 Early in 1935 , Hammett decided to depart as writer of Secret Agent X @-@ 9 in order to pursue a career in Hollywood . While it has been presumed that Raymond took on the writing duties of the strip until a replacement could be found , biographer Tom Roberts instead believes that the strip was written by committee during editorial conference , a view R. C. Harvey believes is supported by the strips themselves . Saint author Leslie Charteris was hired to take over the writing of the strip in September 1935 , but the pair would only collaborate on one storyline . By the end of 1935 , " the [ work ] load was too much for Raymond , " who left Secret Agent X @-@ 9 to artist Charles Flanders , in order to devote more time to his meticulous Sunday pages . 
