Wednesday, April 22, 2015

A-Z: S is for Sexton Blake

Today's letter for the A-Z Challenge is S for Sexton Blake.  Like many pieces of literature, sometimes the characters outlast the stories.  Take Sherlock Holmes for instance, there have been countless detective stories created from his original character.  He's been a household name for over a century, but he's not the only one from this era.  Like Sherlock Holmes, Sexton Blake was a famous fictional detective and he was created during the penny dreadful Victorian era.  Sexton Blake was extremely popular and since then, his character has also been reinvented in numerous works.




"About Sexton Blake"


Sexton Blake first appeared in the Half Penny Marvel in 1983, a publication created by Alfred Harmsworth.  The character detective was dubbed the "poor man's Sherlock Holmes" and grew so wildly popular that the character grew into a veritable comic icon.  There were thousands of versions stemming from the original which continued well into the 1970's.  Beside penny dreadfuls, he appeared in dime novels, slicks, novels, movies, plays, radio shows, TV shows, and comic books. The first penny dreadful was called "The Missing Millionaire" and was written by Harry Blyth.  If you're interested in learning more about this fictional character, visit ReoCities and the ComicVine.  Unfortunately, there were no original copies of the penny dreadful version.  There were, however, dozens of authored variations about this character on Amazon.  






Are you familiar with this English legend?  I had heard of him, but never knew he was so popular or that he originated from the penny dreadful era.

Mina Burrows

8 comments:

S. L. Hennessy said...

I'll take any kind of Sherlock Holmes, poor man's or not!

Good luck with the A to Z Challenge!
A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
http://pensuasion.blogspot.com/

Sophie Duncan said...

I think I've seen a movie with Sexton Blake in it, the nme rang a bell as soon as I read your post title, but for the life of me I can't remember anything about it! I shall have to go googling.
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
FB3X
Wittegen Press

cleemckenzie said...

This seems to be a huge blank spot in my data base! Thanks for filling me in.

Unknown said...

It's great to learn about perennial characters that aren't monsters or super heroes!

You can find me here:
ClarabelleRant

Nick Wilford said...

I've heard of him, but not much more. Some characters seem to snag the popular imagination, for one reason or another.

-blessed holy socks, the non-perishable-zealot said...

What a fab-YOU-lous opportunity to serve you while on earth; I'd also looove to write many novels with you Upstairs! Just a savvy lil' witty ditty on why we ROTE our 22 blogs:

Faith, hope, and love -
the greatest of these is love:
jump into faith...
and you'll see with love.
Doesn’t matter if you don’t believe
(what I write);
God believes in you.
God. Bless. You.

Heather R. Holden said...

Don't think I've ever heard of Sexton Blake before. Crazy to see how popular this character was!

J.L. Campbell said...

Thanks for the introduction. This is a new guy for me.