Dylan Dog and his old Cafe!

For those who haven’t tried reading the Italian Dylan Dog series it is well worth a look in a number of the translations you can find in English Language. Dark Horse ran a six issue mini-series in 1999 (although that can get pretty pricy) and Epicenter Comics have released a couple. All are great and whenever I am in Italy I always try to pick up a few.

Dylan Dog is a private detective who focuses on investigating supernatural nightmares and visually was based on the actor Rupert Everett. See the movie Cemetery Man aka Dellamorte Dellamore for more about that! And yes, he was also played years later by the man who was also Superman/The Atom and an evil boyfriend – Brandon Routh in Dylan Dog: Dead by Night.

To confuse matters more his partner in the Fumetti is called Groucho and in certain comics looks like Groucho Marx but occasionally has his moustache removed for copyright reasons! In fact, Groucho became so popular he even had his own title.

So, why am I telling you all this? Apart from this being a comic that you should seek out. Like Belgium’s Blake and Mortimer series (Recently discussed at the NIA podcast and worth a listen) Dylan Dog is based in London. Specifically he lives in Paddington at 7 Craven Road, Paddington, W2 3BP. It’s a short walk from Edgware Road.

At that very address up until recently was a hidden gem of that area and of the comics world, the Dylan Dog cafe. You can have a look at the Facebook page here. I’d been there a few times before lockdown and it was a fun place for a bit of breakfast.

But sadly I discovered this Sunday that the place is closed! A real shame. You can still see in these photos that the Dylan Dog art is still on the walls.