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The second-best selling Italian comic book, once the first during the "Dylan craze" of the early nineties. Created by Tiziano Sclavi and published by Sergio Bonelli, Dylan Dog is a series focusing on a former Scotland Yard detective now known as the "Nightmares Investigator", who lives in Craven Road 7, London and fights monsters, demons and many more otherworldly creatures for £100 a day plus expenses, or solves cases about horrifying sociopathic criminals. The series (at least during its first years) managed to deconstruct horror clichés and to create an intriguing, flawed and sympathetic Anti-Hero in a morally complex world. Dylan Dog was also known for the surreal, poetic quality of its writing and its black humour. Because of a generally acknowledged rule, there was Live-Action Adaptation called 'Dylan Dog: Dead of Night', starring Brandon Routh as the eponymous detective and co-starring Sam Huntington, Anita Briem, Peter Stormare, Taye Diggs and Kurt Angle (yes, that Kurt Angle). The storyline of the movie isn't an Adaptation Distillation of any story arc of the comic, but an entirely independent one instead. The film was poorly-received, and has been disowned by most fans of the comic. Interestingly enough, it can be said that Dylan Dog has already had a movie version, but for the name and some minor adjustments. Based upon a book written by Tiziano Sclavi (the character's creator) around one of the very first drafts of the series (before Bonelli mandated the change from an Italian setting and protagonist to an Anglo-Saxon one, as customary for the Milanese publisher, whose only Italian hero to date was the Swiss-based Napoleone) and played by the very actor upon whose likenesses D.D. was molded ( Rupert Everett), DellaMorte DellAmore is a pretty clear expy. Placed in the outskirts of Milano, minus Groucho, but definitely a young D.D., complete of melancholic zombies and rusty VW Beetle.
Dylan Dog provides examples of:- Alas, Poor Villain: One of the series' trademarks.
- The Alcoholic: Dylan was this before the beginning of the series - he started drowning his sorrows after the death of Lillie.
- Anti-Hero: Dylan is lazy, prone to mood swings and depression, anxious, full of phobias (he is afraid of flying, of ships, of heights, of bats, very afraid of closed spaces...) and not particularly brave, strong or sharp. As a bonus, several times he royally screws up his cases.
- Dylan is also this in the film, but in a different way; basically he's more stoic and withdrawn.
- Asshole Victim: In most of the stories, the "poor" victims of the Monster of the Week turn to be unlikeable jerks who did something bad enough to deserve the monster's anger. In some cases, they are revealed to be even worse than the monster itself.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: The series drops a nuke on this trope.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Happens in some of Sclavi's surreal stories.
- Broken Aesop: The series insisted that physical beauty does not count, and yet Dylan kept going to bed only with young, gorgeous chicks. Realizing the problem, the writers finally had Dylan sleeping with a much older, ugly, overweight woman.
- Butt Monkey: Poor Jenkins.
- Captain Ersatz: Mana Cerace the boogeyman is a pretty obvious one of Freddy Krueger.
- The Casanova: Usually Dylan sleeps with at least one different woman each month.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Dylan is this trope.
- Comic Book Fantasy Casting: Dylan's appearance was inspired by actor Rupert Everett. Also, Kim is... well, Kim Novak. Plus, professor Adam looks like an old Sean Connery. Some of the first stories featured characters that seemed based on Jack Nicholson, Bette Davis, Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins and several others. And then there's Groucho.
- As a general rule, Sergio Bonelli Editore - the publishing house of Dylan Dog - tends to use it a lot. In reality, almost all of the main cast of every series they published is heavily based upon actors (Alan Ladd for Tex Willer, Rupert Everett for Dylan Dog, Marlon Brando for Napoleone). Among the major series it publishes, only Nathan Never protagonist is not based on an actor... but his main sidekick used to be "Legs" Weaver.
- Cool Old Guy: Inspector Bloch, recurring character and old friend of Dylan.
Also the Good side of Xabaras, an old swordsmaster confined into a mysterious island in another dimension.- By the way, being using real people as a base for characters the way SBE works, Bloch is based on Robert Bloch, the author.
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