(1948-    ) US writer, best known for mysteries and thrillers, many written as Max Collins; under that form of his name he also wrote the Dick Tracy comic strip from 1977 to 1993, assembling a good deal of this output – much of which features sf-like Inventions and villains with assorted Superpowers – in graphic collections like Dick Tracy Meets Angeltop: Flattop's Little Girl (graph coll 1980). He also wrote Dick Tracy (1990), novelizing the film, and other tales set in the Dick Tracy world. Collins's nonfantastic work – amounting to at least 50 titles – is generally more ambitious than his strip work. Further ties include three novels based on the television series Dark Angel (2000-2002): Dark Angel: Before the Dawn (2002), Dark Angel: Skin Game (2003) and Dark Angel: After the Dark (2003). The War of the Worlds Murder (2005), not sf, is a historical thriller starring Orson Welles at the time of his notorious 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast. [JC/DRL]

Max Allan Collins

born Muscatine, Iowa: 3 March 1948

died

works

series

Dick Tracy

See also under works as editor below.

• Dick Tracy Meets Angeltop: Flattop's Little Girl (New York: Ace Books, 1980) [coll of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy Meets the Punks (New York: Ace Books, 1980) [coll of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy: Tracy's Wartime Memories (New York: Ken Pierce, 1986) with Terry Beatty [coll of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy (New York: Bantam Books, 1990) [tie: novelizing the film: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy goes to War (New York: Bantam Books, 1991) [tie: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy and the Nightmare Machine (New York: St Martin's Press, 1991) [tie: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy Meets His Match (New York: Bantam Books, 1992) [tie: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles, Volume 1 (New York: Checker Book Publishing Group, 2003) [coll of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles, Volume 2 (New York: Checker Book Publishing Group, 2004) [coll of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy: The Collins Casefiles, Volume 3 (New York: Checker Book Publishing Group, 2005) [coll of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]

Dark Angel

Ties to the television series Dark Angel (2000-2002).

• Dark Angel: Before the Dawn (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 2002) [tie: pb/]
• Dark Angel: Skin Game (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 2003) [tie: pb/Redseal]
• Dark Angel: After the Dark (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 2003) [tie: pb/Redseal]

individual titles

• Waterworld (New York: Berkley Boulevard, 1995) [tie: novelizing the film Waterworld: pb/]
• The Mummy (New York: Berkley Boulevard, 1999) [tie: novelizing the film: The Mummy: pb/]
• Regeneration (New York: Leisure Books, 1999) with Barbara Collins [pb/]
• The Mummy Returns (New York: Berkley Boulevard, 2001) [tie: novelizing the film: The Mummy: pb/]
• The Scorpion King (New York: Berkley Boulevard, 2002) [tie: novelizing the film: pb/]
• Batman: Child of Dreams (New York: DC Comics, 2003) [coll of Batman strips: graph: pb/]
• The War of the Worlds Murder (New York: Berkley Books, 2005) [Orson Welles; War of the Worlds: pb/]
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (New York: Berkley Books, 2009) [pb/Dick Locher]

works as editor

Dick Tracy

• The Dick Tracy Casebook: Favorite Adventures, 1931-1990 (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990) with Dick Locher [anth of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]
• Dick Tracy: The Secret Files (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990) with Dick Locher [anth of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/Dick Locher]
• Dick Tracy's Fiendish Foes: A Sixtieth Anniversary Celebration (New York: St Martin's Press, 1991) with Dick Locher [anth of strips from Dick Tracy: graph: Dick Tracy: pb/]

links

• Max Allan Collins

Previous versions of this entry

• 23/09/2011
• 17/12/2011
• 08/01/2012
• 03/08/2012
• 20/08/2012