Customer Reviews

Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 2 (v. 2)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This review is from my "Tony's Tips" column in COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE...

I planned to pace myself reading The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume Two [IDW Publishing; $29.99], but that plan went awry pretty quick. This volume reprints the strip - both dailies and Sundays - from May 21, 1933 to January 29. 1935. As author and Gould successor Max Allan Collins recounts in his introduction to this volume, Gould was learning while he was earning, refining his storytelling while creating one of the most exciting comic strips of all time. The action moved as fast as speeding bullets and it often seemed like Tracy or sidekick Junior or girlfriend Tess were in mortal peril weekly. It must have been maddening for readers of the era to have to wait an entire day to find out what would happen to Gould's good guys and bad guys. I breezed through eight months' of the strip in a morning and couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

I'd still be reading if I didn't have to stop to write this review. The sacrifices I make for you...

Tracy has already amassed a number of mortal enemies as this volume opens and their aggregate hankering to rid themselves of the detective puts him and his loved ones in life-threatening peril on a far too frequent basis. But the hatred of the villains is just as likely to work against them. It's a dangerous dance and there are casualties on both sides.

Junior emerges as a star in his own right during these strips. He's smart, tough, and a crack shot. But, just when you think he's invincible, his youthful naivety gets him into a seemingly hopeless jam. No wonder he was such a popular character back in the day. Indeed, the more I read of these early strips, the more I'm convinced he was the main inspiration for Batman's Robin.

Besides 20 months of the strips themselves and the insightful Collins introduction, this second book also features the conclusion of the 1980 Gould interview conducted by Collins and Tracy expert Matt Masterson. Though Gould often has to be prompted to remember specific details of his work, his drive, loyalty, and strength of character come through loud and clear.

There are books I can't imagine not being in the library of a serious comics buff. This is one of them.

The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume Two earns the full five out of five Tonys.

We're not quite yet to the golden Tracy years--the villains are still for the most part just garden variety crooks, though grotesquerie is beginning to appear (including a nicely disrurbing plot involving mutated rabies). The grimness of the strip is impressive. Gould's cartooning skills are getting strong, but the stories are still a bit unformed. And the book format is not ideal; the Sunday pages are reproduced slightly too small (and in black and white); they should have gone with the size they're using for the Little Orphan Annie reprints. Nevertheless, a good run of one of the seminal comic strips.

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.

I really enjoyed this book. I have recently become quite enamored with Dick Tracy. I am making my way through the Golden Age comic characters and these compiled editions are wonderful to read.

As per Dick Tracy's life, the book is almost like a visual novel. He and Tess have their ups and downs, the kid, Junior, struggles with changes in his life and even falls into a gang of crime, and Dick Tracy shows that though he's good, he's not always perfect.

I really enjoyed the interview with Gould in the beginning of the book that detailed Tracy's orgins as a mob-fighting Sherlock Holmes, and also gives and approximate age for him (around 25 when the strip starts).

If you like love, mystery, suspense, and a bit of 1930's CSI: Dick Tracy style, you will enjoy this book.

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.

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!

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.

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!

This book is OK but not as good as DICK TRACY THE THIRTIES- TOMMY GUNS AND HARD TIMES which was published by Chelsea House about 30 years ago and covered about the same period along with 12 Sunday pages (including Cigarette Sadie) in color.This one starts at a later date while the old one began with the second story. And finally it weighs a ton which makes it uncomfortable for an older person to read.Of course, what is not to like about Tracy in the Thirties.