Sexton Blake was “perhaps the world’s longest-running detective hero [with] One of Blake’s greatest adversaries [being Monsieur] Zenith the Albino”. ‘The Case Of The Nazi Canary’ features (in homage to Blake) the metatemporal detective Seaton Begg, thus cross-linking the story with those of various other members and generations of the Family von Bek and their curious relationships with both Lucifer and the Holy Grail.
An embryonic version of ‘The Case Of The Nazi Canary’ first appeared (sans that title) as part of an original graphic strand — ‘The Metatemporal Detective’, scripted by Moorcock and drawn by Mark Reeve — itself part of a larger graphic novel, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse (1999). Then, substantially reworked, it later appeared in 2003 as a complete textual story… as follows.
First appearance: McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury Of Thrilling Tales
New York: Vintage, 2003 (February) trade-sized paperback;
edited by Michael Chabon;
original price: $13·95;
480 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 1-4000-3339-X;
cover artist: H.J. Ward;
illustrated by Howard Chaykin & Kent Bash.
N.B. (quote): “Simultaneously published as McSweeney’s, issue 10, winter 2002–3, no. 1” — unseen (unverified) — unless this is just an alternative title for the same edition.
First collected appearance: The Metatemporal Detective
Amherst, N.Y.: Pyr, 2007 (October) hardcover (q.v.);
edited by Linda Moorcock (credited on copyright page);
original price: $25·00;
327 pages;
I.S.B.N.: 978-1-59102-596-2;
cover artist: John Picacio.
Foreign (i.e. non-English language) editions of McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury Of Thrilling Tales:-
As La Super Raccolta Di Storie D’Avventura, Italy (2004); Povestiri Incredibile, Romania (2005); Elektryzujące Opowieści, Poland (2007); McSweeney’s Méga-anthologie D’Histoires Effroyables, France (2007, abridged as McSweeney’s Anthologie D’Histoires Effroyables, 2011); מתח גבוה, Israel (2009); Espectacular De Cuentos, Spain (2015).
Moorcography.org 