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Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 7

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As befits IDW's new format (featuring larger dimensions and a full-color dust jacket), Volume 7 represents a stylistic turning point in Chester Gould's Golden Age classic - DICK TRACY. At last, here's the "good stuff" you've been waiting for! By the early 1940s the strip's conventional, public enemy-type bad guys (like BIG BOY CAPRICE and STOOGE VILLER) gradually gave way to innovative, larger-than-life weirdness - and the American comics page would never be the same.

This volume documents the breathless transition - and I DO mean "breathless"! Tracy is hurled from one bizarre, hair-raising deathtrap to the next, by villains whose gruesome facades are more than matched by their thoroughly malignant souls. Gould's justly famous "Rogues Gallery" of grotesques (glimpsed embryonically with JEROME TROHS and MAMMA in Volume 6), springs to life with a vengeance in the saga of LITTLE FACE FINNEY, (who's ultimate fate is at least as disturbing as his unforgettable pan and moniker.) And soon to follow, in rapid succession: The MOLE, B-B EYES, PRUNEFACE, LAFFY, MRS. PRUNEFACE, FLATTOP, The BROW, etc...

Gould's work was an uneven mix of stark realism and broad, cartoony stylization. His villains - deformed, repulsive, detestable - were visual metaphors. It was Gould's way of saying, "Evil is ugly." So recognizable was the TRACY-style of criminal that by 1944, when FEARLESS FOSDICK (Al Capp's classic recurring parody from LI'L ABNER) came up against "Bombface" and "Rattop", readers would have known instantly who was being spoofed. So would audiences in 1946, when DAFFY DUCK (as "Duck Twacy" in Bob Clampett's brilliant Warner Bros. cartoon, The GREAT PIGGY BANK ROBBERY) met "Jukebox Jaw," "Pickle Puss", "88 Teeth" and "Neon Noodle"!

In addition, there's still Gould's usual cast of oddball miscreants: escaped lunatics, blackmailers and black marketeers, a crooked physician and his overgrown, cross-eyed, retarded "nurse", greedy heirs and spoiled debutantes, midgets and misfits, hypnotists and hitmen in drag, kidnappers, frauds, torturers, urban terrorists and assorted madmen. They're all here in spades.

Drawing inspiration and momentum from Hollywood's emerging Film Noir genre at the time - and in turn, influencing other wartime comic book creations like BATMAN and the great Will Eisner's SPIRIT - Gould's beloved strip would become a force to be reckoned with for the next two decades. It all starts here, in this milestone volume. Enjoy!

The Complete Chester Gould's DICK TRACY Volume 7 is a big improvement in publishing this series. The larger pages and the spread of a Sunday to two pages comes a lot closer to doing Gould's work justice. It should have been this way from the start. Most of Tracy's fans today have challenged eyesight, and the previous six volumes were challenging that challenge. Thanks to Dean Mullaney for seeing what needed to be done, and for doing it.

I was first introduced to Chester Gould's Dick Tracy in the late 1970's while i was in grade school. One christmas in the fourth or fifth grade, a class mate of mine brought in gifts for everyone in the class. Most of the gifts were used, like comics, some footballs and basketballs, etc etc, but that didn't matter, it was a great gesture. I remember he hadn't wrapped the gifts and he sat next to me and tried to figure out what to give to whom. I cant remember what he had originally given me, but when i saw the big hardcover "The celebrated cases of Dick Tracy" i asked him if i could switch my gift....and as fate would have it, he said yes.

I had never before read Dick Tracy, i had seen him in the NYC daily news funny section, but it never captivated me, i guess because i was more interested in Charlie Brown and Spiderman, but then again I dont think Mr. Chester Gould was doing the strip in the late 70's ... maybe thats why i never took notice. But when I had opened that hardcover,("The Celebrated cases of Dick Tracy...") I was pulled in instantly. The characters were incredible, gruesome and captivating. The stories were genius, detailed and thrilling. The artwork was so fluid, powerful, and authentic...like nothing i had ever seen, and i had been collecting comic books since i was a child. And up until a year ago, I had read "The Celebrated cases..." once every year since grade school. There was only one thing wrong with this book, It was odd that some of the strips in this large volume seemed to be missing story boards... they connected, but the next strip many times, led to a scene already half-way developed. "Hmmm" I thought, well maybe since it was from a comic strip from the papers, maybe thats how Gould led up to his next boxes, but still i didnt believe it so because, each strip box had a date, like 1-14-1941, and some times the next strip date would read 1-17-1941 so i figured the publisher of this book left some strips out for some annoying reason. Regardless of this bothersome detail...I thoroughly dug the stories.

This Christmas I ordered Vol. 7 of "The complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy..." I was a child once again. I received the book and immediately took out my old "Celebrated Cases.." book and began comparing the comic strips. YES, I KNEW IT !!!!!! there were several strips left out as i had thought when i was younger, and this new beautiful volume of Dick Tracy, filled in all of the blanks...It is truly "Complete" in every sense of the word. The "Mole", "Little Face", and B.B. Eyes", had more scenes which had been left out and i smiled, when the missing strips visually filled in that missing puzzle piece in my comic book brain! Aside from this, there were so many characters and stories i had obviously never seen. "Tiger Lilly", "Selbert", "Trigger Doom".. they might not have been as looming as "The Mole" or "Flat top" but to me they were just as entertaining, and the story lines were brilliant. These volumes are flat-out fantastic! There is something in these books that take me to a safe place of my childhood, where although these comics were from the 30's 40's and 50's, they were similar to the ones in the 70's where all of them, had incredible story lines, with authentic art, that was never similar to any other comic strip-book artist. I have just begun volume seven and have witnessed "Prune-Face" in all his glory, i had never seen the original strip... only heard about him. These books are really a blessing to me. It is the simple things in life like this that grant me a happiness, and a sense of peace. I have put Vol. 8 down, and am waiting for a snowstorm to hit NYC, so i can dig myself in and once again get pulled into Gould's amazing world of villains and hero's. There is something about Gould's drawn, winter snow scenes that really captivate me...along with every other scene of course! I am so thankful for these COMPLETE re-productions....so thankful...In a world of madness and pain, these books are medicinal for me.
PEACE.....

P.S....... Readers forgive me hahaha !.... The book itself is PERFECT! beautiful extras and introductions, with photos of the artist, old Dick Tracy items and history and facts about Chester Gould himself. The pages are thick and solid, as is the book itself, and the icing on the cake is the attached book mark sewn into the spine....these books are MAGNIFICENT ! ! ! (Nuff Said!)

I thought the reason for changing to a larger format was to increase the quality and readability. But in this new, larger book format there are three strips per page, while in the previous smaller book format, there were two strips per page.

With the result that the strips are actually reproduced *smaller* in this new "large" format than they were in the previous six volumes!

Here we have the seventh volume in The Complete Dick Tracy series. It covers the run of the strip from January 23, 1941 to September 23, 1942. One problem with previous volumes in the series was that the Sunday strips were somewhat hard to read, because they were shrunk to fit the size of the book. That problem has been corrected by simply making the book larger. 1941 was the year that Chester Gould introduced the first of his "grotesque" villains, Littleface. This sparked the greatest period of the strip, with one bizarre looking villain after another plaguing Dick Tracy. Littleface was quickly followed by the even greater villains The Mole and B-B Eyes (both included in this book). Great book, highly recommended.

The first six volumes of The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy were, I think, magnificently rendered. The sharpness and detail that was reproduced was amazing. The quality of the paper was first rate. Even the dust jacket spine lent an air of gravitas to the set. My only complaint about them, and it's a small one, was the size of the Sundays. I had to buy a pair of reading glasses to read them comfortably. With the new format IDW has addressed that problem with larger pages, and thus a larger reproduction of the Sundays. I also like the new binding that looks and feels of a higher quality than the previous editions, not to mention the inclusion of a sewn in book marker ribbon. All good stuff.

But here's where I have a problem.

The paper quality seems to me to be inferior to the first six. It may be a very high quality paper, I don't know. But it is no longer glossy paper as was used in the previous volumes, and I think that this accounts for the comics no longer having those deep blacks that they had before. A side by side comparison reveals a very noticeable difference in the shades of black. The result is that the strips don't look quite as sharp or as visually striking as before.

My last critique, and granted it might seem nit-picking, is that I no longer have a matched set. I plan to get every volume, at least through 1977, when Gould retired. They would have made a much more handsome display on the bookshelf as a uniform set of books.

All that being said, Dick Tracy is an American icon, and these editions from IDW, in both formats, are definitive. They are a must have for anyone interested in American comics.

As a long-time Tracy fan (tho not as big a fan as others), I've been picking up the IDW Dick Tracy series. Until now, most of my knowledge of Tracy comes from reading it as a kid (during Gould's 'moon madness' period then Max Fletcher Collins return to greatness period) and reading several collections of classic stuff.

Up till the last volume, everything I've seen in the IDW books has been new. This one is different, being about 50% or so new to me, having read some of this in other collections. This is not bad, btw, as now I can see what came before and after the classic stories I had seen.

Now we see a move in Tracy from the standard villians (still using backwards spelled names) and the classic Gould villians. Sadly, we see little of Tess Truehart, and actually more of Jr then Tess. I find it funny how many 'bad girls' show up in this volume. And Tracy has to deal with a lot of death traps, even from more 'standard villians'.

First up, we get the wrap up on Krome from the last volume (things turn out bad for him, but you knew that). Then we move to new villian, Selbert Depool. This one is a strange revenge story. I still don't know what to make of his aunt. But he got what's coming to him.

This is followed up with another standard villian who leads us to LITTLE FACE. What happens to him is interesting.

Then we have the return of Steve the Tramp, now reformed. Frankly, the welcome he received from Tracy & Junior seemed a bit much. Didn't Steve beat and abuse Junior, and cause his father's death? Why be so welcoming??? After dealing with close frameups, they set him up with a fruit stand and that's the last we see of him (does he ever return???). Was Gould trying to balance all the bad guys coming to bad ends and trying to show someone really reforming? No idea.

This leads to a pickpocket (and another bad girl with bad luck) who leads us to THE MOLE! And we have other villians who lead us to another classic villians in this volume: BB EYES. I had heard the name, but never knew his story. Uh, he dealt in blackmarket tires?!? Well, considering the time, I guess that was a big issue, but it seems so minor.

Then we have a very strange (at least for a Dick Tracy story, IMO) story. We have a missing actor. His understudy brings this to the attention of the police. Then we find out that the understudy has kidnapped him (being jealous of him) in cahoots with the actor's wife, and has a hypnotist put him under. Then the hypnotist is struck by a car and the understudy can't bring the actor out of it. The actor comes out of the spell, kidnaps the understudy himself, and after tormenting him, runs off after he thinks he's accidently killed the understudy (he's not dead). The actor runs off to another town and tries to start his life over, thinking he's wanted for murder (he's not). He is finally found, in the process hurt badly and in the hospital (the implication is his face is damaged, but that's not clear), and the understudy, get this, FORGIVES the actor for what he did!! Huh? The understudy is guilty of kidnapping!! Why isn't HE in trouble?!? And the actor's wife realizes she really does love him! The whole story is just bizare, and I think I need to re-read it to see if it makes any better sense. I did, and it STILL makes no sense!!

The final storyline has the villian Tiger Lilly, brother of BB Eyes (yes, "Tiger Lilly" is a guy). And we are introduced to a new secondary character, Frizzletop, who will be important in the next volume as well.

I look forward to the next volume, as I know some of what Frizzletop gets into...

"Gould in High Gear" (so saith Max Allan Collins in the Introduction)? More like Gould popping the clutch, goosing the gas pedal, and otherwise struggling to get up to cruising speed as World War II -- and the cartoonist's most creatively fertile decade -- begin. What a piebald collection of continuities we have in this volume: the appearances of three of Gould's better-known grotesques -- Little Face, The Mole, and B-B Eyes -- mixed up with a clutter of ephemeral evildoers including, among other things, a gang that stages real accidents in order to collect "realistic" sound effects for radio shows, a knuckle-headed debutante who "takes care of" an incapacitated Tracy after the detective breaks his leg and otherwise makes his life miserable, and a couple of Orson Welles-lookalike actors who swing wildly between good-guy and bad-guy roles (as does the woman they both love). No wonder Gould decided to wholeheartedly traipse down the gimmicky-rat route once America's war began and he realized (as noted by Jay Maeder in his marvelous history of the TRACY strip) that he would henceforth have to be at the top of his game in order to compete with the real-world headlines.

Truth be told, Little Face and The Mole don't get a whole lot of interest to do during their moments in the sun (which seems an inappropriate phrase to use when The Mole is concerned, actually). The pico-panned LF is basically your bog-standard vicious gang boss, a dealer in "hot" diamonds to be precise. The most memorable thing about him is his long period of suffering after accidentally being locked in a deep freeze and suffering near-terminal frostbite during his attempt to escape the clutches of the law. (LF is ugly enough with ears, thank you very much.) The Mole, a long-missing criminal who operates a "hideout" for fleeing crooks and takes advantage of their plight to strip them of their ill-gotten gains, is barely established as an insane creep when a freak snowstorm and ensuing runoff causes his lair to flood (um... he's being hiding there for 15 years and this is just now happening for the first time?) and Tracy literally "crashes" his party. The hand-to-hand between Tracy and The Mole and The Mole's frantic attempt to escape are legitimately gripping, though, and Tracy even shows some compassion for the kook, giving him Christmas cigarettes, fruit, and candy in jail. I wouldn't call The Mole an "appealing" character, as Max does, but you can definitely sense Gould mulling over the possibility of bringing him back (and he would do so, in the early 1970s). B-B Eyes' caper is a little more imaginative and timely (dealing in black-market tires), and he gets to stick Tracy with one of Gould's goofiest death traps, encasing Tracy and Pat Patton in wax and planning to shoot them both into the path of a train. The little crook's heavy-handedly ironic demise is also noteworthy and memorable.

Of the minor-league villains dealt with herein, only the hooded-eyed Selbert Depool -- who looks uncannily like "Badman," one of the villainous opponents of "Super" Richie Rich and Cadbury back in the 70s -- rates any mention at all. For a supposed maniac who's escaped from an asylum, Depool is suprisingly lucid as he seeks to avoid capture following the murder of the rich uncle who'd sent him to the looney bin. With his eyes surrounded by what appears to be a permanent coat of lampblack, he'd seem to be easy for cops and others to recognize and apprehend, but whatever. After leaving a trail of corpses in his wake, Selbert falls victim to that dreaded trap, the deadly Mardi Gras parade float. Yes, really.

Physically, this volume brings the TRACY series in line with other ongoing IDW reprint projects, such as LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE. The larger dimensions allow Gould's Sunday pages to be viewed without eye strain. The supporting features are stronger as well, with Collins' introduction being accompanied by an interesting Jeff Kersten essay describing Gould's working methods and life as a "gentleman farmer" in Woodstock, IL. With the immortal Pruneface (and wife) and Flattop scheduled to appear in the next several volumes, the format shift couldn't have come at a better time.

As everyone must know by now, IDW has finally reformatted the Dick Tracy series to the one used by their other series, such as Little Orphan Annie. I'd be even happier if they printed the Sunday funnies in color, which they could do for both Annie and Terry and the Pirates, but I guess I shouldn't be too greedy. THe format for the first 6 volumes stank, but at least somebody at IDW wised up.
Yes, this volume does indeed launch the golden era of Dick Tracy, and nobody can dispute the fun of watching all the bizarre happenings to and because of the even more bizarre criminals. I would, however, like to raise a few issues regarding Gould's storytelling and point of view -- none of which affect my opinion of the worth of the comic strip or this series of books.
Max Alan Collins has mentioned several times Gould's lack of interest in continuity in the strip. Indeed, we have seen some bizarre things prior to the current volume, such as a bandage which appears and disappears from Pat Patton's head from day to day, or Pat returning to work after being in the hospital, and then being visited by Tracy while still in the hospital! More disturbing is the way in which people sometimes disappear when no longer of interest. Notice that by volume 7, Mary Steele, Junior's mother, is no longer in the story, and, unless I'm mistaken, she won't reappear for almost 30 years, when she's killed by a stray golf ball. Are we to believe that Junior just simply forgot that he had a mother?
Then there's the question about whether the punishment fits the crime. Stooge Viller, who murdered Junior's father, Hank Steele, is let out of the penitentiary after serving only a few years. Even worse, the psychopath, Steve the Tramp, who was with Viller at the time Hank Steele was murdered, and who was responsible for abusing Junior and his mother, and for murdering several people (I'd have to go back and count how many), suddenly "reforms", becomes a nice guy, and is let out of the pen after only 8 years. Moreover, he becomes a friend to Dick Tracy and Junior! What could Gould have been thinking?
Max Alan Collins also points out that Gould became adept at drawing sexually-alluring women. On the other hand, look what happens to most of them! Now is not the time to go into detail, but I'll throw out my idea that there is a disturbing psycho-pathology behind the creator of Dick Tracy. It would make a fascinating study.
In the meantime, enjoy the series. It's a part of American folklore, and no dark secrets behind the stories can devalue the stories.