Occult detective
Encyclopedia
Occult detective stories combine the tropes of the detective
story with those of supernatural horror fiction. Unlike the traditional detective the occult detective is employed in cases involving ghost
s, curse
s, and other supernatural
elements. He or she is often a doctor inclined to metaphysical speculation.
's short story collection In a Glass Darkly
(1872). The next prominent figure in this tradition was Dr. Abraham Van Helsing
from Bram Stoker
's Dracula
(1897) followed closely by E. and H. Heron
's Flaxman Low, featured in a series of stories in Pearson's Magazine (1898–99); Algernon Blackwood
's Dr. John Silence and William Hope Hodgson
's Carnacki
, the Ghost Finder.
Sax Rohmer
's collection The Dream Detective features occult detective Moris Klaw, who utilises 'odic force' in his investigations. The occultist Dion Fortune
made her contribution to the genre with The Secrets of Dr Taverner (1926), the psychic adventures of the Holmes-like Taverner as narrated by his assistant, Dr Rhodes. Aleister Crowley
's Simon Iff
featured in a series of stories some of which have been collected in book form. Dennis Wheatley
's occult detective is Neils Orsen.
Though never large, the occult detective sub-genre grew to include such writers as Seabury Quinn
(with his character Jules de Grandin
), Manly Wade Wellman
, whose character John Thunstone
investigated occult events through short stories in the pulps, collected in The Third Cry to Legba and Other Invocations (2000) and in two novels - What Dreams May Come
(1983) and The School of Darkness (1985); and 'Jack Mann' (E. C. Vivian
), who chronicled the adventure of his occult detective Gregory Gordon George Green, known as 'Gees', in a series of novels. Pulp
writer Robert E. Howard
created stories about Steve Harrison
, an occult detective in the Strange Detective Stories magazine. Margery Lawrence
created the character Miles Pennoyer in her occult detective stories collected in Number Seven, Queer Street
.
Modern writers who have used the occult detective theme as a basis for supernatural adventures include Peter Saxon with his 'The Guardians' series, John Burke (Dr Alex Caspian), Frank Lauria (Dr Owen Orient), Lin Carter
(Anton Zarnak)and Joseph Payne Brennan
(Lucius Leffing). The occult detective theme has also been used with series characters devised by such contemporary writers as Steve Rasnic Tem
(Charlie Goode), Jessica Amanda Salmonson
(Miss Penelope Pettiweather), David Rowlands (Father O'Connor), Rick Kennett
(Ernie Pine), Robert Weinberg
(Sydney Taine), Simon R. Green (John Taylor) and Steve Niles
(Cal McDonald). Jim Butcher's best-selling book series, The Dresden Files
, is another well-known example. The adventures of Carnacki
have been continued by A. F. Kidd
in collaboration with Rick Kennett
in 472 Cheyne Walk: Carnacki, the Untold Stories (2000).
A useful recent anthology collecting specimens of the genre is Mark Valentine
(ed) The Black Veil & Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths (ISBN 978-1-84022-088-9)Wordsworth Editions, 2009. Earlier themed anthologies include Stephen Jones
(ed) Dark Detectives
: Adventures of the Supernatural Sleuths (Fedogan & Bremer, 1998) and Peter Haining
(ed) Supernatural Sleuths: Stories of Occult Investigators (William Kimber, 1986).
. While not overtly occult detectives, the heroes and heroine of the sixties series The Champions
inherited occult powers from a Tibetan lama
and used these powers to investigate crime. Other examples include The Norliss Tapes (1973) with Roy Thinnes
as a reporter investigating the supernatural; Fear No Evil (1969) and its sequel, Ritual of Evil (1970), starring Louis Jourdan as psychologist David Sorrell; Spectre
(1977), starring Robert Culp
and Gig Young
as criminologists turned demonologists; The World of Darkness (1977) and its sequel, The World Beyond (1978), starring Granville Van Dusen
as a man who battles the supernatural following his own near death experience
; and a British production, Baffled!
(1973), starring Leonard Nimoy
and Susan Hampshire
as a pair of ghost-hunters. The most successful effort of this period was the short-lived television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker
(1974), starring Darren McGavin
; the weekly series was based on two backdoor pilots (The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler) produced by Dan Curtis
and scripted by Richard Matheson
based on an unpublished work by Jeff Rice. Kolchak's adventures have been continued in books by Rice and in the comic book
Kolchak Tales. Matheson's Kolchak Scripts have also been published.
More recent examples include The X-Files
, Angel Heart
, Constantine
, and a television adaptation of The Dresden Files
.
from Gold Key Comics
, Hellboy
from the Dark Horse
series of same name, Dylan Dog
from the Sergio Bonelli Editore
series, and John Constantine
from the Vertigo series Hellblazer
(the basis for the film Constantine
). Two Hellblazer writers have gone on to write their own occult detective characters: Sebastien O also at Vertigo by Grant Morrison
and Warren Ellis
' Gravel from Avatar Press
. 2000 AD has featured a number over the years in their own eponym
ous series: Bix Barton
, Devlin Waugh
, Ampney Crucis Investigates and Dandridge
. The occult detective team of Syd Deadlocke and Doc Martin, featured in Pulse of Darkness and other comics by Chris G.C. Sequeira
, also fits into this genre.
Examples in manga and anime include Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro and Mushishi
, a Japanese manga
, as well as the Japanese anime
YuYu Hakusho
, Ghost Hunt
and Ghosts at School.
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
story with those of supernatural horror fiction. Unlike the traditional detective the occult detective is employed in cases involving ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s, curse
Curse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
s, and other supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
elements. He or she is often a doctor inclined to metaphysical speculation.
Literature
The first fictional occult detective was Dr Martin Hesselius, five of whose cases are featured in Sheridan Le FanuSheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
's short story collection In a Glass Darkly
In a Glass Darkly
In a Glass Darkly is a collection of five short stories by Sheridan Le Fanu, first published in 1872, the year before his death. The second and third are revised versions of previously published stories, and the fourth and fifth are long enough to be called novellas.The title is taken from 1...
(1872). The next prominent figure in this tradition was Dr. Abraham Van Helsing
Abraham Van Helsing
Professor Abraham van Helsing is a protagonist from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.Van Helsing is a Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc." The character is best known as a...
from Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
(1897) followed closely by E. and H. Heron
Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard
Major Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard, DSO, MC, FRGS, FZS was an explorer, adventurer, big-game hunter and marksman who made a significant contribution to sniping practice within the British Army during the First World War...
's Flaxman Low, featured in a series of stories in Pearson's Magazine (1898–99); Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...
's Dr. John Silence and William Hope Hodgson
William Hope Hodgson
William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his...
's Carnacki
Carnacki
Thomas Carnacki is a fictional supernatural detective created by English fantasy writer William Hope Hodgson. Carnacki was the protagonist of a series of six short stories published between 1910 and 1912 in The Idler magazine and The New Magazine....
, the Ghost Finder.
Sax Rohmer
Sax Rohmer
Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward , better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr...
's collection The Dream Detective features occult detective Moris Klaw, who utilises 'odic force' in his investigations. The occultist Dion Fortune
Dion Fortune
Violet Mary Firth Evans , better known as Dion Fortune, was a British occultist and author. Her pseudonym was inspired by her family motto "Deo, non fortuna" , originally the ancient motto of the Barons & Earls Digby.-Early life:She was born in Bryn-y-Bia in Llandudno, Wales, and grew up in a...
made her contribution to the genre with The Secrets of Dr Taverner (1926), the psychic adventures of the Holmes-like Taverner as narrated by his assistant, Dr Rhodes. Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
's Simon Iff
Simon Iff
Simon Iff is the main protagonist of a series of short detective stories written by occultist Aleister Crowley. He is portrayed as a mystic, a magician and a great detective with a thorough insight into human psychology....
featured in a series of stories some of which have been collected in book form. Dennis Wheatley
Dennis Wheatley
Dennis Yates Wheatley was an English author. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:...
's occult detective is Neils Orsen.
Though never large, the occult detective sub-genre grew to include such writers as Seabury Quinn
Seabury Quinn
Seabury Grandin Quinn was an American pulp magazine author, most famous for his stories of the occult detective Jules de Grandin, published in Weird Tales.-Biography:...
(with his character Jules de Grandin
Jules de Grandin
Jules de Grandin is a fictional occult detective created by Seabury Quinn for Weird Tales. Assisted by Dr. Trowbridge , de Grandin fought ghosts, werewolves, satanists in over ninety stories between 1925 and 1951. Jules de Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge lived in Harrisonville, New Jersey...
), Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...
, whose character John Thunstone
John Thunstone
John Thunstone is a fictional character and the hero of a series of stories by author Manly Wade Wellman. Thunstone is a scholar and playboy who investigates mysterious supernatural events. He has the typical attributes of a heroic character being physically large and strong, intelligent,...
investigated occult events through short stories in the pulps, collected in The Third Cry to Legba and Other Invocations (2000) and in two novels - What Dreams May Come
What Dreams May Come (1983 novel)
What Dreams May Come is a novel by American author Manly Wade Wellman. It is the second of three novels featuring supernatural investigator John Thunstone. The book derives its title from a line in Hamlet's famous "To be, or not to be..." soliloquy....
(1983) and The School of Darkness (1985); and 'Jack Mann' (E. C. Vivian
E. C. Vivian
Evelyn Charles Henry Vivian was the pseudonym of Charles Henry Cannell, a British editor and writer of fantasy and supernatural, detective novels and stories.-Biography:...
), who chronicled the adventure of his occult detective Gregory Gordon George Green, known as 'Gees', in a series of novels. Pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
writer Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
created stories about Steve Harrison
Steve Harrison (Robert E. Howard)
-Stories:*The Black Moon*Fangs of Gold: First published in Strange Detective Stories, February 1934. Alternate title: People of the Serpent. Original text at Wikisource*Graveyard Rats: First published in Thrilling Mystery, February 1936...
, an occult detective in the Strange Detective Stories magazine. Margery Lawrence
Margery Lawrence
Margery Lawrence was an English Fantasy fiction, Horror fiction and detective fiction author who specialized in ghost stories....
created the character Miles Pennoyer in her occult detective stories collected in Number Seven, Queer Street
Number Seven, Queer Street
Number Seven, Queer Street is a collection of supernatural detective short stories by author Margery Lawrence. It was first published by Robert Hale in the UK in 1945. The first US edition was published in 1966 by Mycroft & Moran in an edition of 2,027 copies and omits the last two stories...
.
Modern writers who have used the occult detective theme as a basis for supernatural adventures include Peter Saxon with his 'The Guardians' series, John Burke (Dr Alex Caspian), Frank Lauria (Dr Owen Orient), Lin Carter
Lin Carter
Linwood Vrooman Carter was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft and Grail Undwin.-Life:Carter was born in St. Petersburg, Florida...
(Anton Zarnak)and Joseph Payne Brennan
Joseph Payne Brennan
Joseph Payne Brennan was an American writer of fantasy and horror fiction, and also a poet. He lived most of his life in New Haven, Connecticut, and worked at the Yale Library for over 40 years....
(Lucius Leffing). The occult detective theme has also been used with series characters devised by such contemporary writers as Steve Rasnic Tem
Steve Rasnic Tem
Steve Rasnic Tem was born in Jonesville, Virginia, which is in the heart of Appalachia. He went to college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and also at Virginia Commonwealth University. He got a B.A. in English education. In 1974, he moved to Colorado and studied creative...
(Charlie Goode), Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Jessica Amanda Salmonson, born January 6, 1950, is an author, editor and writer of fantasy and horror fiction.-Author:Salmonson is the author of the Tomoe Gozen trilogy, a fantasy version of the tale of the historical female samurai Tomoe Gozen...
(Miss Penelope Pettiweather), David Rowlands (Father O'Connor), Rick Kennett
Rick Kennett
Rick Kennett is an Australian writer of science fiction, horror and ghost stories. He is the most prolific and widely-published author in Australia after Paul Collins, Terry Dowling and Greg Egan, with stories in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies in Australia, the US and the UK.His first...
(Ernie Pine), Robert Weinberg
Robert Weinberg
Robert Allan Weinberg is a Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at MIT and American Cancer Society Research Professor; his research is in the area of oncogenes and the genetic basis of human cancer. Weinberg is also affiliated with the Broad Institute and is a founding member of the...
(Sydney Taine), Simon R. Green (John Taylor) and Steve Niles
Steve Niles
Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre, Simon Dark, Mystery Society and Batman: Gotham County Line....
(Cal McDonald). Jim Butcher's best-selling book series, The Dresden Files
The Dresden Files
The Dresden Files is a series of contemporary fantasy/mystery novels written by Jim Butcher.He provides a first person narrative of each story from the point of view of the main character, private investigator and wizard Harry Dresden, as he recounts investigations into supernatural disturbances in...
, is another well-known example. The adventures of Carnacki
Carnacki
Thomas Carnacki is a fictional supernatural detective created by English fantasy writer William Hope Hodgson. Carnacki was the protagonist of a series of six short stories published between 1910 and 1912 in The Idler magazine and The New Magazine....
have been continued by A. F. Kidd
A. F. Kidd
A.F. Kidd is the pen name of Chico Kidd. She is a fiction writer born in 1953 in Nottingham, England.Her first novel was The Printer's Devil. Her short stories have appeared in the collection Summoning Knells, published by Ash Tree Press in 2000. She collaborated with Australian writer Rick Kennett...
in collaboration with Rick Kennett
Rick Kennett
Rick Kennett is an Australian writer of science fiction, horror and ghost stories. He is the most prolific and widely-published author in Australia after Paul Collins, Terry Dowling and Greg Egan, with stories in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies in Australia, the US and the UK.His first...
in 472 Cheyne Walk: Carnacki, the Untold Stories (2000).
A useful recent anthology collecting specimens of the genre is Mark Valentine
Mark Valentine
Mark Valentine is an English author, biographer and editor.Valentine’s short stories have been published by a number of small presses and in anthologies since the 1980s, and the exploits of his series character, "The Connoisseur", an occult detective, were published as The Collected Connoisseur in...
(ed) The Black Veil & Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths (ISBN 978-1-84022-088-9)Wordsworth Editions, 2009. Earlier themed anthologies include Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones (author)
Stephen Jones is an editor of horror anthologies, and the author of several book-length studies of horror and fantasy films as well as an account of Lovecraft's early British publications....
(ed) Dark Detectives
Dark Detectives
Dark Detectives: Adventures of the Supernatural Sleuths is an anthology of fantasy and horror detective stories edited by Stephen Jones. It was published by F & B Mystery in 1999 in an edition of 2,100 copies of which 100 were signed by all the contributors except R. Chetwynd-Hayes...
: Adventures of the Supernatural Sleuths (Fedogan & Bremer, 1998) and Peter Haining
Peter Haining
Peter Alexander Haining was a British journalist, author and anthologist who lived and worked in Suffolk...
(ed) Supernatural Sleuths: Stories of Occult Investigators (William Kimber, 1986).
Film and television
In the 1970s, there were a number of attempts at occult detective television seriesTelevision program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
. While not overtly occult detectives, the heroes and heroine of the sixties series The Champions
The Champions
The Champions is a British espionage/science fiction/occult detective fiction adventure series consisting of 30 episodes broadcast on the UK network ITV during 1968–1969, produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company...
inherited occult powers from a Tibetan lama
Lama
Lama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru .Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries...
and used these powers to investigate crime. Other examples include The Norliss Tapes (1973) with Roy Thinnes
Roy Thinnes
Roy Thinnes is an American television and film actor best known for his portrayal of lonely hero David Vincent in the ABC 1967-68 television series The Invaders. He also played Alfred Wentworth in the pilot episode of Law & Order...
as a reporter investigating the supernatural; Fear No Evil (1969) and its sequel, Ritual of Evil (1970), starring Louis Jourdan as psychologist David Sorrell; Spectre
Spectre (film)
Spectre is a 1977 made-for-television movie produced by Gene Roddenberry. It was co-written by Roddenberry and Samuel A. Peeples, and directed by Clive Donner.-Plot summary:...
(1977), starring Robert Culp
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...
and Gig Young
Gig Young
Gig Young was an American film, stage, and television actor. Known mainly for second leads and supporting roles, Young won an Academy Award for his performance as a dance-marathon emcee in the 1969 film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.-Early life and career:Born Byron Elsworth Barr in St...
as criminologists turned demonologists; The World of Darkness (1977) and its sequel, The World Beyond (1978), starring Granville Van Dusen
Granville Van Dusen
Granville Van Dusen is an American stage, screen, and voice actor who portrayed Race Bannon in the 1986 television series The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, Jonny's Golden Quest, Jonny Quest vs...
as a man who battles the supernatural following his own near death experience
Near death experience
A near-death experience refers to a broad range of personal experiences associated with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations including detachment from the body; feelings of levitation; extreme fear; total serenity, security, or warmth; the experience of absolute dissolution;...
; and a British production, Baffled!
Baffled!
Baffled! is a 1973 television movie intended as a pilot for a television series. The story is part of the occult detective sub-genre.Race car driver Tom Kovack suddenly begins to experience psychic visions. He meets Michelle Brent , an expert on the paranormal, and the two form an unlikely...
(1973), starring Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
and Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire
Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, OBE is an English actress, best-known for her many television and film roles.-Early life:Susan Hampshire was born in Kensington, London, the youngest of four children. She had two sisters and one brother...
as a pair of ghost-hunters. The most successful effort of this period was the short-lived television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974-1975 season. It featured a fictional Chicago newspaper reporter — Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin — who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly ones law...
(1974), starring Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears...
; the weekly series was based on two backdoor pilots (The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler) produced by Dan Curtis
Dan Curtis
Dan Curtis was an American director and producer of television and film, probably best known for his miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, his afternoon TV series Dark Shadows, and the made for TV movie, . Dark Shadows originally aired from 1966 to 1971 and has aired in syndication...
and scripted by Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
based on an unpublished work by Jeff Rice. Kolchak's adventures have been continued in books by Rice and in the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
Kolchak Tales. Matheson's Kolchak Scripts have also been published.
More recent examples include The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
, Angel Heart
Angel Heart
Angel Heart is a 1987 North American/British mystery-thriller film written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet...
, Constantine
Constantine (film)
Constantine is a 2005 American action horror film directed by Francis Lawrence as his directorial debut, starring Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, with Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, and Djimon Hounsou...
, and a television adaptation of The Dresden Files
The Dresden Files (TV series)
The Dresden Files is an American television series based on the books by Jim Butcher. It premiered January 21, 2007 on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States and on Space in Canada. It was picked up by Sky One in the UK and began airing on February 14, 2007.The series ran for a single season of...
.
Comics
Examples of occult detectives in comic books include Doctor SpektorDoctor Spektor
Doctor Spektor is a fictional comic book "occult detective" that appeared in Western Publishing's Gold Key Comics. Created by writer Donald Glut and artist Dan Spiegle, he first appeared in Mystery Comics Digest #5 -Publication history:...
from Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
, Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
from the Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
series of same name, Dylan Dog
Dylan Dog
Dylan Dog is an Italian horror comics series featuring an eponymous character created by Tiziano Sclavi for the publishing house Sergio Bonelli Editore...
from the Sergio Bonelli Editore
Sergio Bonelli Editore
Sergio Bonelli Editore is a publishing house of Italian comics. It takes its name from its president and comic book author, Sergio Bonelli....
series, and John Constantine
John Constantine
John Constantine is a fictional character, an occult detective anti-hero in comic books published by DC Comics, mostly under the Vertigo imprint. The character first appeared in Swamp Thing #37 , and was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette, John Totleben and Rick Veitch...
from the Vertigo series Hellblazer
Hellblazer
Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series, originally published by DC Comics, and subsequently by the Vertigo imprint since March 1993, the month the imprint was introduced, where it remains to this day...
(the basis for the film Constantine
Constantine (film)
Constantine is a 2005 American action horror film directed by Francis Lawrence as his directorial debut, starring Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, with Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, and Djimon Hounsou...
). Two Hellblazer writers have gone on to write their own occult detective characters: Sebastien O also at Vertigo by Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
and Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis
Warren Girard Ellis is an English author of comics, novels, and television, who is well-known for sociocultural commentary, both through his online presence and through his writing, which covers transhumanist themes...
' Gravel from Avatar Press
Avatar Press
Avatar Press is an independent American publisher of comic books, founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois.Avatar initially published only mini-series; however, they have since begun to branch out...
. 2000 AD has featured a number over the years in their own eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous series: Bix Barton
Bix Barton
Bix Barton, Master of the Rum and Uncanny is a fictional comic book character featured in the British science fiction anthology magazine 2000 AD...
, Devlin Waugh
Devlin Waugh
Devlin Waugh is a fictional character who has appeared regularly in 2000 AD and in the Judge Dredd Megazine. The character was originally created by the writer-artist team John Smith and Sean Phillips....
, Ampney Crucis Investigates and Dandridge
Dandridge (comics)
Doctor Spartacus Dandridge is a fictional character in 2000AD created by Alec Worley & Warren Pleece. First appearing in a Past Imperfect in 2009...
. The occult detective team of Syd Deadlocke and Doc Martin, featured in Pulse of Darkness and other comics by Chris G.C. Sequeira
Chris G.C. Sequeira
Christopher Sequeira is a Sydney-based Australian writer and artist who works predominantly in the speculative fiction realm, especially with the horror, science fiction and mystery genres...
, also fits into this genre.
Examples in manga and anime include Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro and Mushishi
Mushishi
is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara, published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1999 to August 2008.The manga was adapted into an anime television series in 2005. The Artland production was directed by Hiroshi Nagahama...
, a Japanese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, as well as the Japanese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
YuYu Hakusho
YuYu Hakusho
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. The name of the series is spelled YuYu Hakusho in the Viz Media manga and Yu Yu Hakusho in other English distributions of the franchise. The series tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent who is struck and...
, Ghost Hunt
Ghost Hunt
, originally titled , is a light novel series written by Fuyumi Ono. It follows the adventures of the Shibuya Psychic Research Center as they investigate mysterious occurrences all over Japan with a team of other spiritualists and clever assistants. Although the last novel was published in 1994,...
and Ghosts at School.