Bogie
(AKA The Bogie Man, Francis F. Clunie)

Created by John Wagner and Alan Grant

A limited series, and British cult favorite, featuring the comic (and comic book) misadventures of one FRANCIS F. CLUNIE, AKA BOGIE, an escaped mental patient from a Scottish asylum who thinks he's Humphrey Bogart, or more precisely, a private detective like the ones Bogart used to play.

Reminiscent of Red Diamond or Sam Marlow, but creators Wagner and Grant add enough unique touches, murky, impenetrable Scottish slang, truly painful puns and black humour to make this more than worth your time, as Bogie wanders the mean streets of Glasgow (City of mystery! City of intrigue!) in pursuit of the evil master villianess, Taiwan Lil, the "scourge of the Orient" or goes abroad, in search of bigger and even more nefarious fish to fry (did someone mention Dan Quayle?).

Francis appeared in several adventures, in various comic books and magazines, under the series title of The Bogie Man. The series even spawned a one-off BBC film that Grant was supposedly involved with, featuring Robbie Coltrane playing our slightly deranged hero, maintaining a hilarious Bogie impression throughout. Coltrane of course played Fitz in the original Granada series of Cracker which must rate as one of the most hard-boiled series ever to come out of England.

And, in 1998, the Paradox Press, an imprint of DC Comics, published The Bogie Man, collecting two of Bogie's full-length adventures, for the edification and enjoyment of hard-boiled detective fans on this side of the Big Pond.

COMICS

• THE BOGIE MAN
  (1989-1993, various comic magazines)
  Writers: John Wagner and Alan Grant
  Artists: Robin Smith,Cam Kennedy
  

• "The Bogie Man" (1991; also 1998, The Bogie Man)
• "The Bogie Man: The Chinese Syndrome" (July 1991, Apocolypse Presents, No. 4)
• "The Bogie Man: The Manhattan Project" (September 1991, Apocolypse Presents, No. 6)
• "The Bogie Man: Chinatoon" (1993, also 1998, The Bogie Man)

COLLECTIONS

• The Bogie Man (1998) ....Buy this book

TELEVISION

• THE BOGIE MAN
  (BBC)
  Starring Robbie Coltrane as FRANCIS F. CLUNIE

RELATED LINKS

• For more Private Eye Comics...

Report submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.