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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 cliches 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 humor.

Because of a generally acknowledged rule, there's going to be a 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. Given that this kind of move tends to have very subjective results, as always, time will tell if they've done the right thing.


Tropes used in Dylan Dog include:
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Dylan: "For someone who thinks he's pretty smart, I sure get the crap kicked out of me alot"

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    • Groucho and Bloch are even better examples of this trope.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Groucho.
  • Oedipus Complex: Dylan for Morgana, big time.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Groucho!
  • Pungeon Master: Groucho again.
  • Serial Killer: An alarming number of them.
  • Shout-Out: Trying to list all of them would be a superhuman task. Stephen King is a favorite target.
    • A fairly important recurring character is called professor Wells.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Dylan is a hopeless romantic, while the series itself can be rather bleak and cynical.
  • Status Quo Is God: A constant. Even if the story ends with Dylan dying or the world ending, next month the Reset Button will be pushed. Seriously.
    • Usually is only a dream (Cagliostro's dream in two different episodes). Or some cosmic entity, namely Death, resets everything because "it's more interesting this way". Hell's Burocratic Department is good at hiding things, too.
  • STD Immunity: Dylan either has this or is very, very lucky.
  • Tall, Dark and Handsome: Dylan.
  • Vomiting Cop: Bloch!
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Xabaras.
  • Who You Gonna Call?: If you have a problem with ghosts, vampires, werewolves, zombies or anything supernatural, call Dylan. He comes cheap and he is a nice guy. There's a good chance he will fuck things up and will get you killed, though. And if you have a very hot wife, call someone else.
    • Stop that noise, man. Dylan Dog will never lay one hand on your wife! Your widow, on the other hand... or your innocent, pretty daughter... nephew... baby sitter... whatever.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: Xabaras has developed a serum that turns people into zombies. It also happens in the confusing story when Morgana is introduced.
    • And the story "Orrore Nero" (Black Horror) features The Mafia using a Zombie-like serum to fake their deaths.