This been a week full of mystery in the Semantink blogs. What will we watch now that LOST is over? What was the real identity of William Shakespeare? When will the weekend finally get here? With all these mysteries being thrown around, I thought that I should scour the world of comics for the best of the best when it comes to solving tough to answer questions. So, without further ado, lets look at the best detectives in comic books!

1) Batman  (DC)- The creme de la creme of comic detectives. The Batman has mad crime solving skills and mind boggling array of gadgets to augment his keen wit. Batman is meticulous, calculated and methodical, and his utility belt always has ample plastic baggies for evidence. If you need to solve a crime, from “Who burglarized the jewelry store?” to “What killed this New God?” Batman is the man to turn to.

2) Elijah Snow (WILDSTORM)- Elijah Snow has been solving mysteries for over one hundred years, so you have to imagine that he is pretty good at it by now. Specializing in the most obscure and whispered of mysteries, Snow has found hidden jungle cities, Hong kKong soul engines, and alternate universes, just out of curiosity. And if that isn’t enough for you, he was trained by none other than Sherlock Holmes.

3) Vic Sage (DC)- While the excellent Mr. Sage is now deceased, this detective didn’t just look to solve crimes, he sought answers to philosophical questions as well. Who else could figure out who shot JR and what is the meaning of life in the same afternoon?

4) Jamie Madrox (MARVEL)- What the multiple man lacks in deductive reasoning, he more than makes up for in personnel. Madrox’s ability to make an unlimited number of duplicates that he shares knowledge with means that he can comb a whole city for clues faster than anyone else could.

5) Sam Noir (IMAGE)- A detective and a ronin samurai, Sam is the complete package. His crime solving abilities are second only to his sword handling skills. And he has cool hair.

6) Simon Archard (CROSSGEN)- This Sherlock Holmes look-alike is a master sleuth with an eidetic (photographic) memory that serves him quite well in his detecting. If that isn’t enough for you, he is constantly able to evade attempts on his life by The Consortium of Aggrieved Man Servants without losing his cool.

7) Tony Chu (IMAGE)- Mr. Chu is cibopathic, which means he picks up mental images from whatever he eats (except for beets). Tony has used this ability to great effect when it comes to hunting down wrongdoers or finding the whereabouts of missing people.

Bigby Wolf (VERTIGO)- This wolfman knows his stuff. He actually tasted each fable in Fabletown to see if they were a spy, and has a keen ability to smell liars. Add to that several thousand years of life experience and you have the makings of a great detective.

9) Michael “Desolation” Jones (WILDSTORM)- Anyone who is able to solve the case of Adolf Hitler’s missing sex tapes deserves a spot on this list. It doesn’t hurt that Jones is ex-MI6 and even government operatives come to him when they need something found.

10) Detective Chimp (DC)- How smart is Bobo the detective chimp? So smart that Batman will hit him up for ideas when he’s stuck. Seriously, they do it in an internet chat room. I swear I couldn’t make this stuff up.

That;s it for this week folks. I will be out in Phoenix this weekend with Semantink for the Phoenix Comic Con. If you are going to be in the area, drop me a line! Thanks for stopping in folks, see you next week.