Review by Frank Plowright

As surely noted somewhere else on this site, Alan Grant and John Wagner may be respected as a great comics writing team, but they should also be recognised as one of Britain’s great comedy writing duos. The Bogie Man is meticulously plotted farce populated with ridiculous and constantly funny characters from the top down. After a great first story, there are no worries about diminishing returns with a sequel, as Chinatoon is slightly better.

The Bogie Man is Francis Clunie, resident of a psychiatric ward who believes himself to be the tough guy detective Humphrey Bogart played in films. Never heard of Humphrey Bogart because he was your grandparents’ film star? It doesn’t matter, as while the perfect imitation of his laconic drawl can be heard in the dialogue, that’s only one aspect of a masterful concoction. Equally funny are incompetent henchmen working for an increasingly frustrated boss, a dim novice private eye, a Masonic cop, a daft Scottish showband and Clunie’s mother. A Glasgow Chinese family is also trapped in the Bogie Man’s fantasies as he tracks notorious thief Taiwan Lil. She’s actually the daughter of a restaurant owner being targeted as part of a protection racket, and determined she marry the son of another successful Chinese/Scottish family.

A sharp script and a great cast are brought to life by Robin Smith who adds to the comedy by drawing events as if he’s actually drawing a noir crime thriller. He’s free with the shadows, and never exaggerates, drawing Clunie wandering around in socks and the charity shop overcoat he’s mugged an old lady for as if it’s an everyday sight. There’s not the necessity to deliver Glasgow in such precise detail as in the first story, but parts are still recognisable, and he’s meticulous when it comes to the Waverley, the only seafaring paddle steamer active in the British isles.

The Waverley is the setting for the finale, a farcical gathering of almost the entire cast as Rab McNab and his Fab Dab Ceilidh Band echo the dance band on the Titanic by playing on all the way through the ensuing mayhem. It’s great.

This edition is long out of print, and anyone wanting to read it is better directed to the 2023 compilation The Bogie Man: The Incomplete Case Files.