volumes they'd previously brought out (to coincide with the upcoming release of Dead of Night, which sounds like it's at least more closely based on the source material), I snapped it up. On re-reading the stories, I wasn't disappointed in my previous memories of them.

Also, as a warning, this thing is a tome. When I say it contains seven volumes, I don't mean seven issues of the size we're used to seeing here in the States. It's probably close to two inches thick. About the only downside I can see to The Dylan Dog Case Files is that I wish it had contained some sort of introduction giving a little background on the series. Still, it's a great, cheap way to get some great comics, and I recommend it highly.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite being a guy who's supposed to know comics, I had never heard of Dylan Dog until seeing this volume on a friend's bookshelf a week ago. This was during a lovely brunch which had at least one Italian in attendance, and he proceeded to attempt to explain to me the importance of Dylan Dog to Italian pop culture -- a valiant effort that was lost on me, as I don't speak Italian.

For those as ignorant as I was, the skinny: Dylan Dog is the most popular Italian comic book in the universe. Dylan himself is a "nightmare investigator," a morose and lovelorn paranormal detective who lives in London in a house with a screeching doorbell, a museum of bizarre monster statues, and an annoying sidekick who is, for some reason, probably Groucho Marx.

Dylan has no supernatural powers, no arcane library, no great knowledge of the occult. He's a bit of a bumbler, but he's also handsome, brave(ish), and filled to the brim with ennui. He's like John Constantine without the warlock powers, or Peter Venkman without the technology and humor. If that seems like it doesn't leave him much to work with, you're starting to get it. Dylan Dog is just sort of a strange, off-kilter blank slate.

His adventures are similarly without formula - only the details are consistent. Dylan is only ever hired by beautiful women, and he falls obsessively, blindly in love with all of them -- often at first sight. He is described as an advisor to Scotland Yard, but his contacts there hate him. His assistant Groucho (or "Felix," in the copyright-compromised US edition) is unbelievably annoying, both while you're reading and in conversation with the other characters (who universally despise him).

And that's about it -- the rest of the content in these stories is pretty helter-skelter. Sometimes they're adventures put into motion by a new (beautiful female) client, but in other instances Dylan just happens to wander into strangeness, or the world itself seems to fold and explode around him, for no discernible reason. Sometimes it seems like everyone knows they're in a comic book; sometimes it seems the world just resets itself between stories. Sometimes there are zombies and vampires; sometimes Dylan goes after terrorists and serial-killers. The violence is always uncomfortably real and the blood loss is copious. The women are always a little too helpless, and Dylan is perhaps chivalrous to the point of chauvanism.

It's a Hammer horror film filtered through European arthouse cinema. Occasionally the black-and-white artwork is beautiful; usually the writing is not. It's a fucking weird book, and probably not my favorite thing ever.

But it's also not quite like any comic I've ever read, and that's gotta be worth something. And at 700 pages, there's gonna be at least one story in here that you find amusing, or thought-provoking, or mildly worthwhile. And there's no way that some aspect of the thing isn't gonna get under your skin.

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 4 out of 5]

What to say about Dylan Dog, Nightmare Detective? The way things are arranged in this collection, it seems as though the writer started out with clear intentions: write noir stories about the supernatural and the detectives who, logically, are able to deal with it.

However, those intentions seem to erode, and the stories through the collection get more and more surreal, until we're almost in Promethea/Alan Moore territory. The supernatural won't stay as cut and dried as "monster of the week." It just gets weird, and I liked it.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

apparently one of the best-selling comics in italy, this is an anthology of all of the dark horse trade paperbacks that they translated and released back in the '90s.

they tell the story of dylan dog, a "nightmare detective," (who, no, you're not crazy, looks exactly like rupert everett; he was the inspiration for the artist) and his misadventures with things that go bump in the night (including women) and his assistant felix (a dead-ringer for groucho marx without the mustache).

it's an intriguing concept, filled with winks and nods to classic horror (names like bloch, craven, and romero make appearances), as well as deliriously ridiculous puns and marx bros.-style jokes, though sometimes stuff feels a little lost in the translation. the art is also quite good, with clean lines and dark shadows, akin to a slightly more realistic and less expressionistic take on mike mignola's work (who actually drew the covers for a majority of these trades, as well as this anthology).

what kept this from getting a higher rating for me was that it peaked a little too early with the first story, "dawn of the living dead." all of the right notes were hit with it, artistically and writing-wise, and from there, many of the other stories fall just short, often feeling a bit too fever-dream-ish for me to get really into.

quick side note, dylan dog has already been inspiration for one movie (the excellent cemetery man, starring -- who else -- rupert everett), and is the inspiration for another which is currently in post-production, dead of night, starring the man who would be superman, brandon routh.

[Jason Lawless · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was familiar with Dylan Dog by way of hearing about the series while in a comic store one day years ago and of course via the horrible film based on the property. That wasn't enough though for me to ever pick it up and give it a shot until two things happened.

First I was talking to a buddy who absolutely loved the book and second a fortuitous visit to my regular shop about a year ago. The owner has a display of graphic novels that are half off and one day looking through I saw that awesome cover by Mike Mignola. Since I am huge fan of his work and it was half off I instantly decided to give it a shot.

This thing is huge of course compiling all the stories that are in print and dang I sure wish I had picked it up sooner! Flipping through the black and white art I was instantly intrigued and after finally cracking it open a few weeks later I simply could not put it down. It's such an interesting read. I recommend this book for anyone into solid story telling and super clean art. It's one of my favorite recent books I've picked up.

[Christie Skipper Ritchotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give Five stars for pure awesomeness, but the selections, while offering a smorgasboard of variety, suffered some for a lacking continuity. There's no introduction except the blurb on the back cover, as many readers mention, and it truly would have been helpful for me to know the comic started in the mid-eighties to understand why some material is dated, but I actually am glad to have jumped in without knowing what I was in for. I picked this up because of the cool cover, took it home because I liked the style of the writing, subject matter, and the black and white art.

I loved Dylan Dog, the sudden turns to violence, Dylan's personal philosophies and open-mindedness, the love the author gives Romero's zombies, and the inventive, irreverent story lines. Like Sybil's character in the opening story, I admit I doubted the charms of Dylan's hysterically funny assistant, Felix, a Groucho Marx clone, sans mustache. I ended up laughing so much I forgave him for some of the more eye-rolling gags, though I did wish for a storyline giving a bit more on his origins.

While I sometimes thought Dylan went overboard in love and in his displays of sentimentality, I ended up finding those traits endearing--he comes off as passionate and human (he could have easily come off as smug and inaccessible, being so damned good looking), like a Dostoyevsky character in comic form. I'm left wishing I could read more, but English translations from the Italian appear to be hard to come by still. Please sirs, may I have some more?

Edit: I forgot to mention the other reason for the four star review--I didn't care for the second story, Johnny Freak. Afraid the remaining stories would be similar, I nearly stopped reading there. I'm sure the story is loved by some, but I found it fractured and overly-sentimental, I'm afraid.

[Andrew F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this pretty slowly because it represents pretty much the entirety of Dylan Dog in English language (or at least it did when I bought it 2014). I love supernatural noir, especially with a sense of humour, and the Italian style of DD actually puts him ahead of John Constantine and Harry D'Amour as a character, even if I think those characters appeared in more compelling stories.

There's five or six stories in here, each one near enough the length of a standard graphic novel, and covering a wide variety of styles which was really cool. The first one is I believe the first Dylan Dog story ever, and kind of establishes the character as existing in a world that includes zombies. My favourite was "After Midnight", a kind of riff on Martin Scorcese's AFTER HOURS with Dylan going all over London in the early hours, being mixed up with a serial killer and all kinds of stangeness.

This is a fantastic collection of fumetti and I highly recommend it to the curious.

[James Asmus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Italian comic series that lead to the film Cemetery Man. As much as I love the movie, these comics are smoother narratives and surprisingly sweet & funny for what is essentially a horror anthology.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating comic that veers (though seemingly with deliberate control) between schlock horror, gags, meta-references, tradgedy, social/class issues and even the nature of comics as an artistic medium.

[Blaine Riesberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, pulpy (in a good way), and at times philosophical, full of absurd twists. I loved it. Can we get some more English translations? Please and thanks.

[Christer Eriksson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really want to read more of these. They are some really imaginative stories and nice artwork.

[Alex Sarll]

Before this, the closest I'd come to Dylan Dog was the sort-of-film-version Dellamorte Dellamore, starring Rupert Everett at his most handsome. As such, an omnibus collecting seven 100-page-ish adventures was going in at the deep end, and there were times I considered knocking it on the head, especially after the mawkish Johnny Freak. But that's the only one on which Dylan's creator Tiziano Sclavi has a co-writer, which may explain the problem. On the art side, there are five artists across the seven books, but a surprisingly coherent look, especially when it comes to making Dylan look like, yes, Rupert Everett at his most handsome. Which obviously helps. But the backgrounds are good too, generally catching the feel of London sidestreets, remote British countryside and everything in between in a way the foreground action – with its excess of firearms, and reference to London's 'subway', doesn't always live up to. In general, I was surprised by how many stories stopped short of the outright supernatural, instead going for just-about-plausible giallo-style human strangeness and evil. And I was less surprised, though also less than keen, when it came to the Eurocomics corniness, including Dylan having a different love interest every time. But that suddenly started working halfway through, with the brilliant Morgana, which reminded me of the best Astro City story by having him realise that he's in love – but doesn't know with whom. That kicks off a vertiginous cascade through layers of nightmare and reality in which there may or may not be a zombie apocalypse underway, a destabilising mood that's maintained in After Midnight, where Dylan gets locked out and staggers through an increasingly perplexing night in the big city. The concluding Zed has some of the same Borgesian dissolves, albeit marred with clunky political speechifying; all the same, I'd definitely be interested to read more of this weirder end of Dylan's adventures – though even these highlights would have been much improved by binning his shit sidekick Felix, a character seemingly inspired by the question 'What if Groucho Marx were stripped of both his moustache, and any prospect of ever being remotely funny?'

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dylan Dog Case Files is an English language collection of 7 Dylan Dog stories, written by Tiziano Scalvi.

The titular character, Dylan Dog, is a "Nightmare Investigator." Anything that goes bump in the night or doesn't quite fit the accepted idea of what crime is is his purview. He lives in a house in London with a screaming doorbell and a Groucho Marx impersonator named Felix as his assistant. Sound absurd? Well, it is. It's a beautiful absurdity, though, and it's easy to see why Umberto Eco of all people ranked the series alongside The Illiad and The Bible as books he could read forever and never find boring.

This is my first introduction to the character, but I can say that the tales in this collection are downright riveting. A few come off as more pop fare (i.e. the first story with the zombies, the story of the girl who went blind, and the twist ending in the invisible man tale.) The others, however? Downright genius. In particular, the story of Zed and Morgana have been living in my head ever since I finished the collection and have me wanting more quite badly.

The humor in the collection, absurdist and strange, caught me off-guard and took me a while to grow accustomed to. As soon as I did, though, I found myself laughing out loud at some of Dylan's remarks. It seems bizarre to me that this series isn't more popular in the United States and has yet to have a television adaptation (or any screen adaptation) that really took off. The character and the stories seem perfect for that, and like they'd hit a sweet spot to really become a hit to rival The Walking Dead.

I wonder if there are more English collections to collect?

[Eric Boyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. Will be an annual read right before Halloween.
Not predictable - fun story lines. Worth the purchase on eBay!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of seven graphic novels, originally published in Italy, mostly in the mid-to-late 1980s.

Dylan Dog is a 'nightmare investigator', a London private detective specialising in the supernatural. He looks like Rupert Everett, c1985. He's assisted by Groucho, who looks (and talks) a lot like Groucho Marx c1940. Groucho is a key part of the all-pervading weirdness of the comic; initially he seems like an annoying gimmick, but the real weirdness comes when the writer and artists breathe warm likeable life into the character. Groucho's probably the reason DD hasn't been seen much in the English-speaking world. Apart from having to translate the words into English, American publishers have to shave off Groucho's moustache (and change his name to Felix) to appease the real Groucho Marx's current owners.

I liked this collection a lot, and would read more DD if I could. Several of the stories have a quality of genuine weirdness, seamlessly blending the everyday dreamlike reality of Dylan Dog's world with slightly more dreamlike realities. The best stories read like sexy nightmares, following the narrative illogic of dreams. From time to time they evoked half-buried memories of the old EC horror comics I read (as reprints) when I was a kid.

I've been vaguely aware of DD for a while. In the 1990s I saw Dellamorte Dellamore, a great Italian film adapted from a novel written by the creator of DD. It stars Rupert Everett as someone who looks like Dylan Dog and lives in a very DD world of sex, surrealism and zombies, but who isn't Dylan Dog. (In America this film is usually called Cemetery Man, but don't hold that against it.) At the time, I AltaVista-ed it and found out as much about DD as you could on the mid-1990s web.

I saw this in a bookshop a few years ago. It caught my eye, due to my vague recollection of that internet search in c1996. A quick flick through it - monsters! naked ladies! Rupert Everett! Groucho Marx? - got me interested. Also Umberto Eco was on the cover saying it was awesome, like the Bible and Homer. It was $50 so I put it down and ordered it from Book Depository. Since I always have at least 600 books on my reading pile I only just got around to it. It was great for bedtime reading, because it's a lot like being asleep and dreaming already.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

So probably about a month ago I saw the movie Dylan Dog and I liked it. It was funny, paranormally and a little bit sad and while I wouldn't call it the greatest movie I've ever seen I did thoroughly enjoy it. Then I'm reading the back of the dvd box and it says that the film is based on a best selling graphic novel and the next time I go to work, there it is on the graphic novel shelf in the adult dept. I was very excited.

Dylan Dog is a detective known for handling things that go bump in the night. He lives in a large strange messy house with his assisstant Felix who it is implied is really Groucho Marx. People (mostly women) come knock on his door and ask for his help with zombies, vampires, devils and other things I could never even think of.

Dylan Dog starts out funny and quirky and kind of reminded me of a Tales from the Crypt Keeper type book, however over the course of the book the types of mysteries Dylan was dealing with changed. They became more and more existential and a little bit less funny. There was nothing wrong with the existential stories, they were still really interesting and I really did enjoy them but I became curious about when the stories were written. I know they were in the correct order but I wonder if they really were published one after the other the same way they appear in the book or if other stories came between them and the Dylan Dog works became more existential over time.

I really liked the black and white style of the art work. I felt like it just fit the feel and tone of the stories perfectly. I also felt like it kept some of the gore from the stories from being completely overwhelming. I can't imagine trying to read some of those stories in color, I just felt like the amount of blood would have become overwhelming enough that it would have been distracting to the story.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Umberto Eco says something like "I can read the Bible, Homer or Dylan Dog for several days without being bored." I can't resist picking up the comic book in question. This is how I found myself reading an Italian horror comic in translation. Dylan Dog is steeped in media influences and was the inspiration for cult classic horror film The Cemetary Man. The palimpsest quality of the comic is probably one of the main attractions for Eco—our beloved semiotics teacher: the hero is Rupert Everett lookalike; the first story is named after Romero's legendary films; the hero lives on Craven street; his superior is named after Robert Bloch; his sidekick is a Groucho Marx impersonator; and on and on. The art and pacing is also steeped in giallo style. But rather than feeling derivative, Dylan Dog is a unique expereince. It's frequent humour is sometimes opaque or clumsy—but that's quite possibly the quality of the translation, so I can't really deduct points for that. What stands out though are the very effective bits of tension and horror. Dylan Dog manages to be something much more than the sum of its many Frankenstein's monster-style parts. The references fall aside during its best moments and Dylan Dog becomes quite engrossing. The overall effect is sureal and unhinged in the best way.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fat omnibus collection of an Italian comic about a paranormal investigator in London. Like others here, I was intrigued enough by the Umberto Eco(!) blurb on the cover to give it a whirl. And I liked it a lot! A pleasantly different—well, foreign take on a familiar genre.

Imagine a cross between Dirk Gently and John Constantine, but better-dressed than either. I wondered at first if the British setting was invented by the translators, but before long, a somewhat skewed London becomes as much a part of the stories as Dylan Dog himself.

The first episode is a rather on-the-nose zombie story, going out of its way to give Dylan quirky habits and a quirky sidekick, and it all feels rather forced and shallow. But from the second episode onwards, things get seriously weird, and the quality improves significantly. Sclavi plays around with unreliable narrators, self-referential stories, comic books within comic books. He revisits the original zombie story, and his new take on it is deliciously weird and nightmarish.

There's a rotating team of artists, but nonetheless a fairly consistent look to the artwork—is this just the typical Italian style, I wonder? It's flat, detailed, unexaggerated, and sets a nice noir-ish tone, though it's also sometimes a little rough or even amateurish-looking. Not always great, but it held my interest.

[Ahmado · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't doubtful when I bought this omnibus .
When someone don't know called Umberto Eco write (l can read Homer, the Bible and Dylan for days without being bored) you cannot say no to it, maybe later (like I did) but not no. You must buy one for yourself.
I read the whole thing in two days and it was an endless thrill and heartfelt laughter from that Felix's (in some points I wished he was the main character but the chemistry between him and Dylan was priceless), but the disappointment was devastating because there was only seven stories in it, only seven?
how come this guy who's called Umderto Eco say he could read it for days while I finished it two nights only?
Later I found out the series is ongoing since 1986 and this omnibus was published for an American movie based on the series and by the same name.
I wish dark horse could publish more collections of this series because it's a refreshing series and I want to know what happened between Dylan and his arch nemesis the devil himself, will he find love, will we see Felix tie the knot and what ridiculous chapters other writers added to it.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

An Italian comic about a British private detective specializing in paranormal cases. I was expecting B-movie fun, but ended up kind of bored. Dylan Dog doesn't really offer anything new; he plays the clarinet to help him think (maybe referencing Sherlock Holmes's violin) but also tries for a James Bond vibe, since if you see any woman under the age of 40, chances are he's going to sleep with her. His wacky assistant, a clean-shaven Groucho Marx, is frankly annoying--dropping funny witticisms here & there is good; cramming five comics' worth of them into a single story, often having nothing to do with what's going on, is unfunny and grating. The stories sometimes make direct references to, or pretty much copy parts of, well-known genre stories like Dawn of the Dead, which *can* be done if you bring something new to the story...except Dylan didn't. Some stories had interesting parts--like the invisible man--but didn't quite carry through on the cool ideas. Maybe it was the choice of stories they selected for this collection, but with all the copycatting, irritating character traits and lack of any character development, this volume felt kind of flat to me.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dylan Dog, the most popular Italian comic book in publication according to many sources, is presented here in fine form. His more recent appearance in America in, what was to me, a forgettable Brandon Routh cinematic adventure, is easily repaired revisiting this work which shows Dylan and Groucho (renamed Felix for this American printing but the implications and parallels are obvious) fighting demons, ghouls, and others. As a "nightmare investigator," Dylan is one part Ghostbusters style humor and equal parts Romero/Bloch/Blatty nightmare fuel. He is not cool or witty in any modern sense and is more likely to escape demons and ghouls on a bicycle than a sports car. Therein lies the charm and fun if this book - it is true to form, original, and fun to ride along with Dylan on his descents to fight the darkness. He is not Sherlock Holmes, but a paranormal parallel could be drawn.

I would recommend this as a good antidote if you found this character through only the film. If you liked the film, this might smack a little darker, but you will still find the off the wall present here.

[Michael Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dylan Dog Case Files consists of the six issue mini-series printed in the U.S. by Dark Horse as well as the one-shot "Dylan Dog: Zed". I presume this collection to be some of the best selections from the decades long run of the popular Italian horror comic. I found the writing quirky, intriguing, evocative and quite often touching. Dylan is a nightmare investigator and a very complicated character in every sense. All in all this book is a compelling series of stories and a quick page turner. Even at close to 700 pages I flew through this title flying from one page to the next. I strongly recommend Dylan Dog for fans of horror and the dark side of comics.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of 7 volumes of Dylan Dog, Italy's best selling comic, reprinted in English for the first time in a long time. Most of the volumes are drawn by different artists, so the style is not totally consistent, and the quality varies volume to volume. I enjoyed the stories themselves and liked the way the main character was written. His sidekick, a Groucho Marx type, grated on my nerves at times. Still, I read this in a day and liked it overall.

[Jarlos]

before Hellboy or the X-files, Dylan Dog investegated the paranormal, and this book does it with wit, suspense, and tons of cleverness. more than just clever vampire and zombie tales, there is genuine surreal creativity with challenging stories that make you question the reality of the tales. The black and white artwork is superb and perfectly supports the story when it needs to be horrific, scary, sexy or funny. Dylan Dog is one of the reason comic books were created.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of internet research will tell you that this is a weird collection - it's 7 random non-chronological issues from 20+ years of the Italian Dylan Dog comic. It's a bit uneven--some stories are definitely better than others--but there aren't any that are bad, and there's something bizarrely intriguing about most of them. And this volume is helped by the variety in it.

[danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd been wanting to read these comics ever since I found out that they were the basis for Cemetery Man, one of my favorite films. But I could never find the translated issues until now. They were quite good, very much up to my expectations. I enjoyed the existential bouts of self reference. I wish they'd translate more of them.

[Gregory Han · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit I was a tab bit disappointed with seven stories within this thick English translation of Italy's best selling comic book. Sure, it's filled with sexy-scary fun, but the charm is very shallow and the thrills short lived.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so much fun! I never would have picked it up if it wasn't for Mignola's cover art- I love that guy. By the time I finished, I wanted to turn around and read it again! I'd love to spend a little time with the mysterious clarinetist and his snappy sidekick...

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved reading this. I only wish more Dylan Dog stories had been translated into English. As it stands there are only 7 that have been translated and that was back in 1999/2000. I may have to start learning Italian just so I can read more.

[Blair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going to do a longer review later, but I'm currently rereading these in order to work on submitting a paper about the translations of these into English.

Love Dylan Dog, and the issue "Johnny Freak" is beautiful.