Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics, Mad Cave Studios | Tagged: dan didio, Secret Agent X-9
Dan DiDio, From DC Comics Publisher To Reviving Secret Agent X-9
Dan DiDio, from DC Comics publisher to reviving Secret Agent X-9 at Mad Cave Studios in 2027
Article Summary
- Dan DiDio’s DC Comics legacy runs from publisher and New 52 architect to key writer on OMAC, Phantom Stranger, and more.
- After leaving DC in 2020, Dan DiDio shifted to Frank Miller Presents and Mad Cave, writing Defenders of the Earth.
- Dan DiDio now revives Secret Agent X-9 for Mad Cave in 2027, teaming with Tom Derenick on a modern spy relaunch.
- The new Secret Agent X-9 echoes Grayson’s espionage roots, while Mad Cave also collects Goodwin and Williamson classics.
Dan DiDio joined DC in 2002 as vice president of editorial and was named co-publisher alongside Jim Lee in 2010. He was closely involved with the weekly series 52 and the 2011 New 52 relaunch, and he wrote or co-wrote titles including OMAC, Phantom Stranger, and Sideways. I reported in February 2020 that he had left the company, with subsequent coverage confirming the departure was not voluntary. He later became publisher at Frank Miller Presents and has written Defenders of the Earth for Mad Cave since 2024. In 2024, he also contributed a short Nightwing story to a DC anthology.
While he was at DC Comics, he launched the Grayson series, which saw Tim Seeley, Tom King and Mikel Janín recreate Dick Grayson as Agent 37 of Spyral, a shadowy organisation that gathers intelligence on superheroes. The series mixes high-octane espionage missions, undercover intrigue and the broader DC Universe, including ties to Batman, Huntress/Helena Bertinelli, and others. At the time, it was compared to Secret Agent X-9, created by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond, a daily newspaper adventure strip about a government agent working for a shadowy agency, with later creative team Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson in the sixties and seventies, leaning into globe-trotting espionage, intrigue, and action.
Secret Agent X-9
Secret Agent X-9
Secret Agent X-9
Secret Agent X-9
SECRET AGENT X9 #1
(W) Dan DiDio (A) Tom Derenick (CA) Mike Perkins
Dan DiDio and Tom Derenick reinvent the original spy! In 1934, Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon) and Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon) created Secret X-9, starring an unnamed agent who worked for a shadowy anonymous agency. Their genre-defining strip ran for more than 60 years. Now, another legendary team joins forces to explode Secret Agent Phil Corrigan into the modern day! When a failed assassination attempt drags retired super-spy Phil Corrigan back into the shadows, he’s forced into an uneasy alliance with a younger operative to hunt Pendulum—a shadow network manipulating both extremes of the political spectrum to keep the world in perpetual chaos. Featuring old villains and new allies, surprise settings, and classic explosive action, Secret Agent X-9 kicks off the noir comic of the year! $4.99 1/27/2027
Secret Agent X-9
Secret Agent X-9
Secret Agent X-9
Secret Agent X-9
SECRET AGENT X9 CLASSIC COLLECTION HC VOL 01
(W) Archie Goodwin (A/CA) Al Williamson
In 1934, Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond were at the height of their careers. Dashiell was enjoying the success of his influential 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon, and Raymond had just launched Flash Gordon, the newspaper strip that would be the highlight of his legacy. Together, they created Secret Agent X-9, starring an unnamed agent who worked for a shadowy anonymous agency—and once again, defined a genre. Thirty years later, Hammett and Raymond’s creation would find new life with the dynamic team of Al Williamson and Archie Goodwin, who rechristened the strip Secret Agent Corrigan and explored a new style of spy and adventure stories. This hardcover collection from Mad Cave Studios contains the first two years of Goodwin and Williamson’s extraordinary run. $49.99 1/13/2027
SECRET AGENT X9 CLASSIC COLLECTION HC VOL 01
SECRET AGENT X9 CLASSIC COLLECTION HC VOL 01
SECRET AGENT X9 CLASSIC COLLECTION HC VOL 01
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
