Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 1

It is becoming clear that our society has entered a golden era of comic strip reprints. Along with this handsome volume of early Tracy from IDW Publishing, fans can enjoy beautiful, hardcover editions of Gasoline Alley (from Drawn and Quarterly Press) and complete reprints of Krazy Kat, Peanuts, Dennis the Menace, and Popeye (all from Fantagraphics Books); as well as a complete collection of Little Nemo in Slumberland 1904-1914 (Evergreen Press). Some of these titles, like the aforementioned Gasoline Alley (being reprinted as Walter and Skeezix) and Dick Tracy are multi-volume, multi-year projects. In the case of the gorgeous and important Gasoline Alley reprints from Drawn and Quarterly, the complete collection will run over 20 volumes. I have a feeling that we have only seen the beginning of these prestigious, complete hardcover treatments for comic reprints. Many equally deserving strips linger now in incomplete soft cover editions and await this regal reassessment; most notably Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, and the Katzenjammer Kids.But about the Complete Dick Tracy 1931-1933:What makes these years of Dick Tracy so compelling is that Chester Gould was one of the first comic strip artists to bring both a sense of realism and violence to the comic page - with the emphasis on violence. Men and women where shot dead on the panels of Dick Tracy, portrayed in Gould's brutal black and white at the moment of terminal impact. In one story arc, a mob boss ties Tracy to a chair, removes his shoes and socks, and goes to work on his bare feet with a blowtorch. Yes, this certainly wasn't Polly and her Friends or Harold Teen (and it is noteworthy that Tracy cracked under this torture, adding another layer of realism). While these early pages are not Gould's finest work as an artist, his superb pacing, storytelling, and marvelous sense of pathos and drama were there from day one.And the art of these strips was never as crude as some have noted. The line of the work was simply much thinner than the beautiful and dramatic brushwork Gould would develop as the strip progressed, so that the difference in style is a bit jarring at first.Reading through these strips, it is easy to see why Dick Tracy has become an icon. There is no contemporary mainstream strip that hits as hard as these vintage pages of Dick Tracy do (not even the current Dick Tracy). But then, few strips ever have. I guarantee it will keep you turning pages. I recommend it highly. - Mykal Banta

I've been a huge fan of the Dick Tracy comic strip since I picked up my first comic book reprint of the strip sometime in the latter '40s in the middle of the "Boris Arson" narrative arc from the mid-'30s. It was great stuff, and even at my young age I knew it was the real deal and drew upon some actual events for plot points; "Arson" used an iodine-dyed dummy pistol carved from a raw potato to break out of jail! (Ah there!, John Dillinger!)I was hooked, and became a dedicated collector with issue #29 (toward the end of the "Flattop" arc) and had every single issue from that point forward 'til #137! (Somewhere, inexplicably, they all disappeared! They survived the disapproval of my father, but not, apparently, my first wife!)Over the past 30 years I've acquired virtually every "Tracy" reprint I could get my eager mitts on, and they've been for the most part excellent. But due to the selectivity of the reprints (none of which touched on the "Boris Arson" arc), there's been no continuity of the Chester Gould oeuvre until this series debuted, and I was all over it!I've purchased the first two volumes, devoured both, and, O joy!, "Boris Arson" has appeared toward the end of the second one. The publication date of Volume III is a month away, and I'm like a kid awaiting Christmas morning!I imagine the reason this "Complete Dick Tracy" project wasn't previously attempted had to do with some sort of "rights" issue, but I'm delighted that it's underway... and I know that unless they accelerate the present two-a-year schedule, I probably won't live to see the "Moon Maid" years, but that's okay!These early strips show how polished Gould had become since his rather crude beginnings, and how much he developed his technical and creative "chops" over the decades. The format is fine... anything larger to accommodate a fuller sized Sunday strip would probably have put the volumes well above the "widely accessible" price point... so it's but a minor inconvenience for me to wear my reading glasses.Kudos to IDW Publishing.

Around the early 1930s, as Prohibition was coming to an ignominious end, gangster films began to really take hold. James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart led the way on screen, while Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler wrote the books, and on the comics page, it was Chester Gould, with his strip, Dick Tracy. Volume One of The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy follows the detective from the very beginning in late 1931 to the middle of 1933.As the comic begins, Dick Tracy isn't even a cop. When the father of his fiancee Tess Trueheart is killed by robbers, Tracy joins the police force and becomes a top detective without even needing to take an exam. He first solves the murder of Tess's father and then proceeds to be a one-man-gang against murderers, kidnappers, thieves and con men. His first real foe is the gang leader Big Boy, and most of the early battles are against Big Boy or members of his organization.For those familiar with Dick Tracy's more bizarre foes such as Pruneface and Flattop, there may be a little bit of disappointment with the more mundane villains in this volume. Besides the bad guys and Tess, the main characters are Pat, a rather hapless fellow detective and Junior, a street urchin who Tracy takes under his wing. But it's Tracy who is the lead character, constantly meeting out justice with fist and gun. Like many such characters, Tracy himself is not that interesting, but is made more so by others around him.Well-drawn and decently written, even these early Dick Tracy strips should appeal to fans of older comics. It may not be the best of these old-time comics (I reserve that compliment for other strips like Krazy Kat, Gasoline Alley or Popeye), but it is a fun read.

Whilst the cultural and historical aspects of this type of book are interesting and worthwhile in themselves, i actually buy these primarily because they are such a good read! Brilliantly and beautifully drawn with plot twists and surprising, even shocking moments littered throughout the continuous roller-coaster. I'm 42 with no child-hood attachment to the material, i enjoy and appreciate it as a fresh entity. 'They' just don't make them like this anymore, and perhaps 'they' couldn't if 'they' tried. The crappy film and cartoon (which was my previous awareness of the character) did way more to harm this legacy than help it. I would never have guessed that the original material was of such mind-bending quality. But i think we are all well used to having our beloved comic characters watered down and badly transferred by now ;)And this is the early stuff too, it just gets better and better as this series of books goes on. Love it!!

Very fun to read these stories again