Nathaniel Dusk is the name of a fictional private investigator

Private investigator

A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

 and the two mini-series by DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 in which he appeared. The mini-series, both of four issues each, appeared in 1984 and 1985. Don McGregor

Don McGregor

Donald Francis McGregor is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics, and the author of one of the first graphic novels.-Early life and career:...

 wrote and Gene Colan

Gene Colan

Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...

 provided pencils for both series.

Nathaniel Dusk is a private investigator from New York City whose adventures in the 1930s are portrayed in the stories. He served in the United States armed forces

United States armed forces

The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...

 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and was hired by the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 police force. Dusk fell deeply in love with Joyce Gulino, a beautiful young saleswoman with two children, Jennie and Anthony. Gulino's ex-husband was a gangster named Joseph Costilino. He later killed his family and Dusk was to become an investigator unable to prevent other murders from which he was hired. When Don McGregor was writing the series, he revealed that he based Dusk after actor Robert Culp

Robert Culp

Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...

. McGregor adds that he was watching Culp's TV series I Spy

I Spy

I Spy is an American television secret-agent adventure series. It ran for three seasons on NBC from 1965 to 1968 and teamed Robert Culp as international tennis player Kelly Robinson with Bill Cosby as his trainer, Alexander Scott...

when the idea of Nathaniel Dusk came into his mind.