[luckylimat]

does anybody know  Original Comicname of  Detective Charlie or Charles and his assistant Alexa? is it UK or US comic? its comic strip?
below Attached image is tamil language translation...

[Andrew999]

Is it Kerry Drake - or possibly Terry & the Pirates - both superb, by the way

[crashryan]

Interesting. Not Kerry or Terry. Despite some Tuska influence in the last panel, the art reminds me of that in Italian pocket-sized comics. I could be wrong, of course, but I'm pretty sure it's not of American origin.

Parenthetically, if the real life "assistant Alexa" looked like this one, I'd buy one of the stupid things from Amazon.

[Andrew999]

In puzzling over this, I came across this amazing free library in Tamil:

http://tamilbookshelf.com/comics-books.html

and the Lion-Muthu website:

Click on comic books to see what's available - includes lots of Phantom stuff, which as everyone knows is the world's greatest hero.

www.lion-muthucomics.com (Great to see the Steel Claw and Spider still going strong)

I agree with Crash - Alexa is pretty stunning, even in a raincoat, and has a certain Italian feel.

Lucky - can you translate some of the Tamil text for us (or anything from the cover if you have it) that might help to pin it down.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering whether it might be Johnny Nero in a hat? He had a blonde assistant.

[luckylimat]

Hi Andrew,

Yes, in tamil, still Steel Claw and Spider are being published as reprint. Lot of fans are still here for buying Steel Claw , spider and Robot archie reprints in tamil. Lion Comics from

Its not Johnny Nero, Nero also published in Tamil. 

three stories are published under name of detective Charlie  and Alexa

1. One story is based on black widow spider(
http://johny-johnsimon.blogspot.com/2013/05/blog-post_17.html (u can see lot pages here)

2. another one based on cats are killing people(meow meow  death)
https://bookztamil.blogspot.com/2019/08/blog-post_460.html ( u can download pdf here - cover may be misleading u. cover picture is not part of story )

3. third one based on mermaid
https://bookztamil.blogspot.com/2019/08/blog-post_298.html ( u can downlod pdf here)

[paw broon]

The 3rd. one is a Rip Kirby story.

[luckylimat]

paw broon,

cover picture may be misleading.... i will post inner pages.. its not rip kirby

[luckylimat]

here are few pages from third story

[paw broon]

Yes. I understand, but if you scroll down the pdf, there is a Rip Kirby story.

[luckylimat]

yes, two stories were published in one book.

[luckylimat]

As per Tamil Translation, he is a private detective investigates mystery cases in America and stories are happening in America. Chandler novels reference also there in conversation.

[Andrew999]

Here's some of the translated blurb from the first link from Lucky:

A lonely couple goes down to a millionaire's swimming pool and goes for a bath! The shock is waiting for them! The victim's father entrusts Charles with the detective work. Her daring efforts eventually lead to a woman with the potential to turn into a spider as a side effect of cancer research! Charles aintu trying to bring out the truth! Enjoy the exciting events that follow!

Anyone recognise that plot?

The cover (with Alexa in full-on Pamela Anderson mode) looks to me to be 80s Italian (the second link is dated 1996 so that seems about right). Other stuff from the same publisher is Italian - Tex etc - yet I'm pretty sure this is not a Sergio Bonelli production, the graphics are too crude.

[paw broon]

Sorry, don't recognise the plot, but there are also some ads for British and French material.  Could these strips be from one of the Euro editorials? You're right, they are too crude for Bonelli publications.  But the Italian/Spanish pockets are a possibility.

[luckylimat]

any one , any clue?

[Andrew999]

I wonder - is it the early Batman, known at the time in Italy as Ala d'acciaio?

https://arteventinews.it/2018/12/07/la-storia-editoriale-italiana-di-batman-linizio-dellavventura-1945-1948/

[luckylimat]

..and this detective charles/charlie has crow as pet bird

[Andrew999]

That kind of affectation sounds Italian - Dylan Dog has a pet raven, for example, though Detective Charlie is clearly not Dylan, whose image was based on the actor Rupert Everett.

Is Charlie a Lion Mutha publication? If so, couldn't you contact them through their website and ask them the origin of the series?

[Andrew999]

I haven't given up on this - could it be Jonathan Kent from Spy-Hunters (issues available on this site)?

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=18865

On balance, I'm now leaning towards Charlie being a reprint of a Spanish or Pinoy strip - any suggestions?

Lucky - did you contact Lion-Mutha?

[luckylimat]

Hi Andrew999,


Thanks for not giving up on this.


   Its not Jonathan Kent. The character charlie is  private mystery investigator. stories are always like murders with mystery. 


Unfortunately Editor who was there when published this story in tamil laguage is not in with lion-muthu publication now.


I am searching on this... let u know if i got any. Please let me know if u got any info abt this.

[Andrew999]

Could it be Captain Easy - the hat, the coat, the pipe......

[luckylimat]

Its not Captain Easy.. thats for sure

[luckylimat]

anyone? any update abt this hero?

[Andrew999]

The detective in a trench coat and floppy fedora is generic - could be anyone - Mike Danger springs to mind, even Mike Hammer - he even looks like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Most likely though, he's of Spanish or South American origin.

So we must focus on his assistant Alexa and pet crow. What detectives do we know have a pet crow (or is it a raven?)

I think it's possible that the mystery of Detective Charlie will haunt me to my death :>

[crashryan]

I hear that Alexa retired from crime fighting and went into business manufacturing digital assistants.

[SuperScrounge]

What detectives do we know have a pet crow (or is it a raven?)

The Mongoose in Bell Features comics by Bill Thomas, but that was in a comic style & not the above examples.