Here is the first ever popular collection of crime comics - the 24 best graphic short stories in the crime genre,spanning all the colours of noir, from classic American newspaper strip serials and notorious uncensored comic books to today's global graphic novel masterpieces.

This must-have collection is fully loaded with some of the greatest writers and artists in comics publishing, including Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Will Eisner, Max Allan Collins, Johnny Craig, Alex Toth, Bernie Krigstein - plus adaptations of/collaborations by famous crime writers, such as Dashiel Hammett, Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler.

Meet a gallery of hard-boiled, iconic heroes and killers inside including:Dashiell Hammett's smooth operator Secret Agent X-9, Will Eisner's masked mystery man The Spirit, Mickey Spillane's heavyweight tough-guy Mike Hammer, Munoz and Sampayo's brooding ex-cop Alack Sinner, Abuli and Bernet's venal hitman-for-hire Torpedo 1936, Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty's femme fatale investigator Ms. Tree, and Charles Burns' Mexican wrestler and defective detective El Borbah.