Secret Agent X-9

Few characters carry the smoky mystique of the Platinum Age quite like Secret Agent X-9, who first slipped into print in 1937 courtesy of artist Charles Flanders in Feature Book #8 from David McKay. Born in an era when pulp thrills and newspaper-strip adventure ruled the popular imagination, this enigmatic operative has proven surprisingly durable, with traces of the character surfacing across a remarkable span stretching all the way to 2010 — turning up in titles as varied as glamourpuss and Nostalgia Comics. For collectors with a taste for the roots of comics storytelling, X-9 is a genuine artifact of the form's earliest, most adventurous days.