Max Allan Collins is a prolific American mystery writer who has been called "mystery's Renaissance man".

He has written novels, screenplays, comic books, comic strips, trading cards, short stories, movie adaptations and historical fiction. He wrote the graphic novel Road to Perdition, created the comic book private eye Ms. Tree, and took over writing the Dick Tracy comic strip and one of the Batman comic books for a time. He has also directed and produced a number of films and has served as the creative consultant for a number of major productions. He also wrote books to expand on the Dark Angel TV series.