Product Description: Presenting a deluxe hardcover collection of Chester Gould's timeless comic strip, Dick Tracy. The second volume of this multi-year project includes nearly 500 comic strips from May 1933 to January 1935. This special second volume also features an exclusive essay from Consulting Editor and longtime Tracy writer Max Allan Collins. Each volume will feature book design from award-winning designer/artist Ashley Wood.
A second printing is forthcoming. ^ I recently received an e-mail from IDW Publishing who stated that both Volume 1 and Volume 2 have been reprinted and are due for release on 21 January 2009. If you've been tempted to spend a small fortune on these, save your money for the second printing!
We Need More Men Like Dick Tracy Today ^ A very good book. Like another reviewer, I wanted to pace myself. Instead, I found myself quickly turning page after page. Back in the 70's, I purchased and read The Celebrated Cases of Dick Tracy, which carried more of his WW II exploits and stories from the 40's and early 50's. I also have another titled Tommy Guns and Hard Times. A little bit of this Vol. II is in that one.
Dick Tracy rides again. ^ This second volume of the complete Dick Tracy reprints the strips from May 21, 1933 to January 29, 1935. This is great, exciting stuff. Tracy has rematches with the villains Steve the Tramp, Stooge Viller and Big Boy. And new villains like Larceny Lu, Doc Hump and Boris Arson are introduced. Many other significant events occur. Junior's biological father dies and his biological mother is found. Tess Trueheart gets a rival for Dick's affection named Jean Penfield. Tracy gets a friendly rival in the police department, an English detective named J. Scotland Bumpsted. And that just begins to scratch the surface of the action packed exploits within this book. Highly recommended to fans of classic adventure comic strips.
The further adventures of Plainsclothes Tracy ^ In the early 1930s, a new comic became one of the most popular strips ever, especially in the category of crime comics. Dick Tracy, created by Chester Gould, continues to be published today, albeit as a pale shadow of its former self. Although the strip would hit its peak in the 1940s with villains like Flattop and Pruneface, even the earlier strips (with their more ordinary crooks) have their merit.
On the side of law and order, besides Dick Tracy, are fellow detective Pat Patson, adopted son Junior and love interest Tess Trueheart. As Volume 2 (covering 1933 to 1935) begins, two old villains are forging an alliance behind bars: the brainy Stooge Viller and the tough Steve the Tramp. Later will come a series of adventures with crime boss Big Boy and his gang.
The rather freakish-looking (although many of Gould's characters are at least slightly strange-looking) Jean Penfield tries to win Tracy's heart even as she writes a crime expose. Her efforts fail, but not before she fights things out with Tess. The latter strips deal with the return of the pathetic Mary Steele, Junior's real mother who gets entangled with criminals even as she watches her son from a distance.
From a writing standpoint, Gould is no Chandler or Hammett, but the mediums are different, something that needs to be recalled as you read these strips - they were supposed to be read one-a-day, not months worth at a time. And while certainly entertaining, the ability to tell a continuing story is not nearly as good as other contemporary strips such as Frank King's wonderful Gasoline Alley. This volume, however, is still early Gould, and his skills are still being honed. While not a top choice among the early comics now being reprinted, this is still worth picking up for fans of this era.
Dick Tracy Volume Two- The Action Continues ^ The action continues with Volume Two of the complete collection. A LOT of plotlines involve Junior this time around; including his minor involvement in a criminal gang when he didn't know they were a gang. (SPOILER ALERT!) His mother comes back and at the end of the book, she says, "THAT'S HIM!!" when Junior walks into the room. An emotional roller-coaster ride for Junior throughout the book and I can't wait to see what happens next when Junior finds out his mom is alive. Volume Three comes out next week and Volume Four follows in March. Stay tuned to your wristwatch radios folks!
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